Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 49, NWS Phoenix, AZ

August 27, 1996Gila County, Arizona

NWS Phoenix, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 27, 1996, 5:13 PM MST for Gila County, Arizona. It was in force for 62 min. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Aug 27, 1996, 5:13 PM MST (00:13 UTC)
Expired: Aug 27, 1996, 6:15 PM MST
In force: 62 min
Issued by: NWS Phoenix, AZ
Area: Whole counties

County Gila County, AZ

The radar

The Flagstaff radar (KFSX), 93 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:13 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 00:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 181 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: 502 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -56 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1956 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -32 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 280018
SVRPHX
AZC007-280115-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
513 PM MST TUE AUG 27 1996

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PHOENIX AZ HAS ISSUED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 615 PM MST FOR PEOPLE IN THE
FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN EAST-CENTRAL ARIZONA

  ...SOUTHERN GILA COUNTY
     INCLUDING WINKLEMAN...HAYDEN...CHRISTMAS

AT 515 PM...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDEDERASTORM NEAR HAYDEN...OR
80 MILES SOUTHEAST OF PHOENIX. THIS STORM WAS MOVING SOUTH AT 10 MPH
AND WILL AFFECT THE HAYDEN AND WINKLEMAN AREAS THROUGH 615 PM.

THIS STORM WILL LIKELY PRODUCE LARGE HAIL AND WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF
60 MPH.

SEEK SHELTER IN A STRONG BUILDING...BUT STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

BEACH

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, Aug 27, 1:19 PM MST, 3 hours 54 minutes before

AZZ015>026-281200-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR THE SOUTHERN HALF OF ARIZONA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
115 PM MST TUE AUG 27 1996

...THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON
AND EVENING OVER SOUTHERN ARIZONA...

THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND
THIS EVENING ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA. THE MAIN THREAT
FROM THESE STORMS WILL BE HEAVY RAINFALL WHICH MAY LEAD TO SOME
LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING. STRONG STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS WILL ALSO BE
POSSIBLE WITH SOME OF THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS.

A FEW OF THE COUNTIES THAT MAY EXPERIENCE SEVERE WEATHER TODAY
INCLUDE GREENLEE...GRAHAM...PINAL... SOUTHERN GILA...PIMA...SANTA
CRUZ...AS WELL AS NORTHERN AND EASTERN SECTIONS OF MARICOPA COUNTY.
THE REST OF MARICOPA COUNTY AS WELL AS LA PAZ AND YUMA COUNTIES MAY
SEE SEVERE WEATHER LATER THIS EVENING.

A STRONG SURGE OF LOW LEVEL MOISTURE FROM THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA
CONTINUED TO SPREAD ACROSS SOUTHERN ARIZONA TODAY. DEWPOINT
TEMPERATURES THIS MORNING ACROSS SOUTHERN SECTIONS OF THE STATE HAD
CLIMBED INTO THE MID 60S AND LOWER 70S. THIS SURGE OF MOISTURE IS
EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE DAY...LEADING TO A GREATER
POTENTIAL FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. THE STEERING FLOW WILL BE
RELATIVELY LIGHT TODAY...BUT SHOULD BE FROM A FAVORABLE DIRECTION TO
MOVE STORMS OFF THE HIGHER TERRAIN INTO LOWER DESERT LOCATIONS SUCH
AS TUCSON AND PHOENIX.

PERSONS IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA SHOULD KEEP A CLOSE EYE ON WEATHER
DEVELOPMENTS TODAY AND THIS EVENING. LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO OR
LOCAL TELEVISION AND RADIO FOR LATEST STATEMENTS OR WARNINGS.
JD

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 27, 6:05 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PSR	Pinal	55 min
Aug 27, 7:17 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PSR	Maricopa	53 min
Aug 27, 8:00 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	PSR	Pinal	60 min
Aug 27, 8:00 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PSR	Pinal	60 min
Aug 27, 8:01 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	PSR	Maricopa, Pinal	74 min
Aug 27, 8:01 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PSR	Maricopa, Pinal	74 min
Aug 27, 8:30 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	PSR	Maricopa	60 min
Aug 27, 8:30 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PSR	Maricopa	60 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arizona, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1996

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.