Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 3, NWS Tucson, AZ

July 6, 1996Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Jul 6, 1996, 6:36 PM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 54 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, 6:36 PM MST (01:36 UTC)
Expired: Jul 6, 1996, 7:30 PM MST
In force: 54 min
Issued by: NWS Tucson, AZ
Area: Whole counties

County Pima County, AZ

The radar

The Tucson radar (KEMX), 112 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:25 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, 1.6 hours before the alert went out and 84 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: 478 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -56 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 3390 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 33 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -20 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 34 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.4

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KTUS 070138
FFWTUS
AZC019-070230-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON ARIZONA
636 PM MST SAT JUL 6 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON ARIZONA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  730 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA
 
   ...EASTERN PIMA COUNTY
 
   ...INCLUDING THE EAST TUCSON METRO AREA...
 
AT 635 PM MST...TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR SHOWED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
WITH TORRENTIAL RAINFALL OVER EASTERN PIMA COUNTY NEAR REDDINGTON
PASS AND THE RINCON MOUNTAINS...WHICH IS ABOUT 20 TO 25 MILES EAST
OF DOWNTOWN TUCSON.
 
THIS STORM WILL AFFECT THE RINCON MOUNTAINS WITH TORRENTIAL RAINFALL
...DAMAGING WIND AND FLASH FLOODING.  THIS STORM WILL EFFECT THE
FAR EAST SIDE OF TUCSON METRO AREA.
 
RAINFALL ESTIMATES INDICATE 0.5 TO 1 INCH OF RAIN HAS ALREADY FALLEN
FROM THIS RAPIDLY DEVELOPING STORM.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...SEEK SHELTER FROM THE WEATHER IN A
STRONG BUILDING.  DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN...
AND DEADLY LIGHTNING ARE ALL POSSIBLE IN SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS.
STAY INSIDE AWAY FROM WINDOWS UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED.
 
A FLASH FLOOD WARNING MEANS FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IMMINENT.
MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES.  DO NOT ATTEMPT
TO CROSS A FLOODED ROADWAY.  NEVER TRY TO CROSS A STREAM OR
WASH WITH WATER IN IT.  ESCAPE RAPIDLY RISING WATER AND MOVE
TO H.IGHER GROUND NOW.
 
DRB

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, 4 hours 14 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 6, 2:22 PM MST, 4 hours 14 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.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 6, 6:22 PM MST, 14 minutes before

LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECT DATE OF REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON
620 PM MST SAT JUL 6 1996

TIME(MST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

 554 PM    5 EAST HUACHUCA CITY      AZ   62 MPH WIND MEASURED BY
           COCHISE                        AN AUTOMATED STATION IN
                                          SOUTHWEST COCHISE COUNTY
                                          JUST EAST" OF HUACHUCA CITY

 520 PM    BENSON                    AZ   6 INCH DIAMETER TREE LIMB
           COCHISE                        DOWN

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 6, 5:03 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Cochise	42 min
Jul 6, 5:50 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Cochise, Pima, Santa Cruz	40 min
Jul 6, 5:58 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Cochise	62 min
Jul 6, 6:36 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pima	54 min
Jul 6, 7:43 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Pima	92 min
Jul 7, 3:30 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Santa Cruz	30 min
Jul 7, 4:42 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Pima	48 min
Jul 7, 4:42 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pima	48 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.