Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1987

Flash Flood Warning 1, NWS Phoenix, AZ

June 6, 1987Mohave County, Arizona

NWS Phoenix, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Jun 6, 1987, 7:00 PM MST for Mohave County, Arizona. It was in force for 2 hr.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Jun 6, 1987, 7:00 PM MST (02:00 UTC)
Expired
Jun 6, 1987, 9:00 PM MST
In force
2 hr
Issued by
NWS Phoenix, AZ
Area
Whole counties

County Mohave County, AZ

The radar

The WSR-88D network and its archive begin in 1991, so there is no radar volume for this alert.

The nearest sounding before it

Mercury/Desert R, NV (KDRA), launched 00:00Z, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 226 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Mercury/Desert R, NV at 00:00Z on 1987-06-07Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 7 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Mercury/Desert R, NV at 00:00Z on 1987-06-07The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -31 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.
Mixed-layer CAPE
7 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-91 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2142 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-31 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-8 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KPHX 070159
FFWPHX
AZC015-070400-

BULLETIN...EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING BULLETIN
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
700 PM MST SAT JUN 6 1987

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN PHOENIX HAS ISSUED A FLASH
FLOOD WARNING UNTIL 900 PM MST SATURDAY FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
COUNTY..

NORTHWEST ARIZONA..SOUTHEAST MOHAVE

THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING IS FOR THE WICKIUP...CANE SPRINGS AREA OF
SOUTHEAST MOHAVE COUNTY. IT INCLUDES CANE SPRINGS WASH.

HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE SOUTH END OF THE HUALAPAI MOUNTAINS
HAVE CAUSED FLOODING IN SEVERAL WASHES THAT DRAIN EASTWARD TOWARD THE
BIG SANDY RIVER NEAR WICKIUP. CANE SPRINGS WASH IS ONE OF THE WASHES
REPORTED IN FLOOD. WATER HAS BEEN REPORTED AS MUCH AS 4 FEET DEEP IN
SOME WASHES.

PERSONS IN THE BIG SANDY VALLEY SHOULD AVOID WASHES AND PLACES KNOWN
TO BE SUBJECT TO FLOODING. WATCH FOR RISING WATER IN THE BIG SANDY
RIVER...WHICH MAY BE ENOUGH TO MAKE UNBRIDGED CROSSINGS IMPASSABLE.

TENHARKEL
JT 06/06/0200Z

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jun 6, 2:19 PM MST, 4 hours 41 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
215 PM MST SAT JUN 6 1987

VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR THAT MOVED INTO ARIZONA YESTERDAY
AND THIS MORNING ALLOWED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO FORM OVER
MOST OF THE STATE.  MORE HEAVIER THUNDERSTORMS WERE DEVELOPING IN
THE EARLY AFTERNOON IN SOUTHERN PINAL COUNTY.

AT 2 PM RADAR DETECTED A SMALL..BUT VERY HEAVY THUNDERSTORM..WITH
HAIL AND HEAVY RAIN JUST WEST OF I-10 IN SOUTHERN PINAL COUNTY..NEAR
THE COUMMUNITY OF RED ROCK. IT WAS MOVING SLOWLY TO THE NORTH.

PERSONS IN THE PICACHO--RED ROCK AREA SHOULD WATCH OUT FOR SUDDEN
STRONG WINDS..HAIL..AND HEAVY RAIN DURING THIS AFTERNOON.

SIPPLE
Special weather statement, Jun 6, 3:57 PM MST, 3 hours 3 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
355 PM MST SAT JUN 6 1987

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS IN SOUTHEAST AND NIRTHWEST ARIZONA...

JUST BEFORE 4 PM MST...THERE WERE SEVERAL LARGE...INTENSE THUNDER
STORMS ON RADAR. ONE WAS CENTERED IN SOUTHEAST PINAL COUNTY FROM
ORACLE JUNCTION TO NEAR SAN MANUEL. ANOTHER WAS CENTERED OVER
NORTHWEST COCHISE COUNTY...AND EXTENDED TO COVER MOST OF THAT
COUNTY AS WELL AS PART OF SOUTHERN GRAHAM COUNTY. BOTH OF THESE
STORMS WERE MOVING NORTHWARD AROUND 15 MPH.

ANOTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS CENTERED OVER THE EAST END OF LAKE
MEAD...AND EXTENDED SOUTHWARD ACROSS INTERSTATE 40 TO THE MOUNTAINS
NORTHWEST OF PRESCOTT. IT WAS MOVING NORTHEAST AROUND 20 MPH.

WEAKER THUNDERSTORMS WERE SCATTERED FROM THE TONTO BASIN ACROSS THE
WHITE MOUNTAINS AND EASTERN RIM...INTO THE FOUR CORNERS REGION.

SOME OF THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS MAY CAUSE HAIL AND STRONG WINDS
...AS WELL AS HEAVY RAIN. MOTORISTS SHOULD WATCH OUT FOR WATER IN
DIPS AND WASHES.

TENHARKEL
Special weather statement, Jun 6, 6:04 PM MST, 56 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
600 PM MST SAT JUN 6 1987

...THUNDERSTORMS ON THE WEST SIDE OF PHOENIX...

PHOENIX RADAR HAS BEEN TRACKING A THUNDERSTORM OVER RAINBOW VALLEY
SOUTH OF BUCKEYE AND SOUTHWEST OF THE SIERRA ESTRELLA. IT HAS BEEN
GROWING AND MOVING NORTHWARD AROUND 15 MPH. IT MAY CAUSE STRONG WINDS
AND HEAVY RAIN OVER THE FAR WEST SIDE OF THE PHOENIX METRO AREA IN
THE NEXT HOUR OR SO.

THERE WERE NO STORiMS SOUTH OF THE CITY AT 6 PM...SO CHANCES FOR A
THUNDERSTORM OVER THE CENTRAL AND EASTERN PARTS OF THE CITY ARE NOT
AS GREAT...AT LEAST FOR THE MOMENT. IF ANY DEVELOP...ANOTHER STATEMENT
WILL BE ISSUED.

JT

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Arizona, 1987Every flash flood warning in 1987

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.