Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 52, NWS Flagstaff, AZ

August 12, 1997Coconino County, Arizona

NWS Flagstaff, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 12, 1997, 3:26 PM MST for Coconino County, Arizona. It was in force for 49 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 12, 1997, 3:26 PM MST (22:26 UTC)
Expired
Aug 12, 1997, 4:15 PM MST
In force
49 min
Issued by
NWS Flagstaff, AZ
Area
Whole counties

County Coconino County, AZ

The radar

The Flagstaff radar (KFSX), 150 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:28 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

Flgstf/Belemont, AZ (KFGZ), launched 12:00Z, 10.4 hours before the alert went out and 68 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, Flgstf/Belemont, AZ at 12:00Z on 1997-08-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 85 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Flgstf/Belemont, AZ at 12:00Z on 1997-08-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 79 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
85 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-67 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1341 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
43 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
79 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
77 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

288 
WUUS1 KFLG 122228 RRA
SVRFLG
AZC005-122315-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ
326 PM MST TUE AUG 12 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FLAGSTAFF AZ HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 415 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN NORTH CENTRAL ARIZONA

   ...NORTHEASTERN COCONINO COUNTY
 
AT 325 PM MST...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY FLAGSTAFF
DOPPLER RADAR 10 MILES EAST SOUTHEAST OF PAGE OR 15 MILES NORTH
NORTHWEST OF KAIBITO MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 25 MPH.
 
IF YOU ARE CAUGHT OUTSIDE...TRY TO FIND SHELTER IN A WELL
PROTECTED AREA UNTIL THE STORM HAS PASSED. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS
PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND...LARGE HAIL...VERY HEAVY RAIN AND FREQUENT
LIGHTNING.

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 Flagstaff, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 12, 2:16 PM MST, 1 hour 10 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 12, 2:16 PM MST, 1 hour 10 minutes before
NORTHERN ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ
200 PM MST TUE AUG 12 1997

12Z MODELS APPEAR TO BE HANDLING LARGE SCALE FEATURE WELL THIS
FORECAST PERIOD. STILL TRENDNING TOWARDS A DRYING OF THE LOWER LEVELS
AND THIS FINALLY COMING TO FRUITION AS 88D ACTIVITY MUCH MORE QUIETER
TODAY THAN ON PREVIOUS DAYS.  ONLY FORECAST WORRY IS SOUTHERLY FLOW
COMING OFF OF THE BAJA...AS A BIT OF A GULF SURGE IN PROGRESS AT
YUME.  THIS WILL MOST LIKELY AFFECT YAVAPAI COUNTY IF IT STAYS IN
PLACE.  UPPER RIDGE TO BECOME FLATTENED OUT A BIT OVER THE NEXT FEW
DAYS AS TROUGH SITUATED OVER THE PAC NW SLOWLY SAGS SOUTHEASTWARDS.
MODELS IN FAIR AGREEMENT WITH THIS SCENERIO.  FOR TEMPS...NGM MOS
NUMBERS LOOKING GOOD BUT WILL MAKE A FEW MINOR ADJUSTMENTS.
FLG 1313 INW 1212
FLG...NONE

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 12, 2:12 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningFGZCoconino73 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arizona, 1997Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1997

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.