August 9, 2026: Major Wind Damage in the Phoenix Area

August 9, 2026: Major Wind Damage in the Phoenix Area

On the evening of Sunday, August 9th, a cluster of intense thunderstorms impacted portions of the Phoenix metro area resulting in major wind damage. At approximately 8 PM MST, a cluster of thunderstorms formed along a southwestward-moving outflow boundary near North Mountain Park, just east of I-17 in North Phoenix, and quickly intensified before moving southwestward and impacting the Glendale area. The activity rapidly grew in scale and tracked westward, paralleling I-10 and directly impacting large portions of the Phoenix West Valley, including the communities of Tolleson, Litchfield Park, Avondale, Goodyear, and Buckeye (Fig. 1). As the cluster of thunderstorms tracked westward along I-10, it intensified even more. The Phoenix Terminal Doppler Radar (TPHX) base velocity product sampled wind speeds exceeding 70–80 mph (Fig. 2). These high-end radar wind estimates were confirmed by surface ground truth observations as a Citizen Weather Observer Program (CWOP) weather station in Buckeye recorded a peak wind gust of 84 mph and the Buckeye Municipal Airport recorded a peak gust of 73 mph.

Fig. 1: Radar reflectivity imagery between 7:32 PM MST and 10:22 PM MST on August 9, 2026 from the KIWA (Phoenix, AZ) radar showing the thunderstorm cluster that caused the extensive wind damage across the Phoenix West Valley. The yellow polygons denote the Severe Thunderstorm Warnings issued by the NWS Phoenix Weather Forecast Office. 

Fig. 2: Radar base velocity imagery from 07:01 PM MST to 10:19 PM MST on August 9, 2026, from the Phoenix Terminal Doppler Radar (TPHX). TPHX sampled winds in excess of 70-80 mph generated by the thunderstorm cluster as it migrated westward through the Phoenix West Valley. Green colors indicate inbound velocity (toward the radar) and red colors indicate outbound velocity (away from the radar). The purple haze is indicative of range-folding which is caused by blockage of the radar beam from nearby terrain features.

With such high wind speeds,  it was not surprising that extensive damage was observed along the storm’s path (Fig. 3-7). Reports gathered from social media and local television news outlets confirmed the damage, with numerous very large trees uprooted or snapped. Heavy infrastructure damage was also observed as numerous power poles were snapped or blown over. According to utility updates from both Salt River Project (SRP) and Arizona Public Service (APS), over 50,000 total customers lost power during the height of the storm. Structural damage was reported across the impacted areas, including destroyed carports, blown-in garage doors, and roof parts blown off. Notably, the most severe damage occurred in Avondale, where the extreme winds lifted and rolled several massive metal construction pipes—weighing at least 1,000 lbs each—into a neighboring community, causing extensive property damage.

Fig. 3: Massive uprooted tree causing major damage to a couple of vehicles and a carport inside an apartment complex located at 47th and Northern Avenues in Glendale (photo credit: JS Ackzen on Facebook). 

Fig. 4: Multiple blown over powerpoles along 43rd Avenue north of Dunlap Avenue in Glendale (photo credit: Arizona News on X).

Fig. 5-6: Images of the major wind damage in the neighborhood community of Sage Creek located near the area of Dysart and Indian School Roads in Avondale. Left image: major damage to the roof of a house as dozens of shingles were blown off; Right image: A blown-in garage door of another house (photo credit: Tyrone Banks Jr. on Facebook).

Fig. 7: Several large metal construction pipes blown over into a neighborhood located near Indian School Road and El Mirage Avenue in Avondale (footage credit: AZ Family).

Environmental Setup: A weather balloon released from the NWS Phoenix Weather Forecast Office at 5 PM MST, approximately three hours prior to the initial storm initiation, revealed an environment favorable for severe weather activity (Fig. 8). Moderate atmospheric instability was present, characterized by a mixed-layer convective available potential energy (MLCAPE) value around 1000 J/kg. The surface convective inhibition (CINH) was under 20 J/kg, which was low enough for the outflow boundary to create enough lift to overcome the CINH that was present and cause convective initiation. The critical parameter that most likely drove the extreme surface winds was the exceptionally high downdraft convective available potential energy (DCAPE), which measured near 2000 J/kg. Based on historical upper-air sounding climatology for Phoenix, a DCAPE measurement of 2000 J/kg ranks above the 90th percentile. This magnitude provided immense energy to accelerate rain-cooled downdraft air rapidly toward the surface and drove the destructive straight-line winds that were observed across the Phoenix West Valley (Fig. 9).

Fig. 8: A technical schematic of weather data, or sounding, obtained from a routine weather balloon release at 5 PM MST on August 9, 2026 from the NWS Phoenix Office. The data reflect a moderately unstable air mass along with a dry low-level atmospheric layer, signaling the potential for very strong downdrafts.

Fig. 9: DCAPE climatology from soundings in Phoenix. The 2000 J/kg DCAPE measured by the 5 PM MST August 9, 2026 upper-air sounding was above the 90th percentile of climatology (orange line). Note, the NWS Phoenix Weather Forecast Office almost exclusively launches weather balloons during the monsoon, which explains the lack of climate data during the months outside the monsoon in this chart.