Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1995

Flash Flood Warning 40, NWS Phoenix, AZ

September 9, 1995Pinal County, Arizona

NWS Phoenix, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Sep 9, 1995, 2:34 PM MST for Pinal County, Arizona. It was in force for 96 min.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued
Sep 9, 1995, 2:34 PM MST (21:34 UTC)
Expired
Sep 9, 1995, 4:10 PM MST
In force
96 min
Issued by
NWS Phoenix, AZ
Area
Whole counties

County Pinal County, AZ

The radar

The Phoenix radar (KIWA), 52 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:35 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Tuscon, AZ (KTUS), launched 12:00Z, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 92 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 12:00Z on 1995-09-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 603 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 12:00Z on 1995-09-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 83 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
603 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-140 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1767 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
83 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
102 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 092150 RRA
FFWPHX
AZC021-092310-

BULLETIN - EBS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
234 PM MST SAT SEP 09 1995

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PHOENIX AZ HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD
WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 410 PM MST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING
LOCATIONS...

IN SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA

  ...SOUTHWESTERN PINAL COUNTY...NORTHERN SECTIONS OF THE TOHONO      
                O'ODHAM RESERVATION 20 MILES SOUTHWEST OF GRANDE

THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN HAVE BEEN STATIONARY AROUND THE TABLE
TOP WILDERNESS AREA ON THE NORTHERN PORTIONS OF THE TOHONO O'ODHAM
INDIAN RESERVATION 20 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CASA GRANDE.  RADAR RAINFALL
ESTIMATES HAVE APPROACHED 5 INCHES IN THE 3 HOUR PERIOD ENDING AT
240 PM.  

ALTHOUGH ALL THE RAINFALL HAS FALLEN OVER THE REMOTE DESERTS AND
MOUNTAINS...THE AREA DRAINS EAST TOWARD THE INDIAN RESERVATION
HIGHWAY NUMBER 42 FROM STANFIELD TO KOHATK.  MANY OF THE DESERTS
WASHES ARE LIKELY FILLED TO CAPACITY WITH TORRENTS RUNNING ACROSS
HIGHWAY 42.

MOTORISTS ARE URGED TO DRIVE WITH CAUTION.  REDUCE SPEED TO
ANTICIPATE FLOODED ROADS.

THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR THE NORTHERN PART OF THE TOHONO O'ODHAM
INDIAN RESERVATION IS POSTED UNTIL 410 PM.

DO NOT TRY TO CROSS FLOODED HIGHWAYS. MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR
IN AUTOMOBILES.

A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS
IMMINENT.
 

VASQUEZ

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, Sep 9, 11:39 AM MST, 2 hours 55 minutes before
AZZ010-092030-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
1139 AM MST SAT SEP 09 1995

...THUNDERSTORMS DVEVELOPING OVER SOUTHWEST GRAHAM COUNTY...

AT 1130 AM DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR SHOWED SOME STRONG THUNDERSTORMS
DEVELOPING OVER SOUTHWEST GRAHAM COUNTY. THEY WERE IN THE AREA FROM
JUST SOUTHWEST OF BYLAS...SOUTHWARD INTO THE ARAVAIPA VALLEY. THEY
WERE MOVING TO THE EAST AT ABOUT 10 MPH. RADAR INDICATED THAT SOME OF
THESE STORMS MAY BE PRODUCING IN EXCESS OF 1 INCH OF RAINFALL.

PERSON IN THE FORT GRANT AND BONITA AREAS AS WELL AS THE AREA BETWEEN
BYLAS AND SAFFORD ALONG HIGHWAY 70 MAY EXPERIENCE SOME BRIEF HEAVY
RAINS WITH THESE THUNDERSTORMS.

STURM
Special weather statement, Sep 9, 11:40 AM MST, 2 hours 54 minutes before
AZZ010-092030-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
1139 AM MST SAT SEP 09 1995

...THUNDERSTORMS DVEVELOPING OVER SOUTHWEST GRAHAM COUNTY...

AT 1130 AM DOPPLER WEATHER RADAR SHOWED SOME STRONG THUNDERSTORMS
DEVELOPING OVER SOUTHWEST GRAHAM COUNTY. THEY WERE IN THE AREA FROM
JUST SOUTHWEST OF BYLAS...SOUTHWARD INTO THE ARAVAIPA VALLEY. THEY
WERE MOVING TO THE EAST AT ABOUT 10 MPH. RADAR INDICATED THAT SOME OF
THESE STORMS MAY BE PRODUCING IN EXCESS OF 1 INCH OF RAINFALL.

PERSON IN THE FORT GRANT AND BONITA AREAS AS WELL AS THE AREA BETWEEN
BYLAS AND SAFFORD ALONG HIGHWAY 70 MAY EXPERIENCE SOME BRIEF HEAVY
RAINS WITH THESE THUNDERSTORMS.

STURM
Special weather statement, Sep 9, 1:25 PM MST, 1 hour 9 minutes before
AZZ008-092200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
125 PM MST SAT SEP 09 1995

...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING IN WESTERN PINAL COUNTY...

AT 115 PM MST...PHOENIX DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS
WITH SMALL HAIL AND ESTIMATED RAINFALL IN EXCESS OF 1 INCH IN WESTERN
PINAL COUNTY. THE AREAS OF STRONGEST THUNDERSTORMS WERE LOCATED NEAR
INTERSTATE 8 SOUTH OF THE TOWN OF STANFIELD...AND WERE MOVING TOWARDS
THE NORTHEAST BETWEEN 10 AND 20 MPH.

MOTORISTS ALONG INTERSTATE 8 FROM THE MARICOPA-PINAL COUNTY BORDER
EASTWARD TO NEAR INTERSTATE 10...ALONG STATE ROUTE 84 FROM STANFIELD
TO NEAR CASA GRANDE...AND ALONG STATE ROUTE 347 FROM NEAR STANFIELD
TO THE GILA RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION...SHOULD BE ON THE ALERT FOR
HEAVY RAIN...WATER ON ROADWAYS...SMALL HAIL...GUSTY WINDS AND
POSSIBLE BLOWING DUST UNTIL 3 PM MST THIS AFTERNOON.

BERKOVITZ

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 8, 5:06 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPSRPinal34 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Arizona, 1995Every flash flood warning in 1995

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.