Alert archive / Arizona / Tornado Warnings in 1996

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Las Vegas, NV

November 21, 1996Mohave County, Arizona

NWS Las Vegas, NV issued this tornado warning at Nov 21, 1996, 5:09 PM MST for Mohave County, Arizona. It was in force for 66 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: Nov 21, 1996, 5:09 PM MST (00:09 UTC)
Expired: Nov 21, 1996, 6:15 PM MST
In force: 66 min
Issued by: NWS Las Vegas, NV
Area: Whole counties

County Mohave County, AZ

The nearest sounding before it

Flgstf/Belemont, AZ (KFGZ), launched 00:00Z, 0.2 hours before the alert went out and 185 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: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1379 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 151 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 221 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 KLAS 230016
TORLAS
AZC015-220115-
 
BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
509 PM MST (409 PM PST) THU NOV 21 1996
 
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAS VEGAS HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 615 PM MST
(515 PM PST) FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS......
 
IN NORTHWEST ARIZONA
 
   ...CENTRAL MOHAVE COUNTY
 
THIS REPLACES THE PREVIOUS SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD
WARNING FOR MOHAVE COUNTY.
 
AT 510 PM MST (410 PM PST)...LAS VEGAS DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OVER THE CITY OF KINGMAN. SKYWARN SPOTTERS IN
KINGMAN REPORTED GOLFBALL SIZED HAIL (1.75 INCHES IN DIAMETER) AT
503 PM MST AND THERE CONTINUE TO BE SIGHTINGS OF FUNNEL CLOUDS.
 
THIS IS A DANGEROUS STORM SITUATION.  ACT QUICKLY.  IF YOU ARE
IN THE PATH OF A TORNADO MOVE TO A SHELTER BELOW GROUND IF
AVAILABLE.  OTHERWISE...GO TO A SMALL INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR P8OSSIBLE.  AVOID WINDOWS.  ABANDON CARS AND MOBILE HOMES
FOR A REINFORCED BUILDING OR GET INTO A DITCH OR CULVERT.
AVOID FLOODED AREAS AND DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS FLOODED ROADS.
 
&
NEMETH

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this tornado warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Las Vegas, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before this tornado warning went out at Nov 21, 10:15 AM MST, 6 hours 54 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 21, 10:15 AM MST, 6 hours 54 minutes before

MOJAVE DESERT/SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
910 AM PST THU NOV 21 1996

STLT IMGRY SUGS UPR LOW OFF NRN CA MAY BE A BIT MORE ROBUST THAN
MODELS INDIC.  HOWEVER INITLZTN OF MAIN FTRS...INCLUDING SCNDRY
VORT CNTR FORMG TO SOUTH OF MAIN CIRCLTN...HANDLED FAIRLY WELL.
AIREP INDICS 95KT JETSTRK DIVING INTO BASE OF BROAD TROF ARND
300MB.  NEW VORT CNTR IS DVLPG ON CYC SHEAR SIDE OF THAT JETSTRK
SIMILAR TO ETA SOLN.  100KT JET LIFTG OUT OF TROF HAS TAPPED INTO
TROPICAL MSTR CONNECTION WHICH WILL FUEL WIDESPREAD PCPN ACRS CWA
OVRNGT.  GOES SOUNDER AND SSMI BOTH SUG BAND OF PW NEAR 1.5 INCH
BEING PULLED INTO CLOUD SHIELD WHICH 12Z ETA DEPICTS SURPRISINGLY
WELL.  MID LVL COOLG WILL LOWER SNOW LVLS TMRW AS TROF OPENS UP
AND TRACKS EWD...BUT MTN PCPN SHD ALL BE RAIN THIS AFTN. PCPN MAY
BEGIN EARLIER THAN PREV EXPCD IN SE CA/XTRM SRN NV BUT MAIN EVENT
IS NOT TIL THIS EVNG SO NO NEED TO MAKE ANY ZONE UPDATES ATTM.
LAS 377.  RUNK

.LAS...WINTER STORM WATCH NVZ018-019 FRIDAY ABV 8000 FT.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Nov 21, 12:48 PM MST, 4 hours 21 minutes before

NVZ018-019-212250-

SHORT TERM FORECAST
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
1146 AM PST THU NOV 21 1996

NVZ018-019-211947
SHEEP RANGE-SPRING MOUNTAINS-

.NOW...
STEADY RAIN HAS BEEN FALLING THIS MORNING IN KYLE CANYON AND
THE NEVADA DIVISION OF FORESTRY REPORTED UP TO ONE INCH SO FAR.
RAIN...HEAVY AT TIMES...WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MID AFTERNOON
IN THE SPRING MOUNTAINS AND SHEEP RANGE AND WILL CAUSE WATER TO
RUN ON ROADWAYS AND PRODUCE HIGHERn WATER LEVELS IN CREEKS AND
DRAINAGES.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Las Vegas, NV issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Nov 21, 5:09 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	VEF	Mohave	66 min
Nov 22, 4:10 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	VEF	Mohave	65 min
Nov 22, 4:10 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	VEF	Mohave	65 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Arizona, 1996 Every tornado warning in 1996 Tornadoes 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.