Despite heat and humidity, Phoenix still waiting on first monsoon storms of the year

PHOENIX – Although metro Phoenix is getting hit with both heat and humidity, it isn’t yet adding up to the area’s first significant monsoon storm of the year.

“We don’t have anything more than a 15% chance [of rain] over the next couple of days,” Alex Young, meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Phoenix, told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Monday morning. “However, despite the fact that we’re not having very good thunderstorm chances, we’re still going to stay pretty humid.”

That humidity will make this week’s heat, with forecast high temperatures of around 110 degrees, “feel hotter than earlier in the month when it was still dry,” Young said.

The NWS said the high terrain surrounding Phoenix has a better chance for scattered showers and thunderstorms this week, with activity as soon as Monday afternoon or evening.

One gauge in Sun City recorded .12 inches of rain after an isolated storm Monday morning, but the rest of Maricopa County stayed dry.

When does Phoenix usually get first monsoon rainfall?

While June 15-Sept. 30 is designated as monsoon season in Arizona, the Phoenix area typically doesn’t see its first summer storm until the first week of July.

May 16 was the last time precipitation was measured at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, which the NWS uses for the city’s official readings.

Tucson and other parts of Pima County received heavy rainfall over the weekend, leading to flash floods. Southern Arizona usually sees monsoonal storms before the central part of the state, so the weekend activity could be a sign of things to come in the Valley.

Phoenix sees streak of daily temperature records

Meanwhile, mornings have been unusually warm in Phoenix, where the temperature hasn’t dropped below 90 degrees since about 8 a.m. Thursday.

“The lows have stayed in the low 90s the last three days, and they’ve broken the high low-temperature record for those particular days,” Young said Monday.

The low temperature this morning at Sky Harbor was 92 degrees which is 11 degrees above normal. This beats the previous record warm low of 90 degrees set in 1988. If it holds until midnight, it would be the fourth consecutive record warm low set at the airport. #azwx pic.twitter.com/3gigmll5lD

— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) June 24, 2024

Barring an unexpected temperature drop, the streak of high low-temperature records will reach four days on Monday, when Phoenix’s morning low was 92 degrees.

“The record-high low [for the date] is 90, so there’s good potential of that happening again,” Young said.

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

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