Arizona Weather 3/9 Morning - Thunderstorms Starting 5 PM

Good morning. Arizona. I'm Aaron Jolly. Step outside right now and you're feeling 62 degrees of pure early spring bliss. Clear skies. Light breeze. Gorgeous. But a cutoff low is sliding east from Baja California. And it's about to crash the party. Central Arizona starts sunny with a high near 81 degrees. Then around 5 P.M., thunderstorms fire up. You could see a tenth to a quarter inch of rain, gusty winds. And small hail. Those storms stick around through 5 A.M. Tuesday, so tonight drops to 56 degrees under mostly cloudy skies. Down in Southern Arizona, storms arrive earlier — around 2 P.M. — and they mean business. Tucson tops out at 79 degrees before showers and thunderstorms ramp up. By tonight, there's a 90 percent chance of storms, with rainfall totals between a quarter and half an inch. Strong southerly winds gust to 35 miles an hour, possibly higher along the border. Lows fall to 50 degrees. Northern Arizona stays quieter. Flagstaff reaches 61 degrees under sunny skies with breezy southwest winds gusting to 21 miles an hour. A slight chance of rain showers develops late tonight — possibly mixing with snow above 7,000 feet — with lows dropping to 31 degrees. Tuesday stays unsettled with lingering showers, especially in the south. Then the pattern flips. Strong high pressure builds Wednesday. And temperatures skyrocket. By Thursday. Phoenix hits 92 degrees. Friday? 94 degrees. The weekend brings near-record heat — 95 degrees Saturday and Sunday. Some lower desert communities could touch 100 degrees by next week. Enjoy today's warmth while it lasts. See you this afternoon.