Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 105, NWS Tucson, AZ

September 13, 1997Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 13, 1997, 7:28 PM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 47 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, 7:28 PM MST (02:28 UTC)
Expired: Sep 13, 1997, 8:15 PM MST
In force: 47 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 02:30 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 00:00Z, 2.5 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-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: 467 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -8 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2727 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -27 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: -1 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 140229 RRA
SVRTUS
AZC019-140315-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
728 PM MST SAT SEP 13 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON AZ HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 815 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA

   ...CENTRAL PIMA COUNTY
 
AT 730 PM TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM NEAR
COVERED WELLS ALONG HIGHWAY 86 AND ANOTHER SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 10
MILES SOUTH OF SELLS. THESE STORMS ARE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 10 MPH.

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, 4 hours 58 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 13, 2:30 PM MST, 4 hours 58 minutes 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.

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 13, 5:21 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Pima, Santa Cruz	119 min
Sep 13, 5:21 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pima, Santa Cruz	119 min
Sep 13, 7:23 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Pima, Santa Cruz	57 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.