Gila Bend, Arizona Weather Forecast Discussion

634
FXUS65 KPSR 082126
AFDPSR
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Phoenix AZ
226 PM MST Mon Sep 8 2025
.KEY MESSAGES...
- A few isolated showers and thunderstorms over prominent terrain
  features of Southwest and South Central Arizona cannot be ruled
  out this afternoon.
- Overall dry conditions are expected for the next 7 days with
  only slight chances for rain over the eastern Arizona high
  terrain late Wednesday into Thursday.
- Temperatures will stay within the normal range into mid week,
  resulting in locally Moderate Heat Risk for the lower deserts,
  before cooling slightly late week.
&&
.SHORT TERM /TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY/...
A broad area of negative midlevel height anomalies has begun to push
into the Western CONUS, with its center currently just off the
NorCal Coast. Meanwhile, the region remains under the influence of a
subtropical high now centered just west of Baja California. Modest
west/southwest flow aloft between these synoptic features continues
to modify moisture profiles, with a sharp decrease in dewpoints
above ~600 mb evident in 12Z soundings from both Phoenix and Yuma
(slightly drier out west, with the sharp vertical dewpoint gradient
present at a lower altitude in Yuma). However, lingering low level
moisture made for a warmer than normal and rather humid morning
across South-Central and Southwest AZ, with widespread surface
dewpoints in the middle 60s and even some spots in the lower 70s
such as the Yuma area. Objective analysis also showed mean near-
surface (1000-700 mb layer) mixing ratios between 11-13 g/kg across
a rather broad area. Once again, this should be sufficient to
support isolated showers and perhaps a few thunderstorms over
prominent terrain features. Chances for showers/storms across the
area are generally 10% or less except over the mountains south of I-
8 between Gila Bend and Casa Grande, where chances are closer to
20%. As dry air continues to mix down into the boundary layer, rain
chances will fall below 5% by Tuesday, even over higher terrain.
Temperatures today and Tuesday have trended upwards another degree
or so and are now forecast to reach 102-106F across the lower
deserts, the warmest forecast values of the next 7 days according to
the latest NBM. These high temps are not far from daily normals for
the time of year, however, this translates to widespread Minor and
locally Moderate HeatRisk for the typically hotter lower desert
locales.
&&
.LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY/...
The Pacific low to our northwest will begin to expand and push
inland Tuesday into Wednesday with the low center stalling out
across northern California. The southeastern fringes of the larger
scale trough will eventually spread over our region by Wednesday
causing noticeable height falls. This will drive an increase in
winds by Wednesday with much of the area seeing afternoon wind
gusts to around 25 mph. Temperatures will also begin to lower on
Wednesday, more so across southeast California and southwest
Arizona where highs should drop to below 100 degrees.
As the trough gradually spreads over our region, southerly flow
will also increase briefly advecting some moisture northward into
eastern Arizona. PWATs will still be on the lower side at around
1.0", but with some weak upper level forcing moving into the area
it may be enough for some low end rain chances across the eastern
Arizona high terrain Wednesday night into Thursday.
Ensemble guidance is in fairly good agreement showing the low
center sagging farther to the south into the southern half of
California and/or into southern Nevada late Thursday before
lifting back to the northeast on Friday. This should bring even
lower heights over our region by Friday likely resulting in our
`coolest` day of the week with highs in the mid to upper 90s
across the lower deserts. Broad troughing is then expected to
somewhat stay over our region through the weekend and possibly
longer with a second Pacific low developing off the California
coast next weekend. This pattern should keep temperatures from
rising much next weekend with the latest NBM forecast highs
showing readings mostly in the upper 90s to around 100 degrees.
Guidance also shows even drier air filtering through the entire
area by next weekend pushing PWATs to as low as 0.5", or around
50% of normal for the period.
&&
.AVIATION...Updated at 1744Z.
South Central Arizona including KPHX, KIWA, KSDL, and KDVT:
Winds will favor the W through the rest of today with winds
becoming light and variable at KSDL and KDVT by this evening.
Winds will switch around to the east overnight tonight. Wind
speeds during the day will mostly stay between 5-10 kts, with a
few afternoon breezes into the teens. Skies will remain mostly
clear throughout much of the TAF period with the exception of FEW-
SCT CU with bases around 7-8 kft developing this afternoon. There
is a very low chance (

NWS PSR Office Area Forecast Discussion