Cooler weather splashes into the Valley with weekend storm

PHOENIX — Cooler weather made a splashing return to the Valley on Sunday.

Thanks to a freak rainstorm, Sunday’s high reached a blissful 87. That’s 19 degrees below average. The last time 2013 enjoyed cooler weather was May 8, when it reached 84. That temperature was eight degrees below average.

The record low for July in Phoenix is 63 set July 4-5 1912.

The National Weather Service said the kind of storm that rolled through over the weekend was rare for the Valley.

“It happens about once each summer where we get extremely efficient rainfall producing storms, but they don’t usually fall over the metro area,” said spokesman Chris Kuhlman.

Over a 24-hour period, Cave Creek notched 2 inches of rain, parts of Fountain Hills got 1 inch and southeast Phoenix had 0.71 of an inch.

The storm caused quite a bit of flooding and shut down some major roadways around the Valley.