Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 103, NWS Tucson, AZ

September 13, 1997Santa Cruz County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 13, 1997, 4:31 PM MST for Santa Cruz County, Arizona. It was in force for 64 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 13, 1997, 4:31 PM MST (23:31 UTC)
Expired: Sep 13, 1997, 5:35 PM MST
In force: 64 min
Issued by: NWS Tucson, AZ
Area: Whole counties

County Santa Cruz County, AZ

The radar

The Tucson radar (KEMX), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 23:30 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, 11.5 hours before the alert went out and 72 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: 936 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -97 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1786 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 15 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 31 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

The text of this product is not in the archive. The NWS text archive before 2002 is incomplete.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this severe thunderstorm 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 severe thunderstorm warning went out at Sep 13, 2:30 PM MST, 2 hours 1 minute earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 13, 2:30 PM MST, 2 hours 1 minute before

SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
230 PM MST SAT SEP 13 1997

DRY AIR ALOFT SEEMS TO HAVED LIMITED TSTM ACTIVITY.  WATER VAPOR
SHOWS DRY AIR MAKING ITS WAY TOWARDS ERN ZONES AT THIS TIME. SUN...
LINDA IS FORECAST TO BE W OF THE BAJA SPUR AND SHOULD BE BEGINNING
TO WEAKEN OVER COOLER WATERS. THE PACIFIC TROUGH MOVES INSIDE 120W.
THE UPPER HIGH MOVES NWD INTO NM AND FLOW AT ALL LEVELS BACKS TO
SLY.  MODELS BEGINNING TO INCREASE MID AND UPPER LEVEL MOISTURE OVER
AZ. WHILE LOW LEVEL MOISTURE REMAINS QUITE HIGH THE NEXT TWO DAYS.
WILL GO WITH SLIGHTLY HIGHER POPS IN THE W WHERE ETA SHOWING A VORT
MAX AND 98Q SHOWING .25-.50 INCH PRECIP. SUN NIGHT...MORE MOISTURE
ADVECTION WITH 70 PCT MEAN RH ACROSS THE ENTIRE STATE. WILL KEEP
CLOUDS AND PRECIP ALL NIGHT. MONDAY...LINDA FORECAST TO CROSS N OF
30N AND POSSIBLY START RECURVING NEWD. WINDS FORECAST TO DROP INTO
THE 60-70 KT RANGE.  WILL KEEP CLOUDS/SHOWERS/TSTMS IN FORECAST WITH
TRENDING POPS INTO LIKELY CATEGOTY. TUS 2556

TUS...NONE.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 13, 12:16 PM MST, 4 hours 15 minutes before

AZZ019-026>030-132300-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...SOUTHEAST ARIZONA CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
1145 AM MST SAT SEP 13 1997...THIS PRODUCT IS NOT UPDATED

                AREAL    PROBABILITY   RAIN GREATER THAN   STORM
              COVERAGE    OF SEVERE     1.00       2.00    MOTION

COCHISE          30          40          50         25     NE 10
GRAHAM           30          40          50         25     NE 10
GREENLEE         40          30          40         10     NE 10
TUCSON/ERN PIMA  30          40          40         20     NE 10
TOHONO OODHAM   30          30          30         10     NE 10
WESTERN PIMA     20          20          20         10     NE 10
SOUTHEAST PINAL  30          30          40         15     NE 10
SANTA CRUZ       30          40          50         25     NE 10

SYNOPSIS...SOUTHEAST ARIZONA REMAINS QUITE MOIST AND UNSTABLE.
THE ATMOSPHERE CAN SUPPORT STRONG THUNDERSTORMS OVER BOTH MOUNTAINS
AND VALLEYS TODAY. STRONG GUSTY WINDS AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN IS
POSSIBLE.
*****************************************************************
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/

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 13, 4:31 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Santa Cruz	64 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arizona, 1997 Every severe thunderstorm 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.