Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 78, NWS Flagstaff, AZ
NWS Flagstaff, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 5, 1997, 4:34 PM MST for Coconino County, Arizona. It was in force for 46 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.
The area
The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.
The facts
- Issued
- Sep 5, 1997, 4:34 PM MST (23:34 UTC)
- Expired
- Sep 5, 1997, 5:20 PM MST
- In force
- 46 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 23:37 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.
What was reported inside it
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 5, 5:10 PM MST | Hail 0.9 | Parks, AZ |
NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.
The nearest sounding before it
Flgstf/Belemont, AZ (KFGZ), launched 12:00Z, 11.6 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 157 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -72 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1397 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 17 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 57 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 94 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
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 Flagstaff, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Sep 5, 2:03 PM MST, 2 hours 31 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Sep 5, 2:03 PM MST, 2 hours 31 minutes before
NORTHERN ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ 200 PM MST FRI SEP 5 1997 CU FORMED ALONG THE ERN MOGOLLON RIM FIRST THIS MORNING...MUCH THE WAY IT WAS EXPECTED TO. LOOKS LIKE FORCING FOR TS TODAY PRETTY MUCH LIMITED TO SFC HEATING. OUTFLOW MAY HELP TO INITIATE CONVECTION OFF THE RIM DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON...BUT AFTER SUNSET THE SKIES OVER NRN AZ SHOULD START CLEARING. A FINE WAY TO WELCOME THE WEEKEND. IT LOOKS LIKE MORE OF THE SAME WILL TAKE US THROUGH THE WEEKEND. LOW LEVEL RH SHOULD STAY HIGH ENOUGH FOR SCATTERED TS ALONG THE HIGH TERRAIN...ISOLATED ELSEWHERE ACROSS THE FLG CWFA. THE H5 VORTICITY FIELD SHOWS A MAX MOVING THROUGH WRN AZ DURING THE DAY SUNDAY. WITH INCREASING MOISTURE SHOOTING UP FROM THE SOUTH...WILL PROBABLY TURN UP THE NOTCH FOR THE WRN HALF OF THE CWFA. NOT CONFIDENT ENOUGH ATTM TO CALL IT LIKELY...BUT WILL GO WITH HIGHER POPS AND STRONGER WORDING DURING PD 4. WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES STILL AROUND AN INCH... THESE AREAS OF AZ MIGHT SEE STRONG CONVECTION WITH HEAVY RAIN BEING THE MAIN PROBLEM. CONFUSING THE ISSUE ARE THE PROGGED THTE VALUES WHICH LOOK ON THE LOW SIDE...BUT I GIVE HIGHER WEIGHT TO SFC HEATING AND DYNAMICS THIS TIME OF YEAR. DAYTIME TEMPS SHOULD ACTUALLY DECREASE SLIGHTLY AS THE ERN PAC TROF MOVES EAST...LOWERING HGHTS JUST A BIT THROUGH THE WEEKEND. OVERNIGHT LOWS SHOULDN'T CHANGE MUCH TONIGHT AND SATURDAY NIGHT AND PERSISTENCE SHOULD WORK OUT FINE THERE. IN THE EXTENDED...ALEUTIAN LOW PROGGED TO MAKE IT'S WAY SOUTHEAST TO CHANGE THE PATTERN FOR NRN AZ BY THE MIDDLE TO END OF NEXT WEEK. FOR NOW...A GENERAL SCATTERED HIGH COUNTRY TS FORECAST COVERS THE EXTENDED WELL AND WE MAY GET TO CHANGE THIS WORDING IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS. FLG 3535 INW 3333 PEREZ FLG...NONE.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Flagstaff, AZ issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 5, 1:35 PM MST | Flash Flood Warning | FGZ | Yavapai | 60 min |
| Sep 5, 1:35 PM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGZ | Yavapai | 60 min |
| Sep 5, 3:27 PM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | FGZ | Coconino | 2 hr |
| Sep 5, 3:52 PM MST | Flash Flood Warning | FGZ | Coconino | 118 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.