Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 35, NWS Phoenix, AZ

August 2, 1997Maricopa County, Pinal County, Arizona

NWS Phoenix, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 2, 1997, 4:58 PM MST for Maricopa County, Pinal County, Arizona. It was in force for 62 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
Aug 2, 1997, 4:58 PM MST (23:58 UTC)
Expired
Aug 2, 1997, 6:00 PM MST
In force
62 min
Issued by
NWS Phoenix, AZ
Area
Whole counties

Counties Maricopa County, AZ, Pinal County, AZ

The radar

The Phoenix radar (KIWA), 29 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:00 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 2, 6:00 PM MSTThunderstorm Wind 50Queen Creek, AZPower line downed near Crismon Road and Queen Creek Road.

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

Tuscon, AZ (KTUS), launched 12:00Z, 12.0 hours before the alert went out and 143 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 12:00Z on 1997-08-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 111 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 12:00Z on 1997-08-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -17 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
111 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-226 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1554 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
13 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-17 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
9 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
-0.0

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 severe thunderstorm 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 2, 2:42 PM MST, 2 hours 16 minutes before
AZZ020>025-CAZ030>033-310130-

SEVERE WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
245 PM MST/PDT SAT AUG 2 1997

...A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST
DESERT OF ARIZONA LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...

THE ATMOSPHERE OVER SOUTHERN ARIZONA HAS BECOME VERY MOIST AND
UNSTABLE. A PASSING WEATHER DISTURBANCE WILL TRIGGER AN INCREASE
IN AFTERNOON AND NIGHTTIME THUNDERSTORMS. MOST OF THE ACTIVITY
DURING THE EARLY EVENING WILL BE OVER THE EAST PORTION OF THE
SOUTHWEST DESERT...MAINLY MARICOPA...SOUTHERN GILA AND NORTHWEST
PINAL COUNTIES. BUT THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO PROPAGATE
WESTWARD ACROSS THE DESERT DURING THE EVENING AND POSSIBLY EARLY
MORNING HOURS.

THE MAIN THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE STRONG GUSTY WINDS...
TO AROUND 60 MPH. AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS COULD RESULT IN LOCAL
AREAS OF DENSE BLOWING DUST. IN ADDITION...SOME OF THE STORMS
MAY PRODUCE HEAVY RAIN...POSSIBLY RESULTING IN FLASH FLOODING OF
WASHES...ESPECIALLY IN THOSE AREAS THAT HAD SIGNIFICANT RAIN
YESTERDAY.

....................................................................

THE OUTLOOK AREA INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING COUNTIES...

IN ARIZONA                     IN CALIFORNIA

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

PERFREMENT

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 1, 5:57 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPSRPinal48 min
Aug 1, 6:58 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPSRPinal62 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.