Yuma to expect more storms by this weekend

It has been an extra rainy August and the storms aren’t quite over.

The National Weather Service’s Phoenix office reports that while Yuma has seen a below-normal year for rainfall, August is proving to be above normal.

“Our chances for rain in the Yuma area are less than 10% through [Aug. 16] and then chances increase from Wednesday onward into the weekend,” said NWS Meteorologist Marvin Percha. “Looks like a rather robust weather disturbance may be affecting the area and more moisture in regions so by the weekend, we’re looking for rainfall chances rising up to 30 to 50% for that area. We could be seeing another round of locally heavy rain, potential for strong winds blowing, lightning as well, so everybody’s got to keep aware for that. Even though we’re getting a couple of days off here, it is certainly not over yet.”

Using the Yuma International Airport as a sample point, Percha said the area received 0.46 inches of rain for the past week with the majority of it having fallen on Saturday.

He noted that there were flash flood warnings for the region, however. While the figure for that airport was 0.46 inches, Percha stated that some areas in Yuma County received significant flooding – even to the point of an excess of an inch.

“Of course our monsoon rainfall is very hit or miss,” he said. “One place can just get half an inch and other areas can get much more. Certainly, those areas that experienced the flooding have seen more rain … the reason is that these storms kind of pop up. They’re rather local, small-scale nature and so they dump the rain on more localized areas.”

He noted that for this monsoon season, June had a hundredth of an inch, July only received a trace of rain and the yearto-date amount of rainfall for Yuma has been 0.70 inches. Normally, the average amount would be 1.68. Overall, Yuma’s had a well-below normal year.

“Our winter storms – the rains tend to be more widespread or evenly distributed than our summer monsoon storms,” said Percha. “That is why, for example, the water supply of the Colorado River basically relies for the most part on its winter snow and rainfall, not the summer storms. Because the winter rain and snow fall over a much more widespread area, especially up in source regions like in Utah and Colorado so our summer tends to be hit or miss.

“Some areas can get far more than others. Not so much in Yuma, but here in Phoenix, in general, the higher elevation areas of Phoenix – to the northeast of Phoenix, especially heading toward Flagstaff or Globe – also get more than the Valley does.”

Percha explained that this is generally why water levels are quite low in Lake Mead. Utah and Colorado have had below-normal rain and snowfall for a number of years in a row, and their water fills the Colorado River. In turn, Yuma and the rest of Arizona are having a less rainy year despite current circumstances.

As August continues to bring showers, however, Percha noted that flooding will be a concern for the rest of the month.

“Historically, the bulk of our storm activity is in evening hours,” he said. “However, when you get a more moist environment, which looks like it’ll be this weekend, the chances for rain begins to extend to other parts of the day. So even in the morning, there will be chances for showers and thunderstorms by this weekend.”

To keep up with weather reports and advisories from the National Weather Service, visit https:// www.weather.gov/psr/.