Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 67, NWS Tucson, AZ

August 25, 1996Santa Cruz County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Aug 25, 1996, 1:51 PM MST for Santa Cruz County, Arizona. It was in force for 69 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 25, 1996, 1:51 PM MST (20:51 UTC)
Expired
Aug 25, 1996, 3:00 PM MST
In force
69 min
Issued by
NWS Tucson, AZ
Area
Whole counties

County Santa Cruz County, AZ

The radar

The Tucson radar (KEMX), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:53 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, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 72 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 1996-08-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 382 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 1996-08-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 1 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
382 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-123 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2174 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
34 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 252050
FFWTUS
AZC023-252200-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON ARIZONA
151 PM MST SUN AUG 25 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON ARIZONA HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  300 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA
 
   ...SOUTHERN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
 
AT 145 PM...TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM
LOCATED NEAR THE NOGALES AIRPORT. RADAR HAS ESTIMATED RAINFALL
RATES OF ONE TO TWO INCHES PER HOUR.  THIS STORM WAS MOVING
SLOWLY TO THE SOUTHWEST AT 5 TO 10 MPH.  AREAS ALONG HWY 82
BETWEEN PATAGONIA AND NOGALES CAN EXPECT VERY HEAVY RAINFALL
THROUGH 300 PM.
 
DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE
ROADWAY.  THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO
CROSS SAFELY.  VEHICLES CAUGHT IN RISING WATER SHOULD BE
ABANDONED QUICKLY.  MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND.

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 25, 9:27 AM MST, 4 hours 24 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 25, 9:27 AM MST, 4 hours 24 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
920 AM MST SUN AUG 25 1996

STLT SHOWG BAND OF MSTR IN NRN MEXICO MOVG NWD INTO SRN NM.
EPZ SNDG NEARLY SATURATED IN MID LVLS WITH 1.4 PW. AT H5 HI OVR
WRN AZ WITH WK NLY FLOW. 12Z TUS SNDG SHOWG INCRD MSTR AT H7 AND
STG ELY FLOW AT LOW LVLS. PW AT 1.2. BIG DIFFERENCES IN 12Z
MODELS...WITH NGM MORE AGGRESSIVE ON MOVG MSTR AND MEXICAN VORT
MAX INTO AZ.  ETA KEEPS 50 PCT MEAN RH OVR AREA THRU MON...WHILE
NGM BRINGS 70 PCT INTO FAR SERN CORNER THIS AFTN...AND 90 PCT
TGNT. CURRENT FCSTS BASED ON NGM AND SEE NO RESON TO CHANGE THIS.
TUS 3566.

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.