TEMPE — Saturday marked the last day of Monsoon 2023, and it’s the driest on record at Phoenix Sky Harbor.
The National Weather Service said the Phoenix Sky Harbor gauge received 0.15 inches of rain this monsoon. The previous record was set back in 1924 when it hit 0.35 inches of rain. Phoenix’s average rainfall for monsoons is 2.41 inches.
Other parts of the state also saw minimal precipitation.
“A lot of folks kept saying that the monsoons are coming, the monsoons are coming and then I’m like, 'Where are the monsoons at?'” said Michael Phillips, who moved from New Mexico eight months ago for a job.
Another way to measure how inactive this season was is by looking at the lightning strikes. The number of lightning strikes ended up well below normal this year, too.
The Valley did see a few strong storms sweep through over the last few months, damaging homes.
Notably, on August 31, a storm swept through that delayed the Arizona State University football game.
Some microbursts also left behind some destruction in Mesa from a storm overnight on September 12th. Planes flipped over at Falcon Field and Zaharis Elementary School was damaged; the school had to close down the building for about a week.
The lack of monsoon storms did not help with the excessively hot summer, where in July, the Valley hit a record-setting 31 days in a row of extreme heat. The high temperature in Phoenix also went to 115 degrees and above 17 days, which is the most 115 degrees plus days ever recorded in a single year.
Although it’s late September and still warm, many are ready for it to cool down.
“Making it through that time is worth it. It’s well worth it,” Maverick Taylor said of enduring the hot summer.
