Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1997

Flash Flood Warning 60, NWS Tucson, AZ

September 25, 1997Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Sep 25, 1997, 7:48 AM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 7 hr. 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 25, 1997, 7:48 AM MST (14:48 UTC)
Expired
Sep 25, 1997, 2:50 PM MST
In force
7 hr
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 14:49 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, 2.8 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 12:00Z on 1997-09-25Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Tuscon, AZ at 12:00Z on 1997-09-25The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 77 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
1648 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
27 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
77 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
196 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 251451
FFWTUS
AZC019-252150-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
748 AM MST THU SEP 25 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON AZ HAS ISSUED A
FLASH FLOOD WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 250 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA

   ...WESTERN PIMA COUNTY
 
HEAVY RAIN FROM HURRICANE NORA WILL BE MOVING INTO WESTERN PIMA
COUNTY THIS MORNING AND CONTINUING THROUGH THIS AFTERNOO*N. UP TO 4
INCHES OF RAIN WILL FALL ACROSS THIS AREA TODAY CAUSING WIDESPREAD
FLASH FLOODING.

DON'T DRIVE ACROSS FLOODED ROADS! MOST FLASH FLOOD DEATHS OCCUR IN
AUTOMOBILES.

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 25, 2:46 AM MST, 5 hours 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 25, 2:46 AM MST, 5 hours 2 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
230 AM MST THU SEP 25 1997

WILL BACK OFF ON PRECIP WORDING IN ERN ZONES AS BULK OF PRECIP WITH
NORA IS STILL TO THE WEST. THO THESE ZONES MAY HEAT UP ENUF THIS
AFTN FOR STORMS AND POSSIBLY MORE RAIN THAN AREAS IN THE THICK
CLOUDS. WILL NOT CHANGE ZONE 28 FOR NOW BUT MAY HAVE TO BACK OFF IN
THIS AREA ALSO. STILL ITS TOO EARLY TO CALL AND ANY MOVEMENT EWD BY
NORA WOULD PUT TUS AREA IN THREAT OF HEAVY RAIN. BUT BEST GUESS IS
THAT SELLS TO AJO AREA IS WHERE HEAVY RAINS WILL FALL IN OUR AREA
TODAY. WITH QUICKER MOTION OF STORM WILL END PRECIP IN MOST AREAS
AFTER MIDNIGHT. FRI SHOULD BE AN OFF DAY BUT WILL CONTINUE LOW SCT
POPS. SAT...WITH BETTER HEATING...WILL SEE STORMS ALSO.

THEN ITS THE END OF THE MONSOON SEASON AS WE AWAIT THE EFFECTS OF EL
NINO IN WINTER.

TUS...FFA ZN026 TODAY/TONIGHT.

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.