Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 25, NWS Tucson, AZ

August 12, 1997Santa Cruz County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Aug 12, 1997, 11:50 AM MST for Santa Cruz County, Arizona. It was in force for 85 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 12, 1997, 11:50 AM MST (18:50 UTC)
Expired: Aug 12, 1997, 1:15 PM MST
In force: 85 min
Issued by: NWS Tucson, AZ
Area: Whole counties

County Santa Cruz County, AZ

The radar

The Tucson radar (KEMX), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 18:51 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 12:00Z, 6.8 hours before the alert went out and 72 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 52 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -152 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2106 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 8 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 41 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 KTUS 121851
FFWTUS
AZC023-122015-

BULLETIN
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
1150 AM MST TUE AUG 12 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON AZ HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 115 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA

   ...SOUTHEASTERN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY
 
AT 1145 AM MST...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN WERE
BETWEEN THE HUACHUCA MOUNTAINS AND THE PATAGONIA MOUNTAINS. THE
STORMST EXTENDED FROM THREE MILES EAST OF PATAGONIA TO THE
MEXICAN BORDER.  RADAR HAS ESTIMATED RAINFALL RATES UP TO TWO
INCHES PER HOUR. STORM MOVEMENT WAS TO THE WEST AT 5 MPH. 

DON'T DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER COVERS THE ROAD!

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 12, 9:00 AM MST, 2 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 12, 9:00 AM MST, 2 hours 50 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
900 AM MST TUE AUG 12 1997

MEXICAN CONVECTION MOVED NWD FROM NEAR SRN GULFCA OVERNIGHT..AND
REMANENTS STILL PRODUCING SHOWERS AND OCCASIONAL LIGHTNING IN SRN
COCHISE COUNTY AT THIS TIME.  PLOT FILES SHOW UPPER LOW OVER THE
GREAT BASIN WEAKENING. THE UPPER HIGH OVER TX IS SLOWLY SPREADING
NWWD WITH 10-30 METER HEIGHT RISES OVER AZ.  WATER VAPOR SHOWS
CYCLONIC TURNING OFF THE PACIFIC NW...SO EXPECT THE HIGH WILL NOT BE
ABLE TO PUSH MUCH FARTHER N THAN MAYBE CENTRAL AZ.  12Z TUS SOUNDING
INDICATES BIG TIME LOW LEVEL DRYING...MORE THAN COULD BE EXPECTED
FROM VERTICAL MIXING ALONE. THE MOIST LAYER IS VERY SHALLOW WITH A
GOOD INVERSION NEAR 600 MB AND 50 KTS WINDS ALOFT.  THUS SLIGHT
CHANCE AFTERNOON OF TSTMS GOOD...EXCEPT COCHISE COUNTY.  SLY WINDS
20-25 KTS UP TO 7K FT AT YUM WITH SURFACE DEW POINTS RISING FROM 50
TO 73.  THIS MAY BE A MORE RESULT OF THE 850 MB LOW OVER SRN CA THAN
AN ACTUAL SURGE. BUT IT IS STILL INCREASING LOW LEVEL MOISTURE.
FORECAST COVERS CURRENT SITUATION...BUT AN UPDATE MAY BE NEEDED
LATER.

TUS -22.

TUS...NONE.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 12, 12:08 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Santa Cruz	92 min
Aug 12, 12:17 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Santa Cruz	48 min
Aug 12, 2:03 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pima	47 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Arizona, 1997 Every 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.