Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Phoenix, AZ

July 14, 1996Gila County, Arizona

NWS Phoenix, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 14, 1996, 4:53 PM MST for Gila County, Arizona. It was in force for 67 min. 2 reports came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
Jul 14, 1996, 4:53 PM MST (23:53 UTC)
Expired
Jul 14, 1996, 6:00 PM MST
In force
67 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 23:54 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.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Jul 14, 5:10 PM MSTTornado F1Globe, AZ
Jul 14, 6:00 PM MSTThunderstorm Wind 52Roosevelt, AZ

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Tuscon, AZ (KTUS), launched 12:00Z, 11.9 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tuscon, AZ at 12:00Z on 1996-07-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 226 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 1996-07-14The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -6 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
226 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-144 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1546 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-6 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
81 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, Jul 14, 1:29 PM MST, 3 hours 24 minutes before
AZZ015>026-151200-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ARIZONA
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
130 PM MST SUN JUL 14 1996

...THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY MAINLY OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF CENTRAL AND
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA THIS AFTERNOON...AND OVER MAINLY LOWER DESERT
LOCATIONS TONIGHT...
...FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR SOUTHEAST ARIZONA THIS AFTERNOON AND
TONIGHT...

THERE IS A RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EARLY
EVENING OVER THE EASTERN MOGOLLON RIM AND WHITE MOUNTAINS.  AN ABOVE-
AVERAGE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL EXIST OVER THE SOUTH-
CENTRAL DESERT...INCLUDING THE GREATER PHOENIX METROPOLITAN
AREA...EARLY THIS EVENING UNTIL AROUND MIDNIGHT.  STRONG GUSTY WINDS
LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...AND FREQUENT INTENSE LIGHTNING WILL BE
ASSOCIATED WITH THE STRONGER STORMS.  SMALL HAIL IS LIKELY WITH THE
STRONGER STORMS...ESPECIALLY THOSE OVER HIGHER TERRAIN.

UPPER LEVEL WIND DATA SUGGEST THAT STORMS WHICH FORM OVER THE EASTERN
MOGOLLON RIM AND WHITE MOUNTAINS THIS AFTERNOON WILL REDEVELOP TOWARD
THE SOUTHWEST...AND GENERATE OUTFLOW WINDS THAT WILL REACH ADJACENT
LOWER DESERT LOCATIONS BY EARLY THIS EVENING.  THIS OUTFLOW IS
EXPECTED TO TRIGGER NEW THUNDERSTORMS OVER PORTIONS OF THE LOWER
DESERTS...INCLUDING THE GREATER PHOENIX METROPOLITAN AREA...BY LATE
THIS EVENING OR EARLY TONIGHT.  AT 120 PM...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS
ALREADY EXISTED OVER THE WHITE MOUNTAINS...AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE
JUST BEGINNING TO DEVELOP OVER THE MOGOLLON RIM.

THE AIRMASS OVER THE SOUTH-CENTRAL DESERT HAS MOISTENED CONSIDERABLY
SINCE SATURDAY AFTERNOON.  EARLY THIS MORNING...MOISTURE FROM THE
GULF OF CALIFORNIA SURGED NORTHWARD OVER SOUTHWEST ARIZONA...AND LOW
LEVEL WESTERLY WINDS WILL TRANSPORT THIS MOISTURE OVER THE SOUTH-
CENTRAL DESERTS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.  DEW POINT TEMPERATURE
...A MEASURE OF ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE CONTENT...IS IN THE MID
60S...WHICH IS ABOVE THE CLIMATOLOGICAL NORM FOR MID JULY.

MUCH OF CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN ARIZONA CONTINUES TO DESTABILIZE AS
PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES ALLOW FOR ADDITIONAL SURFACE HEATING...BUT
TEMPERATURES THIS AFTERNOON ARE A FEW DEGREES LOWER DUE TO THE
INCREASE IN LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE.  AT 1 PM...PHOENIX REPORTED PARTLY
SKIES AND 97 DEGREES WITH A DEW POINT TEMPERATURE OF 65 DEGREES. ON
THE OTHER HAND...TEMPERATURES OVER MUCH OF PIMA COUNTY HAVE BEEN HELD
DOWN DUE TO CLOUD COVER AND SCATTERED LIGHT SHOWERS...SO THE
ATMOSPHERE IN THAT AREA IS MORE STABLE AND LESS LIKELY TO SUPPORT
STRONG THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING.  AT 1 PM...TUCSON
REPORTED CLOUDY SKIES...LIGHT RAIN...AND 79 DEGREES.

GREEN

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 14, 4:53 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningPSRGila67 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arizona, 1996Every 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.