Anyone who’s sick of an unusually warm November will soon have their wishes answered as the Phoenix-metro area is forecast to see cooler temperatures and varying levels of rainfall over the next few days due to a weather system moving through the region.
Parts of the Valley could see between 0.75 to one inch of rain, according to Ryan Worley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
“Not everywhere is going to see rain totals in that range,” Worley said. “It’s even possible some places might remain fairly dry and see significantly less rainfall than in that total, but that’s kind of the general picture we’re seeing right now.”
However, it was difficult to predict which parts of the Valley would receive more rainfall, according to Worley. But flooding wasn’t expected to be an issue.
“I can’t completely rule it out, but those chances are very low,” he said. “I would say less than 5% at seeing any major flooding concerns as the rain totals we’re expecting to see will occur over a period of days rather than just all at once.”
The Valley could see rain as early as the evening of Nov. 17 and extend into Nov. 19, with the morning of Nov. 18 having the likeliest chance of precipitation. Valley cities could see some sporadic lightning strikes, but Worley didn’t expect consistent thunderstorm activity.
The storm is also forecast to bring cooler temperatures with highs in the high-60s and low-70s and eventually mid-60s toward the middle of the week, which would be about 10 degrees below the average, according to Worley.
“Certainly a noticeable cooldown for the area considering how warm we’ve been — even to start the month of November where we were off to one of our hottest starts to the month of November on record,” Worley said. “So this will be a nice cooldown for people as we head into the next few days.”
Even without the upcoming storm, Worley said the Valley has recorded slightly above-average rainfall for the year, with Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport having recorded 7.49 inches of rain compared with the 7.22-inch average.
