Rain, dust, wind pelt metro Phoenix during first major storm of monsoon season
Jun 23, 2022, 4:29 PM | Updated: 9:01 pm
(Twitter Photo/@ArizonaDOT)
(Twitter Photo/@ArizonaDOT)
PHOENIX — The first major storm of the monsoon season arrived Thursday in metro Phoenix, bringing with it rain, wind and dust.
Some areas of north Phoenix received .39 inches of rain, while parts of Scottsdale got .16 inches and Mesa recorded .08 inches, according to the Maricopa County Flood Control District rain gauges.
Rain coming down hard with some wind in north Phoenix #azwx @NWSPhoenix pic.twitter.com/Dmxq0byliA
— Danny Shapiro (@DannyShapiro13) June 23, 2022
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for areas including Phoenix, Glendale, Paradise Valley and Scottsdale as the storm had the potential to produce winds of up to 60 mph and penny-sized hail.
Late afternoon radar shows how the offspring thunderstorms moved into the #Phoenix Metro Valley from the deserts around I-8. #Pullasidestayalive #AZWX pic.twitter.com/6T9caHeudG
— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) June 23, 2022
A dust storm warning was also issued for multiple Valley cities including Avondale, Laveen, Guadalupe and Chandler, which covers Interstate 10, 17 and the U.S. 60, as blowing dust could bring visibility down to near zero.
I-10 at Ray: Low visibility.
Drive with care. #phxtraffic #I10 pic.twitter.com/ukFuFkXTrQ
— Arizona DOT (@ArizonaDOT) June 23, 2022
The first measurable rain of the monsoon season, which began June 15, was recorded in the East Valley on Saturday as rain gauges by the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport and Apache Junction captured .04 inches of rain and parts of San Tan Valley and Queen Creek received .35 inches.
It was a rainy monsoon season last year in the Valley, as Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport received 4.20 inches. The average rainfall in Phoenix during the monsoon season is 2.43 inches.
The season ended at the end of September with 23 days of rain, which was the second-most rainy days in history.
That was after back-to-back underwhelming years where only 1 inch of rain was recorded during the monsoon season of 2020 and .66 inches the previous year.
