Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 38, NWS Tucson, AZ

August 24, 1997Graham County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Aug 24, 1997, 5:57 PM MST for Graham County, Arizona. It was in force for 78 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 24, 1997, 5:57 PM MST (00:57 UTC)
Expired: Aug 24, 1997, 7:15 PM MST
In force: 78 min
Issued by: NWS Tucson, AZ
Area: Whole counties

County Graham County, AZ

The radar

The Tucson radar (KEMX), 135 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:59 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, 1.0 hours before the alert went out and 127 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: 102 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -11 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 3033 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 14 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -20 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 250058
FFWTUS
AZC009-250215-

BULLETIN
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
557 PM MST SUN AUG 24 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON AZ HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 715 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHEASTERN ARIZONA

   ...SOUTH CENTRAL GRAHAM COUNTY
 
AT 555 PM TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR INDICATES STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WITH
HEAVY RAIN CONTINUING IN THE SAFFORD AREA. RADAR ESTIMATED RAINFALL
RATES OF 2 INCHES PER HOUR ARE ASSOCIATED WITH THESE THUNDERSTORMS.
TWO TO THREE INCHES OF RAIN HAS FALLEN IN THE SAFFORD AREA AND AN
ADDITIONAL INCH OR MORE OF RAIN MAY FALL IN THE NEXT HOUR. FLASH
FLOODING OF WASHES WILL OCCUR AND MOTORISTS AND PdERSONS LIVING IN
THE SAFFORD AREA SHOULD AVOID WASHES AND LOW AREAS.
 
HOLBROOK

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 24, 2:30 PM MST, 3 hours 27 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 24, 2:30 PM MST, 3 hours 27 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
230 PM MST SUN AUG 24 1997

CONVECTION STARTING TO POP OVER THE MOUNTAINS AND EXPECT SOME
OF THESE STORMS TO MOVE OUT INTO THE VALLEYS LATE THIS AFTERNOON
AND EVENING AS AIR MASS MOIST AND UNSTABLE ENOUGH IN THE LOWER
ELEVATIONS TO SUPPORT CONVECTION...BUT MAINLY JUST GENERIC TYPE
STORMS.

SOME LARGE THUNDERSTORM COMPLEXES MOVED ACROSS THE SOUTHERN GULF
OF CA LAST NIGHT AND EXPECT A SURGE FROM THIS ACTIVITY...BUT HOW
STRONG AND EXACTLY WHEN THE MOISTURE WILL ARRIVE STILL UP IN THE
AIR...BUT EXPECT IT SOMETIME MONDAY AFTERNOON. MODELS BRING THE
LARGE AREA OF DRY MID AND UPPER LEVEL AIR SEEN ON WATER VAPOR
PICTURES OVER KS/OK/TX INTO SOUTHEAST AZ LATE MONDAY AND TUESDAY.
THE MODELS DONT DRY THE LOW-LEVELS VERY MUCH AND THIS LOOKS GOOD
AS SURFACE AND RAOB DATA SHOW LOTS OF MOISTURE TO OUR EAST
EXTENDING INTO KS/OK/TX. ALSO IF GULF SURGE COMES IN THAT WILL
INCREASE MOISTURE VERSUS THE LITTLE DECREASE SHOWN BY THE MODELS.

SO WITH ALL THIS UNCERTAINTY WILL GO WITH THE STANDARD MONSOON
FORECAST OF SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING
THUNDERSTORMS...WITH THE HIGHEST POPS IN THE FAVORED EASTERN
AREAS...AND NOT SHOWN ANY UP OR DOWN TREND IN THE POPS.
TUS 3333. COLLINS

TUS...NONE

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.