Thunderstorm Wind — Maricopa, Arizona

2025-10-13 · near Peterson, Maricopa, Arizona

Event narrative

Extreme and widespread wind damage from a supercell thunderstorm was observed in Tempe. The most severe damage was concentrated in a 2-2.5 mile north-south corridor just east of I-10, between Downtown Tempe and Warner Road. A damage assessment, based on 1086 total surveys conducted in the days following the event, determined that over 550 homes and 70 businesses were damaged. Some of the home property damaged included two apartment complexes, located near the area of Mill Avenue and U.S. 60, that had 55 units that were deemed uninhabitable, with 11 additional units having severe damage. In total 89 units were impacted, equating to a total of 267 tenants affected. One mobile home park, located near the area of Baseline and Kyrene Roads, suffered severe damage with 6 mobile homes deemed uninhabitable with 336 additional sustaining severe damage. An industrial park located just across the street from the mobile home park had 63 businesses destroyed/sustain severe damage. Approximately 520 trees were lost in parks alone with many more downed trees, some very large-sized, causing damage to buildings and vehicles and downing powerlines. There were a total of 1500 tons of debris generated from the damage. A damage survey conducted by NWS Phoenix Meteorologists in the most affected areas supported peak wind gusts upwards of 80-90 mph. Given the extensive wind damage, a local state of emergency was declared for Tempe. Total damage cost was estimated at least $1.5 million.

Wider weather episode

A nearly stationary upper-level trough combined with tropical moisture remnants from Tropical Storms Priscilla and Raymond, which developed off the eastern Pacific, led to scattered to widespread thunderstorm activity across much of south-central AZ. Beginning late on the 8th through the 9th, very anomalous moisture from Tropical Cyclone Priscilla surged northward with PWATs rising to over 1.5+, which was an all-time record for early October. Light to moderate rainfall developed, with the most widespread activity occurring from the afternoon of the 10th into the early afternoon of the 11th. Even though rainfall rates were light with no flooding occurring with this initial activity, it saturated the soils for the heavy rainfall that would develop hours later.

Heading into the pre-dawn hours on the 12th, another moisture surge, this time from the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Raymond, combined with strong upper-level ascent from the aforementioned low pressure system off the west coast to trigger scattered thunderstorm activity across much of south-central AZ during the morning and early afternoon hours. With MLCAPE values having increased to around 1000 J/KG, the environment was conducive to high rainfall rates in excess of 1-2+ an hour. These high rainfall rates falling on top of saturated soils resulted in numerous instances of flash flooding across much of south-central AZ.

Another round of scattered thunderstorm activity developed during the afternoon hours on the 13th. With MLCAPE values peaking at 1000 J/KG and deep-layered shear values approaching 50 kts, the environment became conducive for the development of severe thunderstorms, including supercells. One such supercell affected the Chandler, Tempe, and Scottsdale areas with the city of Tempe being severely hit with extensive wind damage from large, mature trees uprooted or snapped, some of which damaged buildings and vehicles, to downed powerlines, and roofs blown off buildings. A damage survey conducted by some NWS Phoenix Meteorologists supported wind gusts with this supercell peaking around 80-90 mph. Other storms that developed through the afternoon and early evening resulted in large hail and more instances of flash flooding. By the end of the multi-day event, rainfall totals ranged between 1.00-1.50' across the Phoenix West Valley to as high as 3.50-4.50' across the Phoenix East Valley, with locations across the foothills and higher terrain areas observing total amounts of 2.50-6.00'.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.3807, -111.9417)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1296466. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.