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It’s been nearly two months since the monsoon season ended. But that hasn’t meant the end of rain in Phoenix this year. This week, Phoenix’s streets have been lined with wet pavements and the normally blue skies have been clouded by menacing rain clouds.
Still, it’s unlikely that this month will be among Phoenix’s wettest Novembers on record. But Phoenix will likely get enough rain to surpass its average November rainfall.
According to the National Weather Service, the city has had 0.29 inches of rain — split between Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday — so far this month. (The NWS collects its official measurements from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.) That’s about 0.3 inches away from reaching the month’s historical average of 0.59 inches. But it’s a big improvement over last year: No rain was recorded in Phoenix last November.
The current weather system, which has been traveling east from California, has mostly been concentrated in the northwest Valley on Monday and Tuesday. Parts of the northwest Valley saw as much as 2.45 inches of rain during that period, said NWS meteorologist Alicia Ryan. Some areas even saw hail.
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On Wednesday and into Thursday, that rain system was more squarely concentrated on top of Sky Harbor and the East Valley. The estimated rainfall total for the storm is between 0.75 inches to one inch of rain, Ryan said on Wednesday. The East Valley was hit harder than Sky Harbor itself, according to rainfall data from the Flood Control District of Maricopa County. Some areas of the East Valley, concentrated around Mesa, saw as much as 1.26 inches of rain over that period. Only 0.17 inches of rain were measured at Sky Harbor on Wednesday.
Data from National Weather Service
The 10 rainiest Novembers in Phoenix history
But crack the top 10 wettest Novembers, it won’t. The November months at the top of that list all topped two inches of rain. All but one took place in the previous century. Here are the 10 wettest Novembers in Phoenix’s history:
- 1905 – 3.61 inches of rain. Phoenix saw major destructive flooding in the Gila River basin this month.
- 1931 – 3.18 inches
- 1923 – 2.84 inches
- 1993 – 2.79 inches
- 1952 – 2.60 inches
- 1982 – 2.50 inches
- 2013 – 2.43 inches. The total rainfall this month was concentrated over a three-day period. The second day, Nov. 22, was Phoenix’s second-wettest November day on record.
- 1919 – 2.38 inches. The city experienced a rare snowfall this month.
- 1978 – 2.30 inches
- 1902 – 2.01 inches
So far, November 2025 has a long way to go. But it may be too early to discount this year entirely.
Last month was the third wettest October on record, with 3.26 inches of rain. It’s also possible Phoenix will experience more rain beyond Thursday. There’s a 15-30% chance of rain into the weekend and the rest of the month, with an “above normal” chance of precipitation, Ryan said.
