Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1987

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 11, NWS Phoenix, AZ

September 22, 1987Maricopa County, Arizona

NWS Phoenix, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 22, 1987, 5:53 PM MST for Maricopa County, Arizona. It was in force for 67 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Sep 22, 1987, 5:53 PM MST (00:53 UTC)
Expired
Sep 22, 1987, 7:00 PM MST
In force
67 min
Issued by
NWS Phoenix, AZ
Area
Whole counties

County Maricopa 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

Tuscon, AZ (KTUS), launched 00:00Z, 0.9 hours before the alert went out and 198 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, Tuscon, AZ at 00:00Z on 1987-09-23Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 639 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, Tuscon, AZ at 00:00Z on 1987-09-23The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 7 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
639 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-35 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2443 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
7 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
77 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm 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, Sep 22, 2:51 PM MST, 3 hours 2 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
300 PM MST TUE SEP 22 1987

THUNDERSTORMS AND SHOWERS HAVE BEEN SCATTERED OVER SOUTHWEST AND
WEST CENTRAL ARIZONA THROUGHOUT THE DAY.

THE HEAVIEST THUNDERSTORMS INDICATED BY RADAR...SATELLITE AND BY
REPORTS FROM OBSERVERS HAVE BEEN IN THE LATE MORNING AND EARLY
AFTERNOON. WICKENBURG WAS HIT BY WINDS UP TO 40 MPH AND BRIEF
HEAVY RAIN BEFORE 1 PM. A REPORT OF ABOUT ONE QUARTER INCH OF
R,AIN CAME FROM MESA AROUND 11 AM.

RADAR AND SATELLITE INDICATED THE HEAVIEST STORMS AS OF 3 PM
WERE IN SOUTHWEST ARIZONA FROM SOUTH OF TUCSON TO WESTERN MARICOPA
AND WESTERN YAVAPAI COUNTIES.

BJOREM
Special weather statement, Sep 22, 4:00 PM MST, 1 hour 53 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
400 PM MST TUE SEP 22 1987

...INCREASING THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IN THE DESERTS...

SINCE 3 PM...THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY HAS INCREASED RAPIDLY OVER THE
DESERTS WEST OF TUCSON AND SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST OF PHOENIX. SO FAR
THERE HAVE BEEN NO INDICATIONS OF HEAVY RAIN OR DAMAGING WINDS. BUT
LIGHTNING DETECTORS SHOW AN UNUSUAL NUMBER OF LIGHTNING STRIKES
...MUCH AS THEY DID LAST EVENING.

RADAR SHOWS THE SHOWERS MOVING TOWARD THE NORTH AROUND 20 TO 25 MPH.
THIS GIVES PHOENIX A GOOD CHANCE FOR A THUNDERSTORM THIS EVENING
...ESPECIALLY THE WEST SIDE OF THE CITY. RUSH HOUR TRAFFIC COULD
ENCOUNTER STRONG WINDS AND BLOWING DUST...FOLLOWED BY BRIEF HEAVY
SHOWERS AND POSSIBLY SOME HAIL. SOME MINOR STREET FLOODING COULD
OCCUR.

ELSEWHERE AROUND ARIZONA...AT LEAST SOME THUNDERSTORMS ARE DEVELOPING
IN JUST ABOUT ALL PARTS OF THE STATE. BUT OUTSIDE THE DESERT REGION
...THEY HAVE BEEN RELATIpVELY SMALL AND WIDELY SCATTERED.

ONCE AGAIN...THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD REACH A PEAK AROUND SUNSET AND THEN
GRADUALLY DIMINISH DURING THE NIGHT. BUT SOME COULD LINGER THRU MOST
MOST OF THE NIGHT...ESPECIALLY IN WESTERN ARIZONA.

TENHARKEL
Special weather statement, Sep 22, 4:55 PM MST, 58 minutes before
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE YUMA AZ
455 PM MST TUE SEP 22 1987

   ...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE DEVELOPING IN YUMA COUNTY...

AT 445 THE STORMS WERE RAPIDLY DEVELOPING IN YUMA COUNTY...MOVING TO
THE NORTHWEST NEAR 20 MPH. HEAVY SHOWERS...HALF INCH HAIL...AND WINDS
GUSTING NEAR 40 MPH HAVE BEEN REPORTED.

THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE INTO THE EVENING AND AFTER MIDNIGHT IN
YUMA AND LAPAZ COUNTIES. THE MOST SIGNIFICANT THREAT WILL BE STRONG
GUSTY WINDS AND RUNNING WATER IN NORMALLY DRY WASHES.

MOTORISTS SHOULD DRIVE WITH CAUTION...AND BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR
HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS.

MATHESON

The office that day

Everything else NWS Phoenix, AZ issued on the same UTC day.

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 22, 5:13 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPSRMaricopa47 min
Sep 22, 5:53 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningPSRMaricopa67 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arizona, 1987Every severe thunderstorm 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.