Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 77, NWS Tucson, AZ

August 31, 1996Santa Cruz County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Aug 31, 1996, 5:03 PM MST for Santa Cruz County, Arizona. It was in force for 57 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 31, 1996, 5:03 PM MST (00:03 UTC)
Expired: Aug 31, 1996, 6:00 PM MST
In force: 57 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 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, 0.1 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 1326 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -49 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2430 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 12 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 010007
FFWTUS
AZC023-010100-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON ARIZONA
503 PM MST SAT AUG 31 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON ARIZONA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
EFFECTIVE UNTIL  600 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA
 
   ...SOUTH CENTRAL SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
 
AT 500 PM TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
DEVELOPING ALONG THE MEXICAN BORDER AT NOGALES. THIS STORM WAS
MOVING SLOWLY TO THE NORTH...AND MAY AFFECT NOGALES AND PORTIONS
I-19.
 
PEOPLE IN THIS AREA SHOULD BE ALERT FOR STRONG GUSTY WIND NEAR
60 MPH AND HEAVY RAINFALfL. 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 31, 2:28 PM MST, 2 hours 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 31, 2:28 PM MST, 2 hours 35 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
225 PM MST SAT AUG 31 1996

STLT PICS THIS AFTN SHOWG ISOLD TRW- DVLPG ACRS NRN ZN25 AND ACRS
ERN AND SWRN ZN26. AMS VRY UNSTBL EVEN WITH ALL THE MID-LVL
DRYING THAT HAS TAKEN PLACE PAST 24 HRS. STUBBORN LOW-LVL MSTR
CONTS WITH DWPTS MOST LCTNS IN THE 60S. AGREE WITH PHX THAT THEIR
CONTS HIGH POTENTIAL FOR VRY STG TRW- TNGT..ALTHO AREAL WL BE
ISOLD. ALREADY SEEING POTENTIAL WI\TH VRY STG TRW- S OF HUACHUCAS
IN NRN MEX. SEE NO CHGS NXT 2 DAYS WITH ISOLD/WDLY SCT TRW- CONTG
WITH LOW-LVL MSTR STAYING ARND. UPR HI SRN CA MOVG ACRS SRN AZ
SUN INTO SWRN NM ON MON WITH A RETURN TO SLY FLO. TUS 111. GLUECK

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 31, 5:03 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Santa Cruz	57 min
Aug 31, 5:49 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Graham	56 min
Aug 31, 10:26 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Cochise	2 hr

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Arizona, 1996 Every 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.