Storm brings record rainfall to East Valley
A major storm brought floods and record breaking rainfall to East Valley, Arizona on Friday; before going on to hit the Midwest on Saturday, dumping snow and ice across seven states.
The storm was the result of an area of low pressure moving northeast from the Pacific, laden with moisture, also drawing in further moisture ahead of it from the warm Gulf.
It was an unusual storm to hit Arizona at this time of year. The National Weather Service issued warnings for flash floods on Friday, and the rain continued to hammer down into the early hours of Saturday. By Saturday morning parts of East Valley had totted up more than 50mm (2inches) of rainfall. The storm became the wettest to hit the area at this time of year since 1995, and also broke the record for the wettest 30th November since 1933.
The storm caused problems on the roads across parts of Arizona, with cars becoming stuck in mud and debris dislodged by the torrents of rain. There was a similar problem for southern California on Friday as the heavy rain threatened to trigger mudslides in areas left charred and barren by October’s wildfires.
Sunday has brought a big change to the weather across Arizona with the low pressure system that delivered the rain having moved away east. Sunny skies are expected today as high pressure builds, with temperatures predicted to warm up over the week ahead.
