Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 20, NWS Tucson, AZ

August 8, 1997Pinal County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Aug 8, 1997, 5:38 PM MST for Pinal County, Arizona. It was in force for 62 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 8, 1997, 5:38 PM MST (00:38 UTC)
Expired
Aug 8, 1997, 6:40 PM MST
In force
62 min
Issued by
NWS Tucson, AZ
Area
Whole counties

County Pinal County, AZ

The radar

The Phoenix radar (KIWA), 52 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:41 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, 0.6 hours before the alert went out and 92 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 1997-08-09Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 657 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Tuscon, AZ at 00:00Z on 1997-08-09The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 100 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
657 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-196 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1881 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
100 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
196 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
6.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
TTAA00 KTUS 090039
FFWTUS
AZC021-090140-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
538 PM MST FRI AUG 8 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON AZ HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 640 PM
MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA

   ...EXTREME SOUTHWESTERN PINAL COUNTY
 
AT 535 PM MST...TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM OVER EXTREME SOUTHWEST PINAL COUNTY. THIS STORM
WAS 20 MILES SOUTHWEST OF CASA GRANDE AND NEARLY STATIONARY.
THIS STORMS WAS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WINDS GUSTS TO 70 MPH AND
RAINFALL ACCUMULATIONS UP TO 2 INCHES THROUGH 635 PM MST.

OKULSKI

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.

NWS Tucson, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before this flash flood warning went out at Aug 8, 2:37 PM MST, 3 hours 1 minute earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 8, 2:37 PM MST, 3 hours 1 minute before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
230 PM MST FRI AUG 8 1997

SCT TSTMS DVLPG THROUGHOUT SE AZ...SEVERAL SEVERE. MAINTAINED STG
SFC DEWPTS WELL ABV 60 THRU AFTN WITH VERY LARGE CAPE VALUES.
SHOULD SEE DVLPMT CONT THRU AFTN AND EVE. WATCH FOR WELL
SUPPORTED OUTFLOWS...ESPECIALLY OFF THE RIM. HEAVY RAINFALL.
ENOUGH HVY RAINFALL WITH DEBRIS CLD COULD DEPRESS ACTIVITY SOME
LOCATIONS TMW. CURRENT FCST TO REFLECT TSTpMS SUSTAINED INTO THE
EVE HRS WITH TEMPS AND TSTM COVERAGE DOWN A LTL FOR TMW. LOW LVL
MSTR THRU EXTD. PATTERN MAY SHIFT RDG AXIS TO LESS FAVORABLE
POSITION...NOTHING TO POINT AT RIGHT NOW. ANOTHER BUSY TIME.
TUS 5233. MEYER

TUS...NONE

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 8, 11:59 AM MST, 5 hours 39 minutes before
AZZ019-026>030-082300-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...SOUTHEAST ARIZONA CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
1145 AM MST FRI AUG 8 1997...THIS PRODUCT IS NOT UPDATED

                AREAL    PROBABILITY   RAIN GREATER THAN   STORM
              COVERAGE    OF SEVERE     1.00       2.00    MOTION

COCHISE          40          30          40         20      S  8
GRAHAM           40          25          40         20      S  8
GREENLEE         40          10          40         10      S  8
TUCSON/ERN PIMA  40          40          50         25     SW 10
TOHONO OODHAM   30          40          30         15     SW 10
WESTERN PIMA     25          30          25          5      W 10
SOUTHEAST PINAL  30          30          30         10     SW 10
SANTA CRUZ       60          40          50         25     SW 10

SYNOPSIS...
ATMOSPHERE IS LOADED WITH MOISTURE. ENOUGH HEATING FOR VERY
UNSTABLE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. POTENTIAL FOR A VARIETY OF
ACTIVITY WITH HEAVY RAIN...STRONG WINDS...AND HAIL.

*****************************************************************
KEY...
AREAL COVERAGE - PERCENT OF COUNTY OR AREA THAT WILL EXPERIENCE
                  THUNDERSTORMS
PROB OF SEVERE - THE PROBABILITY THAT ANY ONE OF THE STORMS WILL
                  REACH SEVERE LEVELS (DAMAGING WIND AND/OR
                  LARGE HAIL)
RAIN GRTR THAN - THE PROBABILITY THAT ANY ONE OF THE STORMS WILL
                  PRODUCE RAIN EXCEEDING 1 INCH OR 2 INCHES IN
                  ANY LOCATION
STORM MOTION   - GENERAL DIRECTION TO WHICH THE STORMS WILL
                  LIKELY MOVE AND SPEED IN MPH

NOTE...
VALID TIME IS FROM 12 NOON TO 12 MIDNIGHT OF THE DAY OF ISSUANCE

THIS PRODUCT IS NOT TO BE USED IN PLACE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OR
FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS OR WATCHES. THIS PRODUCT IS ONLY USED FOR
OUTLOOK PURPOSES.

END/MEYER

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 8, 5:18 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCPima57 min
Aug 8, 5:18 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCPima57 min
Aug 8, 5:22 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCPinal63 min
Aug 8, 5:22 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCPinal63 min
Aug 8, 5:38 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCPinal62 min
Aug 8, 6:14 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCPima61 min
Aug 8, 6:23 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCPima47 min
Aug 8, 6:27 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCPinal63 min
Aug 9, 4:42 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCPima48 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.