PHOENIX — Wednesday's sunshine in the Phoenix metro turned into sporadic rain showers Thursday, with chances of thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening hours.
The wet weather made its way through the West Valley around 11 a.m. Some of the activity even produced isolated thunderstorms. The National Weather Service said the showers will be widespread throughout the afternoon until the chances start to diminish this evening.
With the expected rainfall and cloudy skies, temperatures are expected to remain in the 60s.
Any storms that develop "could produce gusty winds, frequent lightning and locally heavy rainfall," the Phoenix NWS office said on X.
In northern Arizona, snow began to fall Thursday morning. NWS said scattered showers will be in and out throughout the day. The snow level will be near 6,000 feet and rain and snow amounts are expected to be light.
Any snow accumulation will be above 7,000 feet.
LATEST UPDATES
6:35 p.m. - There are severe thunderstorm warnings for the West Valley until 7 p.m.
4:45 p.m. - Some storms are still lingering near Wickenburg and Surprise.
3 p.m. -- Storm clouds move across the Tucson area.
2:30 p.m. - APS and SRP are reporting around 1,000 people are without power/ They are investigating the cause of the outage.
There are a total of 227 delays at Phoenix Sky Harbor as of Thursday afternoon, according to Flight Aware.
1:15 p.m. - APS and SRP are reporting more than 1,000 people are without power. They are investigating the cause of the outage.
According to Flight Aware, there 145 total delays and two cancellations at Phoenix Sky Harbor as of Thursday afternoon.
1 p.m. - Scattered, heavy rain moves through the Phoenix area.
We will continue to track the weather conditions across Phoenix and the rest of Arizona as the storm system moves through the state.
Be sure to stay with 12News for the latest updates.
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Arizona Weather
Arizona has seen its fair share of severe weather. Here is a compilation of videos from various storms across the Grand Canyon state.
What is the Valley?
“The Valley” is what locals call the Phoenix Metropolitan Area. It is considered the largest metropolitan area in the Southwest.
The Valley is made up of various major cities other than Phoenix, including:
- Mesa
- Chandler
- Scottsdale
- Tempe
- Glendale
- Surprise
- Peoria
- Gilbert
- El Mirage
- Avondale
- Litchfield Park
- Goodyear
- Buckeye
Whether a city is in the “East Valley” or “West Valley” depends on where it is in relation to Phoenix.
The cities of the Valley have a combined population of 4,845,832 people, according to the 2020 United States Census. This makes it the 11th largest metropolitan area in the country right behind the Boston and Atlanta areas.