Alert archive / Arizona / Pima County

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Pima County, Arizona

2,123 severe thunderstorm warnings since 1986. An alert counts here when it covered this county. The archive of severe thunderstorm warnings reaches back to 1986.

Pima County and its neighbors

Each county as a circle sized by its count since 1986. Tap one for its archive.

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings
2,123
Busiest year
2024192 severe thunderstorm warnings
Average year
52over 41 years on file

Over time

By year

Before October 2007 these were issued for whole counties, and a storm crossing three counties was often three warnings; since then one polygon follows the storm. The count changed with the practice, not only with the weather.

Warning verification

How often warnings here had a storm report inside them, and how much warning the reports had.

From 2008 to 2025, 71% of hail, wind and damage reports in Pima County fell inside a severe thunderstorm warning issued on average 19 minutes before, and 80% of the severe thunderstorm warnings had no report inside them.

Severe thunderstorm warnings by year

WarningsWith a reportFalse alarm ratioReportsInside a warningMean lead time
200876791%2552%22 min
200924771%2552%15 min
2010471960%4774%24 min
2011851879%6582%20 min
2012811680%3373%20 min
2013531572%3063%19 min
201434876%2767%20 min
2015611969%6055%17 min
2016321069%1989%15 min
201739879%2138%14 min
2018661577%2483%20 min
201979890%1968%18 min
202036781%1464%14 min
20211041685%4370%19 min
20221232282%4185%22 min
2023982278%7476%19 min
20241922985%6572%19 min
2025501080%1984%12 min

Years from 2008, the first full year of storm-based warnings. The year still running is on its own page.

Verified by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow, which matches each storm-based warning with the local storm reports inside its polygon while it was in force, within 15 km of its edge: a tornado warning counts as verified on a tornado report, a severe thunderstorm warning on hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more, or wind damage, a flash flood warning on a flash flood report. The false alarm ratio is the share of warnings with no such report; "inside a warning" is the probability of detection, the share of reports that fell inside one; lead time runs from the warning's issue to each report inside it, counting zero for a report that came first. A warning with no report is not proof nothing happened: reports come from spotters, the public and damage surveys, and are thin where few people live.

The latest severe thunderstorm warnings

The most recent on file, newest first.

IssuedProductOfficeLasted
Sep 24, 1:07 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC38 min
Sep 23, 2:45 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC45 min
Sep 16, 6:13 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC32 min
Sep 14, 5:45 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC45 min
Sep 14, 4:15 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC45 min
Sep 14, 4:05 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC40 min
Sep 14, 4:00 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC45 min
Sep 12, 1:50 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC40 min
Sep 12, 1:18 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC29 min
Sep 12, 1:06 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC39 min
Sep 12, 12:44 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC46 min
Sep 12, 12:37 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWC38 min

Nearby

Alerts in force nowTornadoes on recordForecastThe radar archive

Sources

National Weather Service watches, warnings, advisories and statements from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's VTEC archive, which reconstructs tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood and marine warnings back to 1986 from the NWS text archive. Storm Prediction Center watches and mesoscale discussions from SPC's archive through the Mesonet. County centers from the US Census Bureau. Warning verification from the Mesonet's Cow. Rebuilt daily.