Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1996

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 93, NWS Tucson, AZ

August 25, 1996Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 25, 1996, 5:25 PM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 95 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 25, 1996, 5:25 PM MST (00:25 UTC)
Expired
Aug 25, 1996, 7:00 PM MST
In force
95 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 00:27 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-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Tuscon, AZ at 00:00Z on 1996-08-26Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 99 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 1996-08-26The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 14 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
99 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-16 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3245 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
14 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
24 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 260025
SVRTUS
AZC019-260200-
 
BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON ARIZONA
525 PM MST SUN AUG 25 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON ARIZONA HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 700 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...
 
IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA
 
   ...SOUTHWESTERN PIMA COUNTY INCLUDING LUKEVILLE AND THE ORGAN
PIPE CACTUS NATIONAL MONUMENT...
 
AT 525 PM TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES
EAST OF LUKEVILLE ALONG THE MEXICAN BORDER. THIS THUNDERSTORM WAS MOVING
SLOWLY TOWARDS THE NORTHWEST. ANOTHER SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS DEVELOPING
6 MILES NORTHWEST OF LUKEVILLE.
 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 57
MPH...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR
OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.  HEAVY RAINS FLOOD ROADS QUICKLY SO
DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD.

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 25, 2:24 PM MST, 3 hours 1 minute earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 25, 2:24 PM MST, 3 hours 1 minute before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
220 PM MST SUN AUG 25 1996

INITIAL ACTVTY POPPED UP IN ALL COUNTIES AT THE SAME
TIME...INDICATING MSTR OVR ENTIRE CWA.  STORM MVMTS SLO...S-SWWD
MVMT. RAMSDIS LIS SHOWG -3 TO -7 OVR MOST OF CWA AND -7 TO -11 S
OF OLS. NUMBERS MAY NOT BE RIGHT...BUT STILL INDICATES LOTS OF
INSTABILITY TO THE SOUTH. HGT FIELDS RATHER COMPLICATED TDA. MAIN
UPR HI OVR CO/UT. WKR HI OVR DESERT SW AND BIG BEND AREA.  FLOW
PATTERN AS A RESULT WK AND VARIABLE. DEFORMATION ZONE OVR SERN
ZNS.  TGNT...NGM GOING FOR BIG MSTR CONV...STG UVV AND GREATER
THAN 1.00 INCH QPF AT TUS. MON...UPR HI OVR CO. NGM BRINGG WK
LOW/VORT MAX INTO SERN AZ ALONG WITH STG UVV. NOT SURE ABOUT THIS
LOW.  MAY BE MORE STRATIFORM CLDS WITH SOME TRWS. THUS COOLER
TEMPS. MAX TEMPS TDA MUCH HIER THAN FCST...UPPED TEMPS A BIT FROM
PREVIOUS FCST.  STILL EXPECT HEAVY RAIN. MAY NEED FFA. TUE...UPR
HI REMAINS OVR CO/UT AREHA WITH ELY FLOW OVR AREA. MOS BACKING OFF
A BIT ON POPS...AND WILL FOLLOW THIS TREND. TUS 5664.

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.