Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 36, NWS Phoenix, AZ
NWS Phoenix, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 2, 1997, 5:58 PM MST for Maricopa 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, 5:58 PM MST (00:58 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 2, 1997, 7:00 PM MST
- In force
- 62 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 01:02 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2, 6:00 PM MST | Thunderstorm Wind 50 | Queen Creek, AZ | Power 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 00:00Z, 1.0 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 970 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -14 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2130 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 8 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 30 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 25 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 KPHX 030058 RRA SVRPHX AZC013-030155- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ 558 PM MST SAT AUG 2 1997 * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR EAST CENTRAL MARICOPA COUNTY IN CENTRAL ARIZONA * UNTIL 700 PM MST * SOME LOCATIONS AFFECTED EAST MESA...QUEEN CREEK...AND GILBERT * AT 550 PM MST DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR WILLIAMS GATEWAY AIRPORT. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE WEST AT< ABOUT 20 MPH. STRONG DAMAGING WINDS ARE LIKELY WITH THIS STORM. DENSE BLOWING DUST WITH VISIBILITIES TO NEAR ZERO CAN BE EXPECTED IN THE FAR EAST VALLEY UNTIL 7 PM MST.
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, 3 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
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.