Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 121, NWS Tucson, AZ
NWS Tucson, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 7, 1997, 10:31 AM MST for Santa Cruz County, Arizona. It was in force for 69 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
- Oct 7, 1997, 10:31 AM MST (17:31 UTC)
- Expired
- Oct 7, 1997, 11:40 AM MST
- In force
- 69 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 17:27 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, 5.5 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 202 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -132 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 1944 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 12 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 28 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 45 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
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 Oct 7, 9:37 AM MST, 54 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Oct 7, 9:37 AM MST, 54 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 930 AM MST TUE OCT 7 1997 STRONG COLD FRONT MOVING THRU CENTRAL PIMA COUNTY AT THIS TIME GENERATING A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. MOVEMENT IS QUITE RAPID...AROUND 35 MPH TOWARDS THE NORTHEAST. ASSOCIATED SHORT WAVE JUST ENTERING WESTERN AZ AT THIS TIME WITH A VERY INTENSE VORTICITY MAXIMUM NEAR BLH. MODELS TAKE THIS VORTICITY MAXIMUM NORTHEASTWARD ACROSS CENTRAL AZ THIS AFTERNOON AND NIGHT. PRECIPITATION WILL BE IN A NARROW BAND ALONG THE COLD FRONT AND WILL BE SHORT LIVED AS COLD FRONT MOVING QUITE RAPIDLY EASTWARD. COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO NEW MEXICO EARLY THIS EVENING. SKIES WILL CLEAR BEHIND THE FRONT SO SHOWERS WILL END BY EARLY EVENING OVER FAR EASTERN AZ. WINDS WILL BE QUITE STRONG BUT SHOULD REMAIN JUST BELOW ADVISORY LEVEL...BUT WILL KEEP A CLOSE WATCH IN CASE AN ADVISORY IS NEEDED. MUCH COOLER BUT SUNNY WEDNESDAY BEHIND UPPER TROUGH. CURRENT FORECAST HAS THINGS WELL IN HAND SO NO UPDATES NEEDED. TUS 220. COLLINS TUS...NONE
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Oct 7, 5:06 AM MST, 5 hours 25 minutes before
AZZ019-026>030-071500- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 500 AM MST MON OCT 6 1997 ...FALL WEATHER IS FINALLY ON THE WAY FOR SOUTHEAST ARIZONA... A VIGOROUS STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE ACROSS ARIZONA TODAY. THE MAIN IMPACT OF THIS STORM OVER SOUTHEAST ARIZONA WILL BE SOUTHWEST TO WEST WINDS OF 15 TO 30 MPH DEVELOPING BY THE AFTERNOON. BLOWING DUST WITH AREAS OF REDUCED VISIBILITIES COULD BE A PROBLEM IN SOME LOCATIONS. THE COLD FRONT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS STORM WILL MOVE ACROSS SOUTHEAST ARIZONA TODAY BRINGING WITH IT PARTLY TO MOSTLY CLOUDY SKIES AND A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...ESPECIALLY OVER EASTERN PORTIONS. AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO BE COOLER...WITH 80S IN THE DESERTS AND MAINLY 60S AT HIGHER ELEVATIONS. THE COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO NEW MEXICO OVERNIGHT WITH DIMINISHING WINDS. IN ITS WAKE A COOL AND DRY AIR MASS WILL RESULT IN THE LOWEST NIGHTTIME TEMPERATURES SINCE SPRING. EXPECT LOWS IN THE UPPER 40S TO LOWER 50S IN DESERT LOCATIONS TO NEAR FREEZING AT THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN ELEVATIONS. SUNNY SKIES WILL RETURN TO SOUTHEAST ARIZONA BY WEDNESDAY. HOWEVER...TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN ON THE COOL SIDE...GENERALLY RANGING FROM THE 60S IN THE MOUNTAINS TO THE LOWER 80S ON THE DESERT. MCCOLLUM
The office that day
Everything else NWS Tucson, AZ issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 7, 7:58 AM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TWC | Pima | 62 min |
| Oct 7, 8:46 AM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TWC | Pima, Pinal | 59 min |
| Oct 7, 9:45 AM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TWC | Pima, Pinal | 60 min |
| Oct 7, 10:31 AM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TWC | Santa Cruz | 59 min |
| Oct 7, 11:58 AM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TWC | Cochise | 47 min |
| Oct 7, 12:49 PM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | TWC | Pinal | 36 min |
| Oct 7, 2:37 PM MST | Flash Flood Warning | TWC | Pima | 88 min |
| Oct 7, 3:54 PM MST | Flash Flood Warning | TWC | Cochise | 91 min |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arizona, 1997Every 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.