Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 37, NWS Tucson, AZ

July 27, 1996Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Jul 27, 1996, 4:22 PM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 68 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 27, 1996, 4:22 PM MST (23:22 UTC)
Expired
Jul 27, 1996, 5:30 PM MST
In force
68 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 23:26 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, 11.4 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 12:00Z on 1996-07-27Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 194 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 1996-07-27The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -24 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
194 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-226 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2290 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
3 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-24 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
13 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 272322
FFWTUS
AZC019-280030-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON ARIZONA
422 PM MST SAT JUL 27 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON ARIZONA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  530 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA
 
   ...CENTRAL PIMA COUNTY
 
AT 418 PM TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH
EXTREMELY HEAVY RAINFALL MOVING THROUGH CENTRAL PIMA COUNTY AND THE
TOHONO OODHAM NATION. SEVERE STORMS WERE NOTED IN AN AREA FROM 5 TO 25
MILES NORTH OF SELLS...MOVING WESTWARD AT 15 TO 20 MPH. THE TOWN OF GU
ACHI CAN EXPECT WINDS NBEAR 65 MPH...TORRENTIAL RAIN...DAMAGING HAIL
AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING BY 445 PM.
 
MEYER

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 27, 9:23 AM MST, 6 hours 59 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 27, 9:23 AM MST, 6 hours 59 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
920 AM MST SAT JUL 27 1996

SPC HAS ENTIRE CWA IN SLGT CHC AREA.  THIS GOOD...AS 12Z TUS
SOUNDG WETTER AND MORE UNSTABLE THAN YDA...BUT NOT AS STG AS THU.
PW 1.2. SFC DEW PT 3 DEGREES HIER THAN YDA. HI LVL CI MOVG INTO
TUS FROM MEXICAN CONVECTION LAST NGT. AND MAY SEE SOME LOW LVL
MSTR ALSO. WITH SLY FLOW...NOT LIKELY TO SEE TSTMS MOVE INTO THE
AREA FROM THE RIM. IS THERE ENUF LOW LVL MSTR FOR TSTMS TO MOV
OFF LCL MTS INTO VALLEY FLOOR? PRBLY NOT UNTIL AFT 5 PM...SO WILL
DOWN PLAY POPS TDA AND UP THEM FOR TGNT. USING A MEAN MIXING
RATIO OF 9.5 PRODUCES A CAPE OF 500-1000 AT TUS. WITH A DEEP
NEARLY ADIABATIC LAYER...SVR DOWNBURST WIND AND LCL HVY RAIN
PSBL. UPR LOW STILL PRODUCG LOTS OF LIGHTNING IN SRN CA...BUT MAY
NOT AFFECT TUS CWA. SUN...DEEPENG LOW NRN PLAINS STATES PUSHG UPR
HI BACK TO WRN NM.  NEW ETA PUT STG 597 HI OVR W CNTRL NM.  IF A
HI THIS STG CONTINUES TO BACK INTO AZ IT WOULD SUPPRESS
CONVECTION.  NEW NGM FOLLOWING TREND OF MOVG HI BACK OVR AZ...BUT
HGTS NOT AS STG. WILL BACK OFF ON POPS SLGHTLY. BUT ATTM...FEEL
S-SELY FLOW TO CONTINUE LOW GRADE MONSOON WITH WDLY SCT IN W AND
SCT IN ERN ZNS. TUS 2323.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 27, 12:49 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCSanta Cruz56 min
Jul 27, 1:54 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCPima66 min
Jul 27, 2:19 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCPima56 min
Jul 27, 2:19 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCPima56 min
Jul 27, 3:15 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCPima60 min
Jul 27, 3:15 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCPima60 min
Jul 27, 4:22 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCPima68 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.