Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 80, NWS Tucson, AZ

August 16, 1996Santa Cruz County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 16, 1996, 2:45 PM MST for Santa Cruz County, Arizona. It was in force for 60 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 16, 1996, 2:45 PM MST (21:45 UTC)
Expired
Aug 16, 1996, 3:45 PM MST
In force
60 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 21:46 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, 9.8 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 1996-08-16Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 163 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 1996-08-16The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -95 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
163 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-349 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2512 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
4 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-95 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-41 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

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 Aug 16, 2:00 PM MST, 45 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 16, 2:00 PM MST, 45 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
200 PM MST FRI AUG 16 1996

MAY SURGE TONIGHT...AND THIS POSES PROBLEM. FCST IS WRITTEN FOR
INCREASE IN MSTR SUN IN ADVANCE OF TROF TO THE NORTH. IF WE SURGE
TONIGHT THIS FCST NEEDS TO BE TRASHED. NGM MOS HAS 61 DEWPOINT
FOR US SUNDAY NIGHT. THAT IS A PRIME NUMBER...NO PUN
INTENDED...FOR TSTMS TO MOVE INTO THE VALLEYS.

SEVERAL GOOD REASONS TO EXPECT SURGE TONIGHT...FIRST GYM HAS OVR
2 INCHES OF PRECIP WATER. CU FIELD NEAR HMO SHOWS MSTR WORKED UP
TO THERE SO TSTMS FIRING TO OUR SOUTH THIS AFTN SHOULD BUILD DOWN
TO THERE AND THEN WEST TOWARDS GULF OF CA. THESE STORMS WOULD
THEN INITIATE SURGE.

WITHOUT THE SURGE THE STO~RMS WILL SHOW A SLOW INCREASE IN
COVERAGE TONIGHT AND SAT...WITH A FEW STORMS ABLE TO MOVE INTO
VALLEYS ONCE WE DECOUPLE IN THE EVENING. OTRW...MOSTLY MTN
HUGGERS. TUS 2224. HOLBROOK

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 16, 1:06 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCSanta Cruz69 min
Aug 16, 1:45 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCSanta Cruz75 min
Aug 16, 3:28 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCPima62 min
Aug 16, 4:08 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCCochise, Pima67 min
Aug 16, 4:57 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCPima63 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arizona, 1996Every 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.