Stormy weekend propels Phoenix to wettest July in 8 years

PHOENIX – A weekend of cloudbursts pushed metro Phoenix to the wettest July in nearly a decade and it’s going to get wetter before the end of the week, forecasters said Monday.

A storm system moving in from Mexico could begin to unload locally starting Thursday. This would come on the heels of the most rain for July the Valley has seen since 2013.

Downpours in the Valley over the weekend left behind about 1½ inches of rain at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport’s official gauge, but more than 4 inches soaked Scottsdale and other parts of the Valley recorded over 2 inches.

The Sky Harbor gauge jumped to 1.67 inches for the month after the weekend rain and 1.84 overall since the monsoon season began June 15; the season averages 2.43 inches.

Current total rainfall for the 2021 monsoon at Sky Harbor is up to 1.84 inch. This exceeds the combined total rainfall for the 2019 and 2020 monsoon seasons! The total so far for July 2021 alone is 1.67 inch. #azwx pic.twitter.com/jYUzswYW6a

— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) July 26, 2021

The Flood Control District of Maricopa County showed Sun City West had a three-day total of 2.80 inches.

“We just saw a doozy of a storm,” Mark O’Malley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix told KTAR News 92.3 FM early Monday.

“It’s basically the equivalent of one-quarter of the annual rainfall that you’d expect to get in your location … in the past three or four days.”

The next couple of days will be dry and hot – temperatures will hop from Monday’s predicted 97 degrees to 101 for Tuesday then 104 Thursday and 101 Friday.

But by Thursday night the chance for rain is 30%. The probability of rain increases to 40% on Friday.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Jim Cross contributed to this report.

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