Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 65, NWS Flagstaff, AZ
NWS Flagstaff, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 21, 1997, 5:41 PM MST for Gila County, Arizona. It was in force for 44 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 21, 1997, 5:41 PM MST (00:41 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 21, 1997, 6:25 PM MST
- In force
- 44 min
- Issued by
- NWS Flagstaff, AZ
- Area
- Whole counties
County Gila County, AZ
The radar
The Flagstaff radar (KFSX), 93 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:43 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 watch it was issued in
The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.
| Issued | Product | Office | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 21, 3:00 PM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Watch | SPC | 6 hr |
The nearest sounding before it
Tuscon, AZ (KTUS), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 hours before the alert went out and 181 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 174 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -159 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2788 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 10 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -67 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- -44 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KFLG 220040 RRA SVRFLG AZC007-220125- BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ 541 PM MST THU AUG 21 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FLAGSTAFF AZ HAS ISSUED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 625 PM MST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN CENTRAL ARIZONA ...NORTHWESTERN GILA COUNTY AT 540 PM MST...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY FLAGSTAFF DOPPLER RADAR 3 MILES EAST OF PINE MOVING NORTH NORTHWEST AT 10 MPH. SOME LOCATIONS IN THE WARNING AREA INCLUDE... PINE AND STRAWBERRY. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WIND IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH... DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...FREQUENT LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN. FORD YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.
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 21, 2:30 PM MST, 3 hours 11 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 21, 2:30 PM MST, 3 hours 11 minutes before
NORTHERN ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ 230 PM MST THU AUG 21 1997 LARGE AREA OF SHOWERS ASSOC WITH DSTRBNC FROM OLD MEX MCS LAST NIGHT STILL OVR NRN PART OF CWA AND STBLZG LOWER ATMOS. CAN EVEN SEE A CLEAR CIRCULATION IN 1KM IMAGERY IN NW YAV CNTY WHICH NOT EVEN MESO ETA PICKED UP ON...BUT MESO ETA NOT TRULY A MESOSCALE MDL. THIS FEATURE WEAKENING AND UNLIKELY TO TRIGGER MORE ACTIVITY THAN IT IS ALREADY. HOWEVER WHERE SUN HAS BEEN HEATING UP THE GROUND SINCE LATE MORNING CONVECTION NOW BREAKING OUT. STILL EXPECTING GILA CNTY...ERN RIM...AND WHITE MTNS TO DEVELOP STRONG STRMS BY LATE AFT. SPC SVR WATCH CLIPS SRN PART OF CWA...BUT ASKED PHX TO NOT INCLUDE ANY PARTS OF OUR COUNTIES IN RE-DEFINING ISSUANCE. 5H RDG FCST BY ALL MDLS TO HOLD STRONG JUST SOUTH OF 4 CRNRS NEXT COUPLE DAYS...WITH SUBTLE SUPRESSION TO SOUTH POSSIBLE SAT OR SUN DUE TO PAC NW TROF. SO DEEP MOIST S-SE FLOW THRU SAT FOR MOST OF AREA TO KEEP LOW-LVL MSTR STREAMING IN AND ACTIVE CONVECTION. LESS LIKELY FOR DISTURBANCE TO BRING IN ACTIVITY OVERNIGHT TONIGHT...BUT STILL POSSIBLE...SO FRI DAYTIME HEATING SHOULD BE MORE A FACTOR...AND MORE WIDESPREAD STRONGER STORMS ARE POSSIBLE. AVN BRINGS STRONGER SW FLOW ACRS NW AZ STARTING LATE SAT AND OVER MORE OF CWA BY SUN...SO WILL BRING POPS DOWN SLIGHTLY FAR NORTH AND WEST FOR SAT...BUT DONT EXPECT COMPLETE DRYING. SCT POPS THRU EXTENDED LOOK FINE. FLG 3646 INW 3535 KEIGHTON FLG...NONE
The office that day
Everything else NWS Flagstaff, AZ issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 22, 1:06 PM MST | Flash Flood Warning | FGZ | Coconino | 3 hr |
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.