Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 44, NWS Tucson, AZ

August 8, 1996Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Aug 8, 1996, 4:54 PM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 66 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
Aug 8, 1996, 4:54 PM MST (23:54 UTC)
Expired
Aug 8, 1996, 6:00 PM MST
In force
66 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 23:57 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, 11.9 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 1996-08-08Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 115 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 1996-08-08The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -25 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
115 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-286 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2455 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
6 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-25 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
79 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 082353
FFWTUS
AZC019-090100-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON ARIZONA
454 PM MST THU AUG 8 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON ARIZONA HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  600 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA
 
   ...EASTERN PIMA COUNTY
 
AT 447 PM TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED VERY HEAVY RAINFALL FROM A
THUNDERSTORM ABOUT 5 MILES WEST OF GREEN VALLEY. RADAR ESTIMATES
OVER 2 INCHES OF RAIN HAVE FALLEN FROM THIS STORM DURING THE PAST
HOUR.
 
THIS STORM WAS MOVING TOWARDS THE SOUTHWEST AT 10 MPH AND WILL
AFFECT AREAS AROUND GREEN VALLEY.
 
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 W0ATER MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
COLLINS

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 Aug 8, 1:53 PM MST, 3 hours 1 minute earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 8, 1:53 PM MST, 3 hours 1 minute before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
215 PM MST THU AUG 8 1996

E/SELY FLOW CONTG WITH DEWPTS ABLE TO SUSTAIN THEMSELVES IN THE
UPPER 50S TDA...10-15 DEGS HIGHER THAN YDA. SCT TSTMS DVLPG JUST
ABOUT ENTIRE CWA E OF ZN21. PROFILE COULD BE RIPE FOR SOME SVR
DOWNBURST WNDS...BUT LOWER ATMOS ON THE DRY SIDE...SO PCPN LESS
OF A CONCERN FOR 1ST EFFORTS THIS AFTN.

EFFECTS OF INVERTED TROF WITH OUTFLOW FROM DEAD COMPLEX OVR NRN
MEXICO CAN BE THANKED FOR JUMP-START RETURN OF MONSOON...EFFECTS
SHUD CONT AND BRING ACTIVE EVENING. MESOSCALE ORGANIZATION SHUD
NOT BE SUCH THAT DEBRIS CLDS INHIBIT DEVELOPMENT FOR TMW...SO
MORE SCT TSTMS MOST OF THE AREA TMW. ELY WAVE FROM TX MAY ENHANCE
THINGS A BIT MORE IN 36 HRS OR SO...SOMETHING TO WATCH.

EXTD...MDLS PUSH HIGH CNTR WWD INTO NV. NLY/NELY FLOW WITH RDG
AXIS ORIENTATION PSBLY OVHD MAY THIN COVERAGE OUT A BIT FOR SERN
PTNS. ANOTHER WAIT AND SEE. TUS 4343. MEYER*

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.