Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 9, NWS Flagstaff, AZ

May 12, 1997Gila County, Navajo County, Arizona

NWS Flagstaff, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at May 12, 1997, 2:33 PM MST for Gila County, Navajo County, Arizona. It was in force for 32 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
May 12, 1997, 2:33 PM MST (21:33 UTC)
Expired
May 12, 1997, 3:05 PM MST
In force
32 min
Issued by
NWS Flagstaff, AZ
Area
Whole counties

Counties Gila County, AZ, Navajo County, AZ

The radar

The Flagstaff radar (KFSX), 58 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:36 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, 9.6 hours before the alert went out and 133 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 1997-05-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 5 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 1997-05-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 1 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
5 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-283 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2048 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
1 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
14 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 KFLG 122133 RRA
SVRFLG
AZC007-017-122205-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ
233 PM MST MON MAY 12 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN FLAGSTAFF AZ HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 305 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN CENTRAL ARIZONA

   ...EASTERN GILA COUNTY

IN NORTHEASTERN ARIZONA

   ...SOUTHERN NAVAJO COUNTY
 
AT 231 PM MST...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WAS INDICATED BY FLAGSTAFF
DOPPLER RADAR 44 MILES SOUTH OF SHOW LOW OR 11 MILES SOUTH
SOUTHWEST OF FORT APACHE MOVING SOUTH AT 15 MPH.

HAIL AROUND 1 INCH IN DIAMETER OR GREATER IS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS
THUNDERSTORM. PEOPLE NEAR OR IN THE PATlH OF THIS SEVERE STORM
SHOULD FIND SHELTER.

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 May 12, 2:03 PM MST, 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 12, 2:03 PM MST, 30 minutes before
NORTHERN ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ
200 PM MST MON MAY 12 1997

NRLY FLOW AND MID-LVL DRYING BHND DFRMTN ZN REDUCING CNVCTV ACTIVITY
SOMEWHAT ACROSS PARTS OF RIM BUT STILL ENOUGH SFC MSTR FOR ISOLD-SCT
STORMS...MAINLY WHITE MTNS.  MDLS CONT NRLY FLOW AS RDG AXIS REMAINS
TO THE WEST...BUT THIS FLOW SLWLY WEAKENS AS AXIS PUSHES EAST. ALL
MDLS IN PRETTY GOOD AGRMNT SHOWING A LITTLE MORE MID-LVL DRYING AND
SLOW INCRS IN HGTS/THKNS THRU WED...BUT SEE NO REASON WHY SFC MSTR
WILL BE REDUCED AT ALL AS NRN AZ REMAINS UNDER RDG.

MDL SNDGS INDICATE SLIGHTLY MORE STBL TUES WITH A BIT OF MID- AND
LOW-LVL DRYING...BUT GUIDANCE SHOWS LTL CHNG IN SFC DW PTS.  NOT MUCH
CHANGE IN PTRN FOR WED.  SO WILL REDUCE POPS FROM TDY BY ABOUT 10
PERCENT FOR BOTH TUES AND WED...WHILE INCRSG TMPS A FEW DEG. STORMS
WILL FORM MAINLY OVER HIGHEST TERRAIN AND GENERALLY MOVE SOUTH...AS
THEY ARE TDY.  THEREFORE...WILL CONSIDER SOME ISOLD WORDING LWR ELEV
SPOTS SOUTH OF TERRAIN BUT PRBLY NOT NORTH OF TERRAIN...SUCH AS
WINSLOW AND ST JOHNS.   SEE NO CHNGS IN EXTND TO SUGGEST LOW PRECIP
CHNCS WILL GO TO ZERO OR GO HIGHER EITHER...SO STATUS QUO SEEMS FINE.

FLG 1211  INW 0000,
SJK
FLG...NONE

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.