Record area rainfall spawns accidents
The Valley of the Sun wasn’t for most of Saturday. In fact, the Phoenix area set a record for the most rainfall ever for the date with 1.03 inches recorded at Sky Harbor International Airport.
The rain snarled traffic, prompting numerous accidents.
It also forced the cancellation of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ first spring training game of the year and put a damper on the Devour Culinary Classic at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix.
Much of Phoenix was under a flash flood watch Saturday, but it was lifted as the storm moved through.
The area near the Diamondbacks spring training facility in Scottsdale had gotten hit with more than 0.90 inches of rain by 11 a.m., according to rainfall maps by the Flood Control District of Maricopa County.
That measurement is the highest daily total at the airport since Feb. 21, 2019 when 1.01 inches of rain fell, the weather service wrote in a tweet.
The 1.03 inches for the day crushed the date’s previous rainfall record of 0.45 inches, which was set in 1913.
Areas hit hard by the rain as of 10:30 a.m. included Laveen, which received 1.18 inches, the South Mountain area with around an inch, downtown Phoenix with 0.87 inches, Fountain Hills with 0.83 inches, and the Alhambra area in central Phoenix with 0.98 inches.
Rainfall totals around Mesa were between 0.50 and 0.75 inches by that time, while Tempe was between 0.7 and 0.8 inches, according to the county rain maps.
Glendale had received nearly 0.8 inches of rain while central and north Scottsdale hovered between 0.7 and 0.85 inches.
The weather service clarified in an email to The Arizona Republic that a flash flood watch is not the same as a warning.
A watch means that conditions are favorable for heavy rainfall and possible flash flooding.
The weather service warned to watch out for flooded roads, debris and mud on roads, and rapid rises in washes and creeks.