Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 46, NWS Tucson, AZ

July 25, 1996Cochise County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Jul 25, 1996, 12:19 PM MST for Cochise County, Arizona. It was in force for 41 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: Jul 25, 1996, 12:19 PM MST (19:19 UTC)
Expired: Jul 25, 1996, 1:00 PM MST
In force: 41 min
Issued by: NWS Tucson, AZ
Area: Whole counties

County Cochise County, AZ

The radar

The Tucson radar (KEMX), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 19:18 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, 7.3 hours before the alert went out and 113 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: 678 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -189 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2322 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 15 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -24 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 28 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTUS 251917
SVRTUS
AZC003-252000-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON ARIZONA
1219 PM MST THU JUL 25 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON ARIZONA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL  100 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTHEAST ARIZONA
 
   ...NORTHWESTERN COCHISE COUNTY
 
AT 1219 PM MST...TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR SHOWS A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
HAS DEVELOPED RAPIDLY OVER FAR NORTHWEST COCHISE COUNTY. THE STORM
WAS LOCATED ON THE SOUTHERN TIP OF THE GALIURO MOUNTAINS...OR ABOUT
10 MILES EAST OF REDINGTON.
 
MOVEMENT OF THE STORM WAS TO SOUTH AT ABOUT 10 MPH AND WILL LIKELY
REMAIN IN THIS REMOTE AREA OF COCHISE COUNTY.
 
WHEN THUNDERSTORMS ARE OCCURRING...PEOPLE SHOULD MOVE INSIDE A
STRONG BUILDING.  DO NOT STAND BY WINDOWS.  DON'T USE TELEPHONES
OR ELECTRICAL APPLIANCES UNLESS IN AN EMERGENCY UNTIL THE STORM
HAS PASSED.  MOTORISTS SHOULD NOT DRIVE INTO LOW WATER CROSSINGS.
 
DRB

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm 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 severe thunderstorm warning went out at Jul 25, 9:23 AM MST, 2 hours 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 25, 9:23 AM MST, 2 hours 56 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
920 AM MST THU JUL 25 1996

12Z TUS SOUNDG MUCH WETTER IN MID LVLS AND MORE UNSTABLE THAN
YDA. PW UP TO 1.3-1.4. K INDEX UP TO 41.  THERE IS SOME NEGATIVE
AREA TO OVRCOME...AND CAP STRENGTH 4C...BUT THIS ALSO LESS THAN
YDA. WIND PROFILE TO PUSH ANVILS OFF TO EAST AS MID LVL FLOW TO
PUSH STORMS WWD ACRS CWA. SFC DEW PTS YUM,PHX,GBN HI. TUS DEW
PT UP TO 64 ATTM. HEAVY RAIN AND SVR WIND POTENTIAL FOR TDA/TNGT
GREATER THAN YDA. QUESTION IS WHEN WILL TSTMS REACH LOWER
ELEVATIONS. MOS NUMBERS FOR TGNT IMPRESSIVE WITH TSTMS AT 57.
BOTH NEW ETA/NGM MOV HI TO NRN AZ/4 CORNERS AREA FRI. TUS 2323.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jul 24, 6:44 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Cochise, Graham	61 min
Jul 25, 1:05 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pinal	40 min
Jul 25, 1:26 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Cochise	64 min
Jul 25, 2:10 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pima, Santa Cruz	65 min
Jul 25, 2:15 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pima	60 min
Jul 25, 2:45 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Pima	60 min
Jul 25, 3:15 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pima	60 min
Jul 25, 3:52 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pima	68 min
Jul 25, 4:02 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Pima	58 min
Jul 25, 4:46 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pinal	59 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arizona, 1996 Every severe thunderstorm 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.