Monday night’s storm brought the first official monsoon rains into the central Arizona desert for 2017.
Meteorologist Bianca Hernandez with the National Weather Service confirms winds gusted to nearly 70 miles per hour causing downed power lines and construction damage in and around the Gold Canyon community east of metro Phoenix last night.
She said the weather pattern will stick around this week into the weekend, and likely bring more down bursts with it.
“It’s not as intense as a tornado, but the winds associated with a down burst could be as strong as hurricane force winds," she said.
Forecasts predict a 20 to 30 percent chance of rain, which she interpreted as a good chance for thunderstorms each afternoon and evening. And she said it won’t be going anywhere for a while as another plume of moisture joins up promising more rain next week.
