Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 45, NWS Tucson, AZ

September 1, 1997Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Sep 1, 1997, 6:57 PM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 118 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
Sep 1, 1997, 6:57 PM MST (01:57 UTC)
Expired
Sep 1, 1997, 8:55 PM MST
In force
118 min
Issued by
NWS Tucson, AZ
Area
Whole counties

County Pima County, AZ

The radar

The Tucson radar (KEMX), 112 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 01:59 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, 2.0 hours before the alert went out and 84 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 1997-09-02Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 907 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 1997-09-02The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 50 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
907 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-121 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1919 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
50 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
130 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
1.7

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTUS 020158
FFWTUS
AZC019-020355-

BULLETIN
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
657 PM MST MON SEP 1 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON AZ HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 855 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA

   ...SOUTHEASTERN PIMA COUNTY
 
AT 650 PM A SPOTTER IN ARIVACA REPORTED 2.5 INCHES OF RAIN IN THE
PAST 15 MINUTES. FLOODING OF LOW SPOTS ALONG ARIVACA ROAD AND ALONG
HIGHWAY $286 BETWEEN THREE POINTS AND SASABE IS LIKELY AND WILL
CONTINUE UNTIL 900 PM. WASHES IN THIS AREA WILL ALSO BE RUNNING
WITH WATER AND OVERFLOWING OF SOME WASHES IS LIKELY.

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

COLLINS

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 Sep 1, 2:30 PM MST, 4 hours 27 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 1, 2:30 PM MST, 4 hours 27 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
230 PM MST MON SEP 1 1997

DRIER AIR MOVG INTO SE AZ AT MID LVLS FM THE E THIS AFTN. DEW PTS
IN THE MID TO UPR 40S DEGREES F IN SW NM. TS SCT TO ISOLD...BUT
SOME ARE SUPRISINGLY INTENSE.

DRY MID LVL AIR TO MAKE FOR A FAIRLY QUIET TUE FOR MOST OF SE AZ.
DP MSTR STILL ACRS WRN AZ. H5 HI TO LIFT INTO ERN CO AND BACK THE
FLOW ALF TO A E TO SE DIRECTION NEXT TWO DAYS WHICH SHOULD LIMIT
THE SEEMINGLY NON STOP FLOW OF TROP MSTR INTO THE CWA. DRY AIR IS
ERODED BY THE SURROUNDING H7 MSTR WED FOR A RETURN TO A MORE
TYPICAL MONSOONAL PATTERN.

MED RNG MODELS DIVERGE ON THE STRENGTH OF A GULF OF AK TROF
POISED TO MOV INTO THE WRN U.S. BY NEXT WEEKEND. MRF FCSTS
PERSISTANCE FOR SE AZ WHILE THE EURO MODELS...SPCLLY THE UKMET
WANT TO MAKE THIS FEATURE THE THE POTENTIAL MONSOON ENDER. AGREE
WITH PHX THAT MRF LOOKS LIKE THE BETTER MODEL SINCE THE TREND HAS
BEEN THIS SUMMER FOR THESE SYSTEMS TO SHEAR THEMSELVES APART WHEN
THEY HIT THE MEAN RDG POSTN. TUS 3232. OKULSKI

TUS...NONE

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.