Hurricane Kay off Mexico coast likely to push rain all the way to metro Phoenix by Friday
Sep 8, 2022, 5:00 PM
A man covers himself from the rain with an umbrella in poor condition after heavy rains in Mexico City, due to the passage of Hurricane Kay in the State of Baja California in the Mexican Republic, which will maintain the forecast of rain in several states of the country. (Photo by Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto)
(Photo by Gerardo Vieyra/NurPhoto)
PHOENIX – A hurricane with winds of 85 mph blowing hundreds of miles away from Phoenix will still make its presence known locally in the form of rain starting as soon as Friday, forecasters said.
Hurricane Kay, racing up Mexico’s Baja California peninsula Thursday, is likely to send rain into southern and central Arizona, and drop temperatures in the Valley to the mid-90s, the National Weather Service office in Phoenix said.
Up to a half-inch of rain could fall during the storm, as the chance of precipitation increases from 20% in the daytime Friday to 60% late in the night. Saturday drops to a 40% chance of rain, the weather bureau said.
The best rain chances from the remnants of Hurricane Kay will be from Friday morning to Saturday evening. For the current range of probabilities, Imperial, CA and Yuma, AZ have the best chances to see elevated rainfall amounts greater than half an inch. #AZWX #CAWX pic.twitter.com/MyXWAKMbUT
— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) September 7, 2022
“It’s a pretty big hurricane … so even though the center will be located off the west coast of southwest California, given the huge size of the storm, we expect the rainfall to penetrate into Arizona,” Phoenix weather bureau meteorologist Gabriel Lojero told KTAR News 92.3 FM early Thursday.
Rain that reaches the Valley won’t be widespread, he said, “but those who do [get rain] will experience locally heavy rainfall, some gusty winds, as well as some lightning activity.”
The monsoon season began June 15 and ends Sept. 30.
“It got started pretty early – by mid-June we started seeing thunderstorm activity affecting a lot of central and southern Arizona,” Lojero said. “Usually … it’s early July.”
The monsoon season has been less hot than usual, too, he said.
“We didn’t experience too many hot days compared to what we see in prior years – 2020 was extremely hot due to a much drier-than-normal monsoon season.”
There were 145 days of 100 degrees or more in 2020, a city record. So far this year, there have been 101.
Temperatures the rest of this week will range from 103 degrees Thursday, 94 on Friday and Saturday and back to triple digits Sunday at 100.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Jim Cross and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
