Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997
Flash Flood Warning 36, NWS Tucson, AZ
NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Aug 17, 1997, 3:05 PM MST for Cochise County, Arizona. It was in force for 45 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 17, 1997, 3:05 PM MST (22:05 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 17, 1997, 3:50 PM MST
- In force
- 45 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tucson, AZ
- Area
- Whole counties
County Cochise County, AZ
The radar
The Tucson radar (KEMX), 83 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:06 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, 10.1 hours before the alert went out and 113 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
- 961 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -43 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1293 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 11 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -8 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 162 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 KTUS 172207 FFWTUS AZC003-172255- BULLETIN FLASH FLOOD WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 305 PM MST SUN AUG 17 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON AZ HAS ISSUED A FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 350 PM MST FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION... IN SOUTHEASTERN ARIZONA ...WESTERN COCHISE COUNTY AT 300 PM VERY HEAVY RAINFALL CONTINUED OVER WESTERN COCHISE COUNTY NEAR THE BENSON AREA...RAINFALL RATES OF 1 TO 1.5 INCHES PER HOUR CONTIdNUED OVER AREAS THAT HAD ALREADY RECEIVED NEARLY 2 INCHES. FLOODING HAS BEEN REPORTED IN BENSON. MEYER
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 17, 2:30 PM MST, 35 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 17, 2:30 PM MST, 35 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 230 PM MST SUN AUG 17 1997 SEEMS MORE LIKE KEY WEST THAN TUCSON. TROPICAL LIKE AIR MASS IN PLACE OVR STATE WITH COMPLICATED UPPER AIR FEATURES. SOME MID LVL SPIN IS CAUSING STORMS TO MOVE IN ALL DIRECTIONS TODAY. CENTER OF THIS SPIN SEEMS TO BE NEAR CGZ. THE SYS OFF THE CA COAST...FCST TO MOVE EWD TO CNTRL AZ BY MON AM...IS PROVIDING DYNAMICS FOR STORMS. SOMEWHAT CONFUSED SINCE LATEST WATER VAPOR PIX SHOWS THIS SYS LIFTING OUT QUICKLY TO THE NORTHEAST...NEAR LAS NOW BUT MODELS MOVD IT SLOWER TO THE EAST. BEST STORMS HAVE BEEN ALONG SRN END OF COLD POOL ALOFT. TO OUR SOUTHWEST IS IGNACIO. THE FLOW PATTERN AT H2 FROM THIS STORM AND THE UPR LVL SYS IN CA PUTS AZ IN FAVORABLE AREA OF UPPER LVL DIVERGENCE. BOTH THESE FACTORS SPEAK TO HEAVY RAIN AND FLASH FLOODING. SHEAR PROFILE HAS BEEN INTERESTING WITH SOME DECENT SPIN EARLIER WITH STORMS IN PINAL COUNTY...STORMS SHOWED SOME SUPERCELL CHARACTERISTICS. STORMS MAY JUST KEEP GOING THRU THE NIGHT...AND JUST CANT BE TOO SURE SO HAVE BROADBRUSHED FCST SOME. ALSO WONDER WHERE IGNACIO IS GOING TO GO. WITH TROF FCST TO MOVE EWD IGNACIO MAY FOLLOW TROF UP INTO AZ. NOT OUR TYPICAL MONSOON BUT INTERESTING. TUS 6554. HOLBROOK/WJM TUS...NONE
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Aug 17, 11:28 AM MST, 3 hours 37 minutes before
AZZ019-026>030-172300-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...SOUTHEAST ARIZONA CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
1145 AM MST SUN AUG 17 1997...THIS PRODUCT IS NOT UPDATED
...MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS MOST OF SOUTHEAST
ARIZONA TODAY...
AREAL PROBABILITY RAIN GREATER THAN STORM
COVERAGE OF SEVERE 1.00 2.00 MOTION
COCHISE 50 50 70 30 N 10
GRAHAM 50 50 70 25 N 10
GREENLEE 70 30 60 5 N 10
TUCSON/ERN PIMA 50 50 70 30 N 10
TOHONO OODHAM 40 60 60 30 N 10
WESTERN PIMA 30 60 40 10 N 10
SOUTHEAST PINAL 50 60 70 30 N 10
SANTA CRUZ 50 50 70 25 N 10
SYNOPSIS...
A DISTURBED MOIST SOUTHERLY FLOW HAS DEVELOPED ACROSS SOUTHEAST
ARIZONA AS AN UPPER LEVEL LOW NEAR THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
COAST MOVES INLAND. CLOUD COVER WITH SOUTHERLY MOISTURE FLOW AND
HIGH LEVEL MOISTURE FROM THE TROPICS WILL DELAY SOME DEVELOPMENT
TODAY. STRONG TO SEVERE AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE
ANYWHERE ACROSS SOUTHEAST ARIZONA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. DUE
TO THE VERY MOIST ATMOSPHERE...SOME OF THE STRONGEST STORMS WILL
PRODUCE RAINFALL AMOUNTS OVER TWO INCHES.
*****************************************************************
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/MEYERThe office that day
Everything else NWS Tucson, AZ issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 16, 7:29 PM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TWC | Pima | 51 min |
| Aug 17, 1:25 AM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TWC | Pinal | 60 min |
| Aug 17, 10:16 AM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TWC | Pinal | 49 min |
| Aug 17, 10:52 AM MST | Flash Flood Warning | TWC | Pinal | 93 min |
| Aug 17, 11:06 AM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TWC | Pinal | 64 min |
| Aug 17, 12:30 PM MST | Flash Flood Warning | TWC | Pinal | 95 min |
| Aug 17, 12:47 PM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TWC | Pinal | 43 min |
| Aug 17, 1:58 PM MST | Flash Flood Warning | TWC | Cochise | 62 min |
| Aug 17, 1:58 PM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TWC | Cochise | 62 min |
| Aug 17, 2:18 PM MST | Flash Flood Warning | TWC | Pima | 92 min |
| Aug 17, 2:18 PM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TWC | Pima | 92 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.