Chance of rain, continued heat Saturday for Phoenix

While Phoenix and parts of northwest Arizona remained in an excessive heat warning, rain chances have increased for southeastern parts of the state, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Larry Hopper.

Even though Phoenix’s excessive heat warning will extend till Sunday, there remains a 20% chance of rain and as high as 30% of storm winds on Saturday, Hopper explained.

Moisture in the region kept Phoenix temperatures during the excessive heat warning from building but also stopped the area from cooling off overnight, keeping temperatures at around 94 degrees — 10 degrees hotter than average, according to Hopper.

That moisture would increase the chances for storms on Saturday, especially in southeastern Arizona.

“The best chances for thunderstorms tomorrow will be in southern and eastern portions of the Phoenix metro,” Hopper said. “They are about 20% there and then they would increase, 30% in Pinal County, and 40% and above when you start getting closer to Tucson.”

Those chances of rain in Phoenix will increase by the start of next week as more moisture moves into the area, he explained.

All this moist weather has been wetter than usual due to excessive heat to the north and hurricanes to the east, according to Hopper.

While the highest chances of rain and flooding on Saturday are expected around the Bighorn Fire burn scar, Hopper warns that localized rainfall of 1 to 2 inches is possible throughout central and southern Arizona.

“The chances for the higher coverage of thunderstorms with even deeper moisture doesn’t really move in until early next week,” he said, “Then our chances of burn scar flooding for any of our burn scars in any part of the state, north, northwestern, southeastern parts of Arizona would go up.”