NWS Meteorologist Predicts Brief Showers and Thunderstorms for Phoenix

Phoenix could see showers and isolated thunderstorms as early as Friday afternoon, according to a forecast from the National Weather Service.

A series of weather disturbances is expected to move across Arizona through early next week, KTAR News reported on Thursday. While the arrival of moisture might prompt residents to reach for an umbrella, meteorologists are emphasizing that these upcoming systems lack the intensity of recent weather events.

The upcoming weather patterns differ significantly from the heavy storms that caused flooding in the Valley just a couple of weeks ago. Those previous systems were driven by a strong atmospheric river, a phenomenon capable of delivering prolonged and widespread rainfall over large areas.

“We’re going to have basically a series of weather disturbances that are going to be moving across the area into early next week,” Gabriel Lojero, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix, told KTAR News.

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The first system is scheduled to arrive in the Phoenix area during the late afternoon and early evening this Friday. Most of the precipitation is expected to remain in southeastern Arizona, though some showers could reach the Valley. Lojero said that the area might see a few isolated thunderstorms during that Friday evening window.

Rain chances appear to drop on Saturday. Most of the weather activity on that day is expected to be concentrated in the high country, with some potential for showers specifically north and east of Phoenix.

More rain is expected to arrive early next week as another system moves through the region. However, current forecasts do not suggest this system will produce substantial or widespread rainfall.

Because these disturbances are expected to bring brief windows of rain rather than the continuous downpours seen during the recent flooding, the immediate threat to infrastructure and property is low. The shift from long-duration events to short-lived showers changes how local communities and emergency services view the incoming moisture.

“Not expecting any flooding impacts at this point,” Lojero said.

“These systems that we’re going to see through early next week are not atmospheric rivers,” Lojero told KTAR News.

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