Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 1, NWS Tucson, AZ

July 6, 1996Greenlee County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Jul 6, 1996, 2:35 PM MST for Greenlee County, Arizona. It was in force for 70 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: Jul 6, 1996, 2:35 PM MST (21:35 UTC)
Expired: Jul 6, 1996, 3:45 PM MST
In force: 70 min
Issued by: NWS Tucson, AZ
Area: Whole counties

County Greenlee County, AZ

The radar

The Tucson radar (KEMX), 196 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:34 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 194 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: 1228 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -142 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2115 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 62 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 149 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 KTUS 062140
FFWTUS
AZC011-062245-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON ARIZONA
235 PM MST SAT JUL 6 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON ARIZONA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  345 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN EAST ARIZONA
 
   ...SOUTHERN GREENLEE COUNTY
 
AT 235 PM TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
MOVING INTO SOUTHERN GREENLEE COUNTY. THE STORM WAS MOVING
TOWARD CLIFTON...GUTHERIE AND APACHE GROVE.  RADAR INDICATES
2 INCHES OF RAINFALL POSSIBLE IN THE NEXT HOUR FROM THESE
STORMS.
 
THESE STORMS ARE CAPABLE OF DAMAGE WIND...VERY HEAVY RAIN AND
HAIL.
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS THAT FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS
IMMINENT.  MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO NOT
ATTEMPT TO CROSS BRIDGES...DIPS...OR LOW SPOTS IF WATER COVERS
THE ROADWAY.  NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM...EVEN A SMALL
ONE...ON FOOT.  TO ESCAPE RISING WATER MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND.

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.

NWS Tucson, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Jul 6, 2:22 PM MST, 13 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 6, 2:22 PM MST, 13 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
220 PM MST SAT JUL 6 1996

ECHOS POPD IN ZN 25 AS EARLY AS 17Z THIS MRNG WITH .5 INCH
HAIL BY 18Z. LTL CHG IN SYNOPTIC PATTERN. UPR HI REMAINS OVR
AZ/NM AREA WITH ELY FLOW AT H5.  MODELS SHOWG UPR WV MOVG WWD
ACRS MEXICO TO SRN BAJA AREA.  IF THIS INCRS CLD CVR OVR SRN
GLF CA...MAY BRING BACK GLF SURGE TYPE MSTR INFLUX.  ON SUN...
MODELS TRYG TO INCR LOW LVL CONVERGENCE OVR S|IERRA MADRES.
MON...AVN KEEPING 80-90 PCT RH AT H5 OVR ZN25. WILL GO WITH
SCT TSTMS IN FAR ERN ZNS. ALSO HGTS AND THKN DOWN A BIT. ALL
MOS GUIDANCE INCRG CLDS AND DROPPING MAX TEMPS 2-6 DEGREES. WILL
GO ALONG WITH THIS.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 5, 5:02 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pima	58 min
Jul 5, 7:50 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Cochise, Greenlee	40 min
Jul 5, 8:34 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Cochise, Graham	41 min
Jul 5, 9:15 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Cochise	45 min
Jul 6, 2:13 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Graham	47 min
Jul 6, 2:35 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Greenlee	70 min
Jul 6, 3:20 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Graham	40 min
Jul 6, 3:49 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Santa Cruz	41 min
Jul 6, 4:07 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Cochise	53 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Arizona, 1996 Every flash flood 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.