Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 22, NWS Tucson, AZ

July 13, 1996Pima County, Pinal County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Jul 13, 1996, 8:19 PM MST for Pima County, Pinal County, Arizona. It was in force for 116 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 13, 1996, 8:19 PM MST (03:19 UTC)
Expired: Jul 13, 1996, 10:15 PM MST
In force: 116 min
Issued by: NWS Tucson, AZ
Area: Whole counties

Counties Pima County, AZ, Pinal County, AZ

The radar

The Phoenix radar (KIWA), 88 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 03:20 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, 3.3 hours before the alert went out and 73 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: 170 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -16 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2843 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 1 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -20 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 6 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 140318
FFWTUS
AZC019-021-140515-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON ARIZONA
819 PM MST SAT JUL 13 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON ARIZONA HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1015 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA
 
   ...SOUTHEAST PINAL COUNTY
 
...FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR SOUTHEAST PINAL COUNTY EXTENDED
TO 1015 PM TONIGHT...
...FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR NORTHEAST PIMA COUNTY HAS BEEN
ALLOWED TO EXPIRE AT 815 PM...
 
AT 815 PM...TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THUNDERSTORMS
CONTINUING TO DEVELOP IN SOUTHEAST PINAL COUNTY. THESE
STORMS WERE ALONG HWY 77 NEAR ORACLE AND SAN MANUEL...AND
WERE MOVING VERY SLOWLY. RADAR ESTIMATES ONE TO THREE INCHES
RAINFALL IN THIS AREA.
 
BE ESPECIALLY CAUTIOUS AT NIGHT WHEN IT IS HARDER TO RECOGNIZE
THE DANGERS OF FLOODS AND FLASH FLOODS.  IF FLASH FLOODING IS
OBSERVED...ACT QUICKLY.  MOVE UP TO ESCAPE FLOOD WATERS.  DO
NOT STAY IN AREAS SUBJECT TO FLOODING WHEN WATER BEGINS RISING.

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 13, 2:16 PM MST, 6 hours 3 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 13, 2:16 PM MST, 6 hours 3 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
215 PM MST SAT JUL 13 1996

CNVTN THIS AFTN POPPG UP OVR HIER TRRN IN CWA AND ALG AZ/NM BDR
AND S ACRS NRN MEX. THESE AREAS HV HAD MORE SUNSHINE TDY WHICH
MAY LEAD TO AN ISOLD SVR TRW- TNGT. 1 KM VSBL PICS THIS AFTN
SHOWG PSBL ADVCTION OF ADDNL LOW-LVL MSTR FM NWRN MEX INTO SRN
AZ. YUM DWPT HAS ALSO GONE UP THIS AFTN. MAIN THREAT FM STORMS
TNGT WL BE STG GUSTY WNDS AND BRIEF HVY RNFL LEADING TO PSBL
LCLZD FLASH FLOODING DUE TO HI PW IN AMS.

MRNG DEBRIS CLD DECK CONTG TO DSIPT OVR WRN ZN21. CLDS HV PRBLY
KPT TEMPS WHICH HAS LEAD TO A MR STBL AMS THUS KP CHCS OF TRW-
TNGT VRY LOW. OTRW STANDARD MONSOON THRU MON WITH MDLS KP FAIR
AMT OF MSTR ARND SE AZ ESPCLY TNGT/SUN NGT WHICH WL LEAD TO WARM
OVRNGT LOWS. WV IMAGERY SHOWG ELY WV SE OF GYM AND WL HV TO KP
AN EYE ON THIS FEATURE. TUS 3232. GLUECK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 13, 6:22 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Cochise	2 hr
Jul 13, 7:15 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Pima, Pinal	60 min
Jul 14, 2:37 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Greenlee	2 hr
Jul 14, 2:50 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Graham	40 min
Jul 14, 3:56 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Graham	2 hr

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.