Insider Blog: September 2026 Weather Recap
September was an overall warm month with more days ABOVE normal. The majority of the month was dry, but we had a few rainy days that brought measurable and record rainfall. Take a look at our weather recap and stats for the month of September.
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA) - It was a warm month overall for the month of September. The warmest day recorded in September was 110 degrees on Thursday, September 10th. The coolest day for the month was Monday, September 28th, with a high of 84 degrees.
Yuma did have multiple record-warm low temperatures: 87ºF on Sep 9th, 87ºF on Sep 10th, 88°F on Sep 11th, 86°F on Sep 12th, 85°F on Sep 13th.
Pretty much the entire month, we had more days above normal, but we did have some days where we were below normal or seasonable.
It's been a dry month, and we did have a few rain events. A few days out of the month we didn't get measurable rain, and it was recorded as TRACE, which is too small to measure. However, toward the end of the month, we had two days in a row where we received measurable rain.
For the month of September, we accumulated 0.32", which is great, but it still wasn't enough to keep up with our average for the month. Our average for September is 0.68", which leaves us below -0.36" for the month.
Now, this month isn't ranked the wettest, but it's ranked 44 (1 being the wettest and 149 being the driest). The wettest recorded for September is 5.14" in 1997.
We have to recognize and celebrate the daily rain record that was broken on Tuesday, September 28th where 0.30" was recorded breaking the daily rain record of 0.28" that was set back in 1905.
Now, let's look at where Yuma stands with our yearly rainfall total. Since the start of the year, so far in 2026, Yuma has accumulated 0.38", which is a very small amount.
Comparing it with our 2026 yearly average, we actually should be at 2.49", which is well below normal. We are really below for the year by -2.11".
However, with what Yuma has accumulated so far for 2026 and compared to our total around this same time back in 2025, we were actually at 2.35" in 2025. Around this time last year, we had more measurable rain recorded.
However, with the lack of rain and warm weather we had this month, it didn't bring major changes to our drought conditions. We are still trending 100% dry and 100% moderate for Yuma County. Yuma County also has a severe drought at the tip of the county toward the east.
Even Imperial County is seeing dry and a chunk of moderate drought conditions as well.
You can also check our drought conditions weekly for both Arizona and California.
Here are the overall September 2026 summary stats. Yuma's mean average for high temperatures was just slight below average. But the average low and mean were above-normal. Yuma also saw below-average rainfall for this month.
El Centro had above-normal high, low, and mean temperatures for the month. But El Centro did have slightly above-normal rainfall.
You can also read more about Yuma and El Centro 2026 September Climate Stats and Data Report for the month from the NWS Phoenix.
MONSOON OUTLOOK: Monsoon season has come to an end. Here's a recap of how the season went. Monsoon season has officially come to an end, and unfortunately, it was a very dry one for us here in Yuma. We had below-average rainfall for Monsoon 2026.
Monsoon season is June 5th- September 30th, and during that time period, Yuma accumulated 0.35" for the season, and our average is 1.13". It was a dry period with below-normal rainfall for Monsoon 2026.
El Centro had slightly below-normal rainfall this monsoon season. El Centro recorded 0.23" for the season, which the average is 0.44" for the season.
Taking a look at monsoon season climate stats Yuma and El Centro experienced above average temperatures driven in large part to very warm morning lows. Rainfall totals ranged below average in Yuma and El Centro.
You can also pick out a noticeable high and low rainfall totals from West to East across our region with much lower totals in South Eastern California and South Western Arizona compared to very high totals in east Mesa and the Globe/Miami area.
