Monsoon lightning illuminates the skies Monday night over homes at Val Vista Lakes in Gilbert. Storms also rolled through other parts of the Phoenix metro area.
Residents of the Gold Canyon area east of Apache Junction were met with uprooted trees, missing roof tiles, busted windows and storm debris everywhere after being hit with strong monsoon storms Monday night.
Residents living in other parts of the far southeast Valley, along with some areas north and northwest of Phoenix, also saw wind, dust and, finally, rain in their areas late Monday and into the early-morning hours of Tuesday.
The areas were the first in the Phoenix metro area that saw significant rains from this year’s monsoon, the National Weather Service in Phoenix said.
Everyone else may not have to wait much longer.
The National Weather Service expected thunderstorms and monsoon activity to recharge and pick up late Tuesday.
“We expect to see blowing dust, dangerous lightning storms and gustier than normal winds throughout this week,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Jessica Nolte.
Chances for showers will decline today, then increase again on Thursday. Rain is most likely on Saturday and Sunday, when there will be about a 30 percent chance, Nolte said.
Tuesday morning saw a layer of clouds and cooler, though more humid, air throughout the Phoenix area.
As of about 3 p.m. Tuesday, the high temperature in Phoenix had reached
102 degrees, the Weather Service in Phoenix posted on Twitter, adding that the day likely would produce “the coolest high temp in about a month.”
Travis Wilson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said a downburst in the Gold Canyon area, off U.S. 60 east of Apache Junction, was responsible for damage in that area.
“When rain falls into the dry air, it cools the air and that cool air becomes more dense,” Wilson said. “And that dense air sinks to the ground; it does this quite rapidly. And also the movement of the raindrops themselves can pull more air down to the ground.”
One radar scan at the National Weather Service observed winds at 65 mph in the area, Wilson said.
One Gold Canyon resident, Kate Nahorniak, said she walked her neighborhood to assess the damage.
“We have just never seen this sort of storm damage,” said Nahorniak, who has lived in the area for 17 years.
She woke to find water gushing through her yard and garage after her neighbor’s tree was uprooted and fell into her tree, causing her tree to fall and break the water lines.
Nahorniak said neighbors in many of the subdivisions were out giving each other a helping hand.
“There were solar panels that had been blown off the roof,” Nahormiak said. “And one had wrapped itself around a tree.”
Queen Creek, in the far southeast Valley, saw among the most rainfall with totals, with 1.14 inches, according to the Maricopa County Flood Control District.
In the far north Valley, near New River, the National Weather Service was forced to issue a flood advisory after a storm dropped 0.83 of an inch in parts of the area.
The far northwest Valley near Waddell, just outside Wittmann, saw moderate totals of about .60 of an inch of rain.