Arizona braces for Halloween weekend rain

Clouds are rolling in across the valley, setting the stage for a soggy weekend ahead. Check out this live look right now from our South Mountain tower cam. And Erica is busy over in the Weather Center tracking the radar for us. She'll have that coming up in just a few minutes. Well, we're coming off a wild week of severe weather. It included three confirmed tornadoes and, of course, that massive hail here in the valley. And as we head into the Halloween weekend, more rain systems are on the horizon. Fox 10's Taylor Wertz has more now for those who are trying to make plans for the weekend. Taylor. Yeah, guys. While meteorologists say that there could be wind, rain and possibly even hail this weekend, we probably won't get to the same severe level of risk that we had last week. But for people trying to plan any sort of event this holiday weekend, they tell me they're still going to be prepared for anything. Arizona has had a busy few weeks of weather. I think what people have been most surprised by is that the storm action did not stop at the end of the monsoon season. There have been two rounds of very stormy, very wet conditions due to tropical moisture. The National Weather Service confirming that third tornado near Wing Mountain outside Flagstaff saying it reached an estimated peak wind of 110 miles per hour. The tornado watch that we got last week was the first time that we had had one since 2010. And historically, although we do average maybe one or two tornadoes in a year around the state of Arizona, they're usually short-lived, very weak. The Phoenix area saw its own share of storms that caused damage to homes and vehicles. And then the hail that we saw just last week, damaging hail with two separate supercells that passed through the valley. And with Halloween weekend approaching, Event organizers across the valley are bracing for what could be some soggy celebrations as another round of stormy conditions comes Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Jordana Carvalho with entertainment group Relentless Beats is expecting tens of thousands to come out to the Rawhide Event Center in Chandler for two days of concerts. Right now with our tents, we have added extra ballast, extra weights. Everything's being taken care of and looked into for any type of weather, wind, water, rain, lightning, anything that we might see. She says the show will go on, rain or shine, with a few exceptions for safety. We are watching lightning and we're watching wind, because those are the other two major factors that can impact a show to the point where we'd be making some very important show decisions. The good news for trick-or-treaters? Meteorologists say there may be a window for the kiddos to get their candy on Saturday. For trick-or-treaters, the early evening hours are looking better than the later hours. So for our youngest trick-or-treaters, things might be better. So if you do have plans this weekend, you might want to bring an umbrella or rain poncho. But hopefully, as Crystal said, there will be enough of a cushion for those trick-or-treaters before any rain hits on Saturday. Live in Phoenix, Taylor Wertz, Fox 10 News. All right, well, we are all getting ready for it, that rain coming over the weekend. In fact, parts of the valley are already under a flood watch. Meteorologist Erica Horvatin joining us now with those details. Erica. Yeah, flood watches are out for Friday and Sunday across much of Arizona. And we're just starting to see a lot of that upper level moisture streaming into the state. You can see all of the clouds out there over Tempe Town Lake and the valley this evening. And even a little bit of Virga, which is noticeable if you look at the base of the clouds. And they are just a little bit wispy. Well, that would be evaporating rain from those clouds. Temperatures are at 83. It's definitely a really nice day out there still with the clouds because they kept our temperatures cooler. Now, we are still looking pretty dry across the state, but there are some warnings to tell you about. There's a severe thunderstorm warning in far southeast Arizona. This is along the I-10 east of Wilcox, southeast of Safford. And a severe thunderstorm warning is in effect until 530 there since this storm is producing strong wind gusts. and some hail and a flood advisory was just turned over to a flash flood warning for that part of the state. So anybody driving the I-10 over between New Mexico and Arizona would be impacted by that storm. But you can look out to the Pacific and see just a ton of clouds and even some rain already streaming into central California. We have an atmospheric river setting up over the next several days, which is going to bring that moisture directly into the state. Tomorrow, we'll see an 80 percent chance of storms and it will continue. Friday night, but it should pretty much move out by Saturday and we'll only see a chance for some hit or miss showers on Saturday for Halloween. By Saturday night, we are looking at a 100% chance of rain, which will continue into Sunday. So if you do have late night Halloween plans Saturday night, the rain could affect your plans. And the same goes for the high country. The chances are looking really similar where we'll be seeing those drier skies on Saturday. But by Saturday night, things really start to ramp up. A flood watch will be in effect for the valley along with central Arizona's mountains for tomorrow from mid-morning until the afternoon. And that flood watch is extended to the rest of northern and eastern Arizona from Saturday night through Sunday night because we're expecting so much rain on already pretty moist soil.