Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 10, NWS Phoenix, AZ

August 28, 1997Maricopa County, Arizona

NWS Phoenix, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Aug 28, 1997, 7:46 PM MST for Maricopa County, Arizona. It was in force for 59 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 28, 1997, 7:46 PM MST (02:46 UTC)
Expired
Aug 28, 1997, 8:45 PM MST
In force
59 min
Issued by
NWS Phoenix, AZ
Area
Whole counties

County Maricopa County, AZ

The radar

The Phoenix radar (KIWA), 77 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:48 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

Tuscon, AZ (KTUS), launched 00:00Z, 2.8 hours before the alert went out and 198 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, Tuscon, AZ at 00:00Z on 1997-08-29Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Tuscon, AZ at 00:00Z on 1997-08-29The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -135 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
2698 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
34 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-135 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-49 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

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 flash flood warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 28, 2:38 PM MST, 5 hours 8 minutes before
AZZ020>025-CAZ030>033-291130-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
245 PM MST/PDT THU AUG 28 1997

...A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS MARICOPA AND NORTHWEST
PINAL COUNTY THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...

...A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES THIS
AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT: SOUTHERN GILA...LA PAZ...YUMA...EASTERN
RIVERSIDE...AND IMPERIAL.

THE AIRMASS ACROSS THE ENTIRE OUTLOOK AREA IS VERY MOIST AND UNSTABLE
THIS AFTERNOON...AS A SOUTHERLY FLOW OF AIR CONTINUES ACROSS THE
REGION.  AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WAS CURRENTLY MOVING NORTHWARD
INTO FAR SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA THIS AFTERNOON...AND THIS DISTURBANCE
WAS CURRENTLY ENHANCING THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT AROUND TUCSON AND
NOGALES.  THIS DISTURBANCE IS EXPECTED TO TRACK NORTHWARD LATER THIS
AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.

WITH THE UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE TRACKING NORTHWARD...THERE WILL BE A
MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS MARICOPA AND NORTHWEST PINAL
COUNTIES THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.  ACROSS THE REST OF THE COUNTY
WARNING AREA...THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORM
DEVELOPMENT.

DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF AROUND 60 MPH MAY OCCUR WITH SOME
THUNDERSTORMS IN THE RISK AREA THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...ALONG
WITH HAIL UP TO 1 INCH IN DIAMETER.  HEAVY RAINFALL WILL ALSO BE A
CONCERN...AS STORMS THAT FORM TODAY AND TONIGHT WILL TEND TO BE VERY
MOISTURE-LADEN AND RATHER SLOW MOVING.  THIS COULD POTENTIALLY RESULT
IN THE FLOODING OF ROADWAYS AND NORMALLY DRY WASHES.
....................................................................

FOR PURPOSES OF THIS OUTLOOK...SEVERE WEATHER REFERS TO ANY OF THE
FOLLOWING...DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 57 MPH...HAIL 3/4 INCH IN
DIAMETER OR LARGER...AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WHICH RESULTS IN
RUNNING WASHES OR FLOODING.

THE OUTLOOK AREA INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...

IN ARIZONA                     IN CALIFORNIA

MARICOPA                       IMPERIAL
SOUTHERN GILA                  CENTRAL/EASTERN RIVERSIDE
NORTHWEST PINAL
YUMA
LA PAZ
....................................................................

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 28, 7:46 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPSRMaricopa59 min
Aug 28, 9:51 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPSRLa Paz54 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Arizona, 1997Every flash flood 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.