The monsoon is officially over, and this year’s season was especially active when it comes to flash flood warning alerts across southern Arizona.
Between July and September, the National Weather Service issued 246 flash flood warnings.
Glenn Lader, a meteorologist with the NWS in Tucson, said that’s a record high.
“We issued more flash flood warnings this year than any year going back as far as we have data, back into the 1980s,” Lader said.
Severe thunderstorm warnings did not quite have a record year, but it was in the top three, Lader said.
The 2026 monsoon season was wetter than normal in many areas, with Tucson ending up close to average.
Lader said rainfall varied significantly across the city, with 5.76 inches at the airport, some areas getting upwards of 15 or more inches of rain, while others in midtown had about 3 inches.
“There's quite a lot of variability that we have seen in monsoon rain. But overall as a whole across the region, the most areas had a near to above normal rainfall,” said Lader.
Experts said the monsoon also brought periods of high humidity.
“Our humidity levels were well above normal with our dew points elevated pretty much every day,” Lader said. “We ended the year with a very wet spell with the impacts from (Hurricane) Polo.”
Southern Arizona could be looking at a wetter-than-normal winter due to an unusually active hurricane season in the Pacific.
The weather service recommended keeping that in mind if you live in an area susceptible to heavy rain.
