Meteorologist Matt Pace On Phoenix Area Rain, 2021 Monsoon
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Last year it may have been a "non-soon" season, but our old friend the monsoon is showing up this time around.
The Phoenix area saw record rainfall this weekend, with some areas seeing more than 3 inches.
Reports from Sky Harbor show that more rain fell over the last few days than all of the 2020’s monsoon.
In Scottsdale, much of the rainwater flows south through the city’s green belt into the Salt River bottom and into the Tempe Town lake. Despite the heavy rains, the manmade lake barely rose.
“So really what you would have seen had you observed the lake throughout the past 72 or even longer maybe 5 days is you would have seen it rise by a very small amount, maybe less than a foot in lake level before the dam went into automatic mode which caused the gate to open slightly,” said Craig Caggiano ,Tempe water resources manager.
From there, the water flowed out of the dam into the Salt River bottom where it continued downstream. Since the lake levels remain steady, recreational activities were able to continue throughout the weekend.
And when it rains, The Show turns to meteorologist Matt Pace with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to learn more about what's happening with the weather.
KJZZ's Thalia Lopez contributed to this report.
