First Alert Weather Days declared for Thursday and Friday; Thunderstorms return this weekend

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- A strong ridge of high pressure is building over Arizona. As a result, high temperatures will reach into the range where the National Weather Service has issued an excessive heat warning for Thursday and Friday. Therefore, we are First Alerting for those days as lows will be in the low 90s and highs in the range of 112-114 — dangerous heat for sure. We’re also first alerting for Monday as forecast charts indicate we could have intense monsoon storms early next week.

Moisture will return rapidly to the state beginning Saturday, and by Saturday night, we could see a few storms around metro Phoenix. Also, our high on Saturday will drop down to at least 109. Additional moisture will arrive on Sunday, resulting in an uptick in thunderstorm activity statewide. Again, we expect a high of 105. While it’s still early, we could see an intense monsoon day on Monday, with over a 50% chance for rain. And with all the clouds and rain possible Monday, we could see afternoon temperatures in the 90s.

Some of the overall rainfall forecasts put the Valley in the ½” range Monday, but with the nature of monsoon storms, we could easily see a lot more rain in localized areas.

AZFamily's First Alert Weather Mobile App

AZFamily's First Alert Weather App First lets you track storms and get severe weather alerts wherever you are. Get animated radar, hourly and 10-day forecasts, video updates, rainfall totals, and an interactive traffic map. It also provides a 250-meter radar, which is the highest resolution possible. This radar allows you to look into the future so you can see where the storm is headed.

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