Hurricane Priscilla And Tropical Storm Raymond's Impacts On The Southwest (RECAP)

The remnants of Hurricane Priscilla and Tropical Storm Raymond brought significant rainfall to the Southwest between October 9 and 13, 2025. Priscilla was the first to move through the area, with Raymond hitting many of the same places just a couple of days after.

Starting With Priscilla

On the first day of October, the National Hurricane Center began monitoring an area capable of tropical development. On Oct. 4, Priscilla was named a tropical storm off the coast of southwestern Mexico.

Priscilla was large from the get go, so despite never making landfall, the storm lashed the west Mexico coastline with tropical-storm-force winds, large waves and rainfall from outer bands as it moved northwestward.

The storm peaked as a powerful category 2 hurricane on Tuesday, Oct. 7, before beginning to weaken as it moved into cooler water.

The storm weakened back to a tropical storm on Oct. 8 and eventually fell apart as a remnant low on Oct. 9, never actually making landfall in Mexico.

Priscilla's Remnants Soak Southwest

For those of you who love stats, get ready for the following section.

Las Vegas saw 0.92 inches of rainfall on Oct. 10, which was its fourth wettest day ever recorded in October. This rainfall total shattered the previous daily rainfall record of 0.16 set back in 2012. Daily records also fell across parts of Arizona, including Flagstaff, Winslow and Prescott.

Jacks Canyon, located east-southeast of Flagstaff, Arizona, saw a more than 5-foot rise in water levels on the morning of Oct. 10 due to around one inch of rain.

In Arizona, Flagstaff saw more than 2 inches of rain over Oct. 10 and 11. U.S. 60 was closed in both directions in the Mesa area southeast of Phoenix on Sunday morning as standing water covered the roadway. Flooded roads were also seen to the north near Sedona.

This rainfall spread north to Colorado as well.

Grand Junction, CO also saw more than 2 inches of rain, setting daily rainfall records on both days. Hundreds were ordered to evacuate from the Vallecito Creek area north of Durango, where overflowing mountain streams put homes at risk.

Raymond Piles On

Tropical Depression 17-E formed on the morning of Oct. 9, southwest of Mexico as the Southwest was beginning to see Priscilla's impacts.

The system was named Tropical Storm Raymond just a few hours later and followed a similar track along the west Mexico coastline, hitting parts of the coastline with tropical-storm-force winds and rainfall.

A flash flood emergency was issued for parts of Pinal County in southeastern Arizona late in the morning of Oct. 12. The National Weather Service warned that 2-3 inches of rainfall fell during the time the flash flood emergency was in place.

Numerous water rescues were reported around Phoenix due to the heavy rain.

Sky Harbor Airport has picked up 3.26 inches of rain so far this month, its third wettest October on record, helped to the combined rainfall from Priscilla and Raymond. Phoenix's average rainfall for October is about 0.56 inches.

The city saw nearly three inches of rainfall in three days, its wettest 3-day stretch in October.

Some Moisture Was Needed

The Southwest was experiencing significant drought conditions ahead of the storms. The entire states of Arizona and Utah were in at least moderate drought stage, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

While rainfall from these types of storms can be helpful, that much rainfall in such a short period of time is not as helpful for relieving drought as people would think.

Why Pacific Hurricanes Matter In The Southwest

When the region is called the Desert Southwest, it is no surprise that rainfall is scarce.

Phoenix, for example, has a yearly average rainfall of 7.22 inches, with no monthly average even reaching 1 inch.

But states like California and Arizona do experience bursts of moisture from the tropics several times during a year.

These bursts of moisture can often bring several inches of rainfall. That may not seem like a lot to someone in the Southeast, but to the Southwest, this is a big deal.

Desert soil isn’t able to hold moisture as well as other regions, so it doesn’t take much rainfall before runoff and flooding begin. Dangerous land and rock slides are often not far behind.

And recent burn scars are even more susceptible to these dangerous debris flows and landslides.

Rob Shackelford is a meteorologist and climate scientist at weather.com. He received his undergraduate and master’s degrees from the University of Georgia studying meteorology and experimenting with alternative hurricane forecasting tools.