Yuma rainfall on par with yearly averages

Even with the rainfall that hit the local area on Wednesday and Thursday, Yuma is currently within its average amount of rainfall for the year.

When looking at the amount of rainfall recorded at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma from Jan. 1 through Aug. 30, the local area has seen 2.03 inches of rain so far this year, said Erik Pindrock, Accuweather meteorologist.

He noted that the average amount of precipitation for the Yuma area up through this point of the year is about 2.01 inches.

When looking at recent thunderstorms and showers on Wednesday, Pindrock said that Yuma saw a couple isolated pockets of showers that resulted in a couple of tenths of an inch of rainfall.

As of 3 p.m. Thursday, he explained that MCAS-Yuma reported 0.12 inches of rain, where other points around town saw 0.11 inches and others 0.08 inches. The Fortuna Foothills area, however, saw 0.27 inches of rain. Pindrock said that most of the rainfall on Thursday fell between 3 a.m. and 12 p.m.

“There's a pocket of moisture that moved up from the South, from Mexico, into Southwestern Arizona and Southern California and that helped to trigger a few showers.”

Pindrock commented that areas in southern Yuma County could continue to see thunderstorms throughout Thursday evening due to that same system of moisture.

“Once the sun sets (Thursday), I think that'll kill off a lot of the showers and storms around,” he said.

In regards to the holiday weekend, Pindrock shared that the high is expected to stay in the 98 to 104 degree range. He noted that the average high for the end of August and early part of September is generally around 106 degrees for the area.

“Looking at the forecast, temperatures may actually be a couple degrees below normal,” he said.

Pindrock said that while there may be moisture remaining in the area in the coming days causing some additional rainfall, most of the weekend will remain dry.

“Friday through Monday there's a slight chance for a shower storm each one of those days. It's certainly not going to be raining all the time and most of the time it is going to be dry, but there's at least a slight chance for a shower storm popping up during the afternoon and evening hours all four of those days.”

He added that Sunday has the highest chance of possible showers.

Sarah Womer can be reached at swomer@yumasun.com or 539-6858. Find her on Facebook at Facebook.com/YSSarahWomer or on Twitter at @YSSarahWomer.