Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 33, NWS Tucson, AZ

July 25, 1996Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Jul 25, 1996, 5:00 PM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 30 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 25, 1996, 5:00 PM MST (00:00 UTC)
Expired
Jul 25, 1996, 5:30 PM MST
In force
30 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 00:02 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, 0.0 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tuscon, AZ at 00:00Z on 1996-07-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 488 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 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 00:00Z on 1996-07-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 70 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
488 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-257 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2309 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
70 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
92 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTUS 260000
FFWTUS
AZC019-260030-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON ARIZONA
500 PM MST THU JUL 25 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON ARIZONA HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  530 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA
 
   ...EASTERN PIMA COUNTY
 
...FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR EASTERN PIMA COUNTY INCLUDING
FAR WEST AND SOUTHWEST TUCSON METRO EXTENDED UNTIL 530 PM MST...
 
TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUES TO SHOW A STRONG THUNDERSTORM
WITH HEAVY RAIN OVER OLD TUCSON...AND AN AREA OF MODERATE
RAIN OVER PARTS OF THE TUCSON MOUNTAINS.
 
FLASH FLOODING HAS ALREADY BEEN REPORTED IN THE AREA.  THUS
THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL 530 PM MST.
 
MOST DEATHS IN FLASH FLOODING 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
SM
ALL ONE...ON FOOT.
 
THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING HAS EXPIRED.  SEVERE WEATHER
IS NO LONGER EXPECTED...HOWEVER DEADLY LIGHTNING AND GUSTY
WINDS CONTINUE.
 
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 25, 2:22 PM MST, 2 hours 38 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 25, 2:22 PM MST, 2 hours 38 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
220 PM MST THU JUL 25 1996

AT 21Z TUS DEW PT STILL HOLDG AT 17C WITH CONVECTION DEVELOPG
ALQDS. AS PER MORNING DISCUSSION...STG DOWNBURST WIND AND FLASH
FLOODING STILL PSBL OVR ALL OF CWA TGNT. ALL MODELS TENDG TO MOV
UPR HI TO 4 CORNERS AREA FRI AND SAT.  THIS TO PRODUCE SELY FLOW
AT H5. THIS PSBLY TO INCR MSTR FROM MEXICO. NGM FCST SOUNDG FOR
FRI SIMILAR TO TDA...XCP WETTER WITH PW MUCH HIER AT 1.8. ALSO
FCST CAPE GTR THAN 2000 ALONG MEX BORDER W OF OLS. THUS ANOTHER
ROUND OF SVR LIKELY.  MIN TEMPS WILL DEPEND ON LOCATION OF TSTMS
AND OUTFLOWS.  EXPECT MINS IN ZN23 TO DROP ANYWHERE FROM 3-8
DEGREES TGNT.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jul 25, 2:29 PM MST, 2 hours 31 minutes before
AZZ026-252200-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON ARIZONA
232 PM MST THU JUL 25 1996

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR NORTHWEST COCHISE COUNTY WAS
ALLOWED TO EXPIRE AT 230 PM...

AT 225 PM TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THAT THE SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM NEAR BENSON HAS WEAKENED BELOW SEVERE LIMITS.
MOVEMENT OF THE STORMS IS TO THE SOUTH AROUND 10 MPH AND WILL
CONTINUE TOWARD ST. DAVID BY 245 PM. A SPOTTER NEAR BENSON REPORTED
ONE INCH DIAMETER HAIL FROM THIS STORM.

ADDITIONAL SEVERE WEATHER IS POSSIBLE FROM THIS STORM AS IT
CONTINUES TO MOVE SOUTN ACROSS WEST-CENTRAL COCHISE COUNTY.

GLUECK

&

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 25, 8:45 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCPinal75 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Arizona, 1996Every 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.