Palm Springs had reported a daily high temperature above 110 degrees on six of the past 10 days. The Coachella Valley and all of Southern California have experienced triple-digit heat and calls to conserve energy for the past 10 days, with most areas under an excessive heat warning since Aug. The two wettest days for the year occurred on Feb. Prior to Friday, Palm Springs had only reported 0.15 of an inch of rain for the entire year. Maxwell said that although winter storms and monsoons are relatively common in the desert, rain originating from a tropical system was 'fairly rare.' By Friday evening, the system was a tropical depression, but its effects could still be felt across southern California.

The rain is part of the remnants of Hurricane Kay that moved northward along Baja California and was roughly 130 miles southwest of San Diego, according to Maxwell. National Weather Service meteorologist Brandt Maxwell said the nature of the tropical weather system passing over mountains made it difficult to predict how the weather would play out, but noted that the rain could continue as late as Monday in some areas. Those affected included about 2,500 people in Indio, 500 in Thermal, 420 in Palm Springs, 40 in Palm Desert and a small but unspecified number near Desert Hot Springs.Īs of Saturday afternoon, 20 customers in Desert Hot Springs and six in Cathedral City were still affected but were expected to have service restored by 6:30 p.m. Thousands of people in the valley lost power Friday afternoon or evening, though most outages were resolved by later that night, utilities said. Rainfall totals elsewhere as of Saturday morning were:īox Canyon Road south of Interstate 10 was closed Saturday due to sweeping mud and was expected to reopen on Sunday. Palm Desert received the most rain of any area of the Coachella Valley, picking up 0.91 inches. No city in the desert was spared of its largest soaking in 2022, according to numbers updated at 9 p.m. Friday, making it the wettest day of the year, according to the National Weather Service. Palm Springs received nearly a half inch of rainfall (0.46 inches) as of 9 p.m. The National Weather Service said Saturday afternoon that heavy rain would continue at times in the lower valley near the Salton Sea.Ī relentless heat wave across the valley and southern California ended Friday with a storm that brought the valley's first rainfall in almost three months. Rain slowed in the Coachella Valley on Saturday following a wet Friday night, although a flood advisory remained in effect until midnight.

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