Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1994

Flash Flood Warning 2, NWS Phoenix, AZ

March 19, 1994Mohave County, Arizona

NWS Phoenix, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Mar 19, 1994, 10:50 PM MST for Mohave County, Arizona. It was in force for 95 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Mar 19, 1994, 10:50 PM MST (05:50 UTC)
Expired: Mar 20, 1994, 12:25 AM MST
In force: 95 min
Issued by: NWS Phoenix, AZ
Area: Whole counties

County Mohave County, AZ

The nearest sounding before it

Mercury/Desert R, NV (KDRA), launched 00:00Z, 5.8 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 14 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -43 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1687 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 28 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 3 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

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

000 
TTAA00 KPHX 200558
FFWPHX
AZC015-190725-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
1050 PM MST SAT MAR 19 1994

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PHOENIX AZ HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1225 AM MST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
LOCATIONS...

IN NORTHWESTERN ARIZONA

  ...EXTREME WESTERN MOHAVE COUNTY
     INCLUDING BULLHEAD CITY

THE POLICE DEPARTMENT IN BULLHEAD CITY INDICATED AT 1045 PM THAT FLASH
FLOODING WAS OCCURRING IN THE TOWN OF BULLHEAD CITY. MANY OF THE WASHES
WERE RUNNING AND SOME CARS WERE INUNDATED AS WELL. THERE ARE ROAD
CLOSURES IN AND AROUND THE CITY. THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR ABOUT 2
HOURS AND IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE FOR AT LEAST THE NEXT HOUR AND A HALF.
SATELLITE DATA SHOWS THE THUNDERSTORMS THAT PRODUCED THE RAINFALL ARE
OUT OF THE AREA AND MOVING AWAY TO THE NORTHEAST.

DO NOT DRIVE AROUND POLICE BARRICADES AND DO NOT ATTEMPT TO DRIVE
THROUGH RISING WATER. DO NOT TRYZ TO CROSS FLOODED HIGHWAYS. MOST FLASH
FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.

DO NOT TRY TO OUTRACE A FLASH FLOOD. MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS IMMINENT.
 

WILT

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, Mar 19, 7:07 PM MST, 3 hours 43 minutes before

AZZ008-200400-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
700 PM MST SAT MAR 19 1994

...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MOVING THROUGH WESTERN MARIPOPA COUNTY...

AT 650 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR DETECTED AN AREA OF SHOWERS AND
SEVERAL THUNDERSTORMS OVER SOUTHWEST MARICOPA COUNTY.  THE STRONGEST
STORM WAS OVER GILA BEND, ABOUT 40 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SKY HARBOR
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.  THESE STORMS ARE MOVING TOWARD THE NORTHEAST AT
40 MILES PER HOUR, AND SHOULD AFFECT MUCH OF THE PHOENIX METROPOLITAN
AREA BETWEEN 8 AND 9 PM.  THESE STORMS WILL PRODUCE BRIEF HEAVY RAINS
AND LIGHTNING.

GREEN

Special weather statement, Mar 19, 8:28 PM MST, 2 hours 22 minutes before

AZZ008-004-200500-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...UPDATE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
826 PM MST SAT MAR 19 1994

<
...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS MOVING RAPIDLY THROUGH THE PHOENIX METRO
AREA...

AT 825 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE RADAR DETECTED AN AREA OF SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDING FROM NORTH PHOENIX THROUGH NORTH SCOTTSDALE AND
NORTH OF FOUNTAIN HILLS.  THIS AREA OF STORMS IS MOVING TO THE NORTHEAST
AT 40 MILES PER HOUR, AND SHOULD BE NORTH OF THE METRO AREA BY 9 PM.

THE RAPID MOVEMENT OF THESE STORMS HAS RESULTED IN MINIMAL RAINFALL
TOTALS.  UP TO TWO-TENTHS OF AN INCH OF RAIN HAS FALLEN IN A NARROW BAND
EXTENDING FROM FAR SOUTHWEST PHOENIX TO CENTRAL SCOTTSDALE, BUT nNO RAIN
FELL ACROSS MUCH OF THE EAST VALLEY.

GREEN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Mar 20, 12:10 AM MST	Flash Flood Warning	PSR	Mohave	50 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Arizona, 1994 Every flash flood warning in 1994

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.