National Weather Service: Below normal temps expected through Tuesday

September 10, 2012

There has been quite a bit of rain over the last couple of days in the Phoenix area and across the state of Arizona. This morning Dennis Lambert spoke with National Weather Service Meteorologist Austin Jamison about weekend weather and what to expect in the days ahead.

What have we had in terms of rainfall amounts over the last few days?

Well, we’ve had quite a range of rainfall amounts depending on where you’re at. In the Pheonix area probably Friday was the big day, and there were some isolated locations that had well in excess of two inches. Primarily the East Mesa–Apache Junction area had the high amounts in the valley. Other parts of the east valley and parts of Phoenix had one inch or so, but then that trailed off dramatically over the West Valley where they had very little on Friday.

Last night the storm pattern seemed to hit in the southwestern Arizona more, did it not?

Correct, there were some intense storms that developed near the Mexican border, over Pima County and Yuma County, and they spread westward and realty hit Yuma with a pretty good wallop there yesterday with damaging winds and flooding.

What are we looking for in the next day or two?

We still have this weak upper-low. It’s weak in terms of how intense the circulation is, but when you have a lot of moisture to work with, that can be the big difference on getting strong thunderstorms to happen. So, this feature will be slowly moving northeastward across Arizona today and tomorrow, and as it interacts with the moisture, we’ll have above average chances of showers and thunderstorms today and tomorrow.

Is there any indication in Arizona where those storms might hit?

Probably the southern half of Arizona is going to see the most action, certainly today, and then maybe on Tuesday it won’t be as specific to southern Arizona as the system moves northward, and it will be more widespread as far as the storm potential goes. I would say generally for today, from the rim southward will be where the best action will be, and as always, there are localized areas which see the most intense storms, and trying to pinpoint those in advance is extremely difficult.

And is this going to end our 100-degree days?

We expect below normal temperatures to continue today and tomorrow, and even Wednesday, but Wednesday the system will be pretty much gone. There will be a lot less moisture around--a lot less clouds--so it will be warmer, but we’re still looking at temperatures in the 90s for the Phoenix area on Wednesday, and then we gradually warm up during the rest of the week.