Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1996

Flash Flood Warning 97, NWS Tucson, AZ

September 25, 1996Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Sep 25, 1996, 5:23 PM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 67 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: Sep 25, 1996, 5:23 PM MST (00:23 UTC)
Expired: Sep 25, 1996, 6:30 PM MST
In force: 67 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 00:25 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, 0.4 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-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: 912 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -37 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1754 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -57 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -30 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: -0.0
Supercell composite: -0.9

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KTUS 260025 COR
FFWTUS
AZC019-260130-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON ARIZONA...CORRECTED
523 PM MST WED SEP 25 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON ARIZONA HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  630 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA
 
   ...EASTERN PIMA COUNTY...TUCSON METRO AREA
 
AT 520 PM MST..TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUE TO SHOW A LINE OF
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MOVING ACROSS THE TUCSON METRO AREA PRODUCING
VERY HEAVY RAINFALL. RAINFALL TOTALS UP TO TWO INCHES VOER THE
NEXT HOUR IS POSSIBLE. THIS IS ON TOP OF SOME AREAS THAT RECIEVED
HEAVY RAINFALL BEFORE 5 PM.
 
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 WATER MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND.
 
GLUECK

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 Sep 25, 2:40 PM MST, 2 hours 43 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 25, 2:40 PM MST, 2 hours 43 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
220 PM MST WED SEP 25 1996

VORT MAX TO EJECT EASTWARD ACROSS CENTRAL AZ THIS EVE. ACTIVE
AFTN ACROSS FAR SE WITH A FEW STORMS GOING SEVERE. EXPECT WDLY
SCT/SCT ACTIVITY TO CONTINUE THRU EARLY EVE. LOW-LEVEL DRYING TO
OCCUR FROM SW TO NE ON THU WITH ENOUGH MOISTURE/INSTABILITY IN
ZONE 25 FOR SCATTERED RW/TRW-. ELSEWHERE JUST HIGH CLOUDS WITH
SOME CU IN EASTERN ZONES AS MOS DEWPTS STAYING IN 50S ON THU. 7H
GRADS TIGHTEN ON THU AND CONTINUE FRI FOR WINDY ZONE 25 AND
BREEZY AFTN/EVE ELSEWHERE.

AVN AND ESPECIALLY NGM DEEPER AND FARTHER SW WITH WESTERN U.S.
TROF THAN ETA. PREFER AVN/NGM AS PACIFIC RIDGE CONTINUES TO
AMPLIFY AND BECOME POSITIVELY TITLED. THUS WILL CLOSELY FOLLOW
MOS TEMPS AND GO FOR COOLER ON FRI WITH SLOW WARMING OVER THE
WEEKEND. TUS 2000.

COLLINS/SCHOWENGERDT

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 25, 5:10 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pima	50 min

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.