Thunderstorm Wind — Maricopa, Arizona

2018-07-11 · near Glendale, Maricopa, Arizona

Event narrative

Thunderstorms developed over the western portion of the greater Phoenix area, including the community of Glendale, during late afternoon hours on July 11th. Some of the stronger storms produced intense rainfall as well as gusty damaging outflow winds. According to a report from the Phoenix Fire Department and Rescue, a down burst occurred directly overhead of a major grocery store located about 3 miles east of the town of Glendale. Winds were estimated between 40 and 60 mph. In addition, very heavy rain occurred with rainfall totals estimated to be about one inch within a 30 minute period. At 1730MST, a fire occurred at the Safeway grocery store and the winds and rain were considered to be contributing factors to the fire. The Safeway store, near the intersection of 35th Avenue and Northern Avenue and just west of Interstate 17, was completely destroyed due to the fire. Fortunately, all of the people within the store were evacuated and no injuries occurred to either store patrons or fire and rescue personnel.

Wider weather episode

Scattered thunderstorms developed over portions of the greater Phoenix metropolitan area, including the community of Glendale, during the late afternoon and evening hours on July 11th. Atmospheric conditions on this day were favorable for both gusty and damaging thunderstorm outflow winds as well as locally heavy rainfall. Reports from the public and trained spotters indicated locally heavy rains with peak rain rates approaching 2 inches per hour. This resulted in street flooding as well as the issuance of multiple flood advisories for the Phoenix area. In addition, some of the stronger storms produced gusty and damaging down burst winds; trees were damaged in the community of Surprise and a Safeway grocery store in Glendale suffered wind and water damage. The damage was a contributing factor to a fire which almost completely destroyed the store.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.5500, -112.1300)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 758864. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.