PHOENIX – Thunderstorms that are battering the Phoenix area with rain, hail, flooding and flight delays are showing no signs of letting up.
“This threat’s going to extend all the way into the early evening hours with multiple rounds of storms expected,” Tom Frieders, meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS) in Phoenix, told KTAR News 92.3 FM just before noon.
After showers popped up in northeast Maricopa County and Gila County in the early-morning hours, thunderstorms started developing on the west side around 10 a.m.
The NWS issued a series of severe thunderstorm warnings and flash flood warnings as storm activity intensified across the region throughout the day.
95th Ave/Olive Area of Peoria pic.twitter.com/WuK8hAIGsw
— Charles Oliva (@Charles_OlivaAZ) September 26, 2025
“Throughout the morning we’ve seen quite a bit of thunderstorm activity, mainly across the north and West Valley, so far, with severe thunderstorms (and) some flooding with the heavy rain with these storms,” Frieders said.
Large hail, up to 1.00-1.50″, is being observed with the severe storms moving through Phoenix. #azwx
— NWS Phoenix (@NWSPhoenix) September 26, 2025
Thunderstorms create significant issues for Sky Harbor travelers
The thunderstorms prompted the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ground flights to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport on multiple occasions. As a result, the FAA issued a ground delay advisory covering flights to and from Phoenix for the rest of the day.
The FAA projected that flights to Sky Harbor will be delayed by an average of 75 minutes until 7 p.m. Arrivals were behind by over two hours on average when the delay advisory started and was expected to diminish as the day progressed.
Additionally, the FAA said departures were delayed by an average of up to 45 minutes.
How much rain is falling during Friday’s thunderstorms?
“We’re expecting the strongest thunderstorms to continue all the way through early-evening hours, maybe upwards of till around 8 o’clock at least, but we could still see some more showers and thunderstorms overnight,” Frieders said.
By midday, many areas had received over 1 inch of rain, including spots in central and south Phoenix, Glendale, Scottsdale and Cave Creek.
About an inch of rain reportedly accumulated at Sky Harbor, which the NWS uses for the city’s official readings, in under an hour. That downpour alone surpassed the 2025 monsoon season rainfall total heading into the day of 0.91 inches.
Phoenix normally gets about 2.4 inches of rain during the monsoon season, which runs annually from June 15 to Sept. 30.
Frieders the hardest-hit spots could end up with over 3 inches of rain by the end of the day.
“I just want to stress to everybody with the threat of this heavy rainfall and flash flooding, flash flooding can evolve real quickly when these storms move in,” he said. “So, I just want to stress turn around, don’t drown, never drive through flooded roadways.”
When does flood watch for metro Phoenix expire?
Anticipating the thunderstorms, the NWS issued a flood watch to run from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m.
While the flood watch is limited to Friday, the possibility of rain remains in the forecast for much of the weekend.
“Chances really drop off by Sunday evening, and then zero chances next week,” NWS meteorologist Ted Whittock told KTAR News on Friday morning.
Along with the moisture, the forecast calls for high temperatures in the low 90s or upper 80s through the weekend, over 5 degrees below normal for this time of year.
“And then we start to warm back up by Monday, but just into the lower 90s, and then maybe by the middle of next week will be in the mid-90s,” Whittock said.
KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Ginia McFarland and Balin Overstolz McNair contributed to this report.
