Regional Industry & News

More rain on the way as early morning showers, lightning hit Phoenix area

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Early morning showers and thunderstorms are impacting parts of the Valley and the state.

Thunderstorms triggered a ground stop for arriving flights at Sky Harbor International Airport just before 7 a.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The storms also knocked out power to thousands of customers in the West Valley. As of 7:45 a.m., Arizona Public Service reported more than 1,600 outages in Goodyear, 1,800 in Peoria and 1,900 in Surprise.

Another round of storms is possible later this afternoon and evening, though overall storm chances in the Valley remain near 20 percent today.

Dry stretch ahead, then tropical moisture moves in

Friday and Saturday look dry in the Valley before abundant tropical moisture could move into the state on Sunday. Two tropical systems, Polo and Odalys, could pump moisture into our region. As of early this morning, Hurricane Polo was forecast to potentially make landfall along the Baja Peninsula on Monday.

In the Valley, rain chances climb to about 30 percent on Sunday night and to near 50 percent on Monday. Rainfall could be heavy, with flooding possible. The showers could also continue into Tuesday.

There is still quite a bit of uncertainty with how this scenario will play out. Models differ on how far north the tropical moisture will advect, how far south a trough to our north will dip, and the timing of it all. We should know more in the next few days and will keep you updated.

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