Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 44, NWS Tucson, AZ

August 30, 1997Graham County, Pinal County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Aug 30, 1997, 6:05 PM MST for Graham County, Pinal County, Arizona. It was in force for 60 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 30, 1997, 6:05 PM MST (01:05 UTC)
Expired: Aug 30, 1997, 7:05 PM MST
In force: 60 min
Issued by: NWS Tucson, AZ
Area: Whole counties

Counties Graham County, AZ, Pinal County, AZ

The radar

The Phoenix radar (KIWA), 106 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:08 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, 1.1 hours before the alert went out and 87 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: 565 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -33 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2339 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 17 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 18 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 310105
FFWTUS
AZC009-021-310205-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
605 PM MST SAT AUG 30 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON AZ HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM AND FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 705 PM
MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN SOUTHEASTERN ARIZONA

   ...NORTHWESTERN GRAHAM COUNTY

IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA

   ...EASTERN PINAL COUNTY
 
AT 600 PM TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR INDICATES A LINE OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS FROM ARAVAIPA CANYON NORTHEASTWARD TO NEAR CALVA.
THE STRONGEST STORM WAS OVER ARAVAIPA CANYON. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE
NORTH AT ABOUT 10 MPH. DUDLEYVILLE MAY BE AFFECTED BY THIS STORM BY
630 PM AND COULD REACH THE SAN CARLOS RESERVOIR BY 645 PM. THIS
STORM COULD PRODUCE WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.

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 30, 2:30 PM MST, 3 hours 35 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 30, 2:30 PM MST, 3 hours 35 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
230 PM MST SAT AUG 30 1997

THINGS GOING AS EXPECTED WITH LOTS OF TSTMS OVR FAR SE AZ...SOME
HAVE DROPPED LOCALIZED HEAVY RAIN BUT THERE IS STILL NOTHING
ORGANIZED YET BUT SEEMS STORMS NEAR DUG ARE DEVELOPING INTO
DECENT COMPLEX. THIS SHOULD MOVE NW ACROSS TUS AREA LATE R THIS
AFTN AND INTO LOW DESERT THIS AFTN GIVEN WHAT WE HAVE ALREADY
SEEN WITH THESE STORMS LUKS LIKE FLASH FLOODING IS LIKELY LATER
THIS AFTN. TUS DEWPOINT ALSO INCREASING GIVING US DECENT 1500+
CAPE AND THERE IS A THREAT OF SVR. WE HAVE SEEN SOME BACKING OF
H3/H2 WNDS POSSIBLY IN REPONSE TO UPR LVL REMNANTS OF JIMENA
WHICH IS PASSING BY TO THE NORTH. UPR LOW NR BAJA APPEARS TO BE
STNRY.

SO FOR SUN AND MON TROPICAL LIKE MSTR WILL STILL MOVE NWD INTO
AZ. PROBLEM IS BIG DAY/DOWN DAY SCENARIO. SINCE ITS GOING GOOD
TODAY MAY NOT DUE MUCH BUT RASH ON SUN. THEN MON COULD AGAIN BE A
GOOD DAY. BUT THIS IS ATYPICAL PATTERN AND EACH DAY MAY BE GOOD.
WHO KNOWS...BEST TO JUST KEEP IT SCT POPS. STILL...POTENTIAL FOR
HEAVY RAIN EXISTS EACH DAY. TUS 6444. HOLBROOK

TUS...FLASH FLOOD WATCH ALL ZONES TIL 900 PM MST.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 30, 6:05 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Graham, Pinal	60 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.