Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 71, NWS Tucson, AZ

August 27, 1996Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Aug 27, 1996, 7:01 PM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 59 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 27, 1996, 7:01 PM MST (02:01 UTC)
Expired
Aug 27, 1996, 8:00 PM MST
In force
59 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 02:03 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, 2.0 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 1996-08-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 502 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 00:00Z on 1996-08-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -53 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
502 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-56 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1956 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
8 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-53 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-32 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 280203
FFWTUS
AZC019-280300-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON ARIZONA
701 PM MST TUE AUG 27 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON ARIZONA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  800 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA
 
   ...WESTERN PIMA COUNTY
 
AT 657 PM NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO SHOW
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IN WESTERN PIMA COUNTY. THESE STORMS CONTINUE TO
DELIVER EXTREMELY HEAVY RAINFALL...THEREFORE A FLASH FLOOD WARNING HAS
BEEN ADDED TO THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING. ONE STORM WAS ABOUT 12
MILES SOUTHWEST OF AJO...WITH ANOTHER ABOUT 30 MILES SOUTH OF AJO OVER
WESTERN PORTIONS OF ORGAN PIPE NATIONAL MONUMENT. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE
SOUTH/SOUTHWEST AT ABOUT 10 MPH.
 
THESE STORMS WERE GENERATING EXTREMELY HEAVY RAINFALL WITH FLASH
FLOODING A CONCERN IN THE VI CINITY OF THESE STORMS. THEY ARE ALSO
CAPABLE OF DAMAGING WINDS AND WERE GENERATING FREQUENT LIGHTNING.
 
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 Aug 27, 2:21 PM MST, 4 hours 40 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 27, 2:21 PM MST, 4 hours 40 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
220 PM MST TUE AUG 27 1996

LOOKS LIKE AN ACTIVE DAY HERE IN THE SE. PLENTY OF LOW-LEVEL MSTR
IN PLACE AS GULF SURGE CONTINUES. PW VALUES OF 1.5 IN. ON SPECIAL
18Z SOUNDING AND DEW POINTS HOLDING IN THE MID 60S EARLY THIS
AFTN. EXPECT WIDESPREAD ACTIVITY THIS AFTN AND EVE OVER CWA.
OTHER ORGANIZED STORMS PROPAGATING SOUTH AND WEST OFF THE RIM MAY
MOVE OVER EASTERN PART OF CWA LATE THIS AFTN THEN INTO WESTERN
PART OF CWA TONIGHT. MODIFIED MEAN CAPE OF ABOUT 1700 J/KG...
LI OF -7...AND DRY AIR IN UPPER LEVELS...SO SVR WX DEFINITELY A
POSSIBILITY.

BROAD UPPER HIGH NOW IN PLACE AT H5 WILL BECOME MORE ORGANIZED
OVER 4 CORNERS THE NEXT COUPLE DAYS WITH H5 FLOW BECOMING MORE
EASTERLY. MODELS SHOW 70-90 PERCENT RH AT H7 FOR WED AND THU SO
IT LOOKS LIKE LACK OF MSTR WILL NOT BE A PROBLEM. WIDESPREAD
ACTIVITY TODAY HOWEVER COULD RESULT IN JUST WIDELY SCATTERED WED
IF LOWER ATMOSPHERE STABILIZES ENOUGH...WITH POSSIBLY A MORE
ACTIVE DAY ON THURSDAY. BUT WILL LEAVE POPS AS THEY ARE BASED ON
AMOUNT OF MOISTURE.
TUS 4333.

T/SCHOWENGERDT

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 27, 6:21 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCPima69 min
Aug 27, 7:01 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCPima59 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.