Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 125, NWS Tucson, AZ

October 22, 1997Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 22, 1997, 12:07 PM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 28 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 22, 1997, 12:07 PM MST (19:07 UTC)
Expired
Oct 22, 1997, 12:35 PM MST
In force
28 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 19:08 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, 7.1 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 1997-10-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 221 joules per kilogram.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 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 1997-10-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 110 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
221 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-50 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1168 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
45 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
110 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
167 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.1
Supercell composite
0.6

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTUS 221909 RRA
SVRTUS
AZC019-221935-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
1207 PM MST WED OCT 22 1997


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON AZ HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 1235 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA

   ...NORTHEASTERN PIMA COUNTY

AT 1203 PM TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED THREE SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS IN NORTHEAST PIMA COUNTY. THE FIRST STORM IS IN
NORTHWEST TUCSON NEAR INA AND ORACLE ROADS AND WILL MOVE INTO ORO
VALLEY IN THE NEXT FEW MINUTES.

THE SECOND SEVERE THUNDERSTORM IS OVER EASTERN TUCSON AND WILL MOVE
INTO REDDINGTO PASS BY 1230 PM.

THE THIRD SEVERE THUNDERJSTORM IS JUST WEST OF VAIL AND WILL MOVE
OVER THE VAIL AND SOUTHERN PORTION OF THE RINCON MOUNTAINS.

THESE THUNDERSTORMS ARE PRODUCING HAIL TO 1 INCH IMN DIAMETER.
ALL THUNDERSTORMS ARE MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

HOLBROOK

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 22, 9:16 AM MST, 2 hours 51 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 22, 9:16 AM MST, 2 hours 51 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
900 AM MST WED OCT 22 1997

TUS 12Z SOUNDING MUCH COOLER AND WETTER THAN TUE. WITH ONLY
AFTERNOON TEMPS IN THE LOW 70S THERE IS STILL SOME CAPE AVAILABLE
FOR TSTM DEVELOPMENT.  WITH COLD POOL MOVING OVER TUS AREA...EVEN
MORE INSTABILITY IS POSSIBLE.  SATELLITE SHOWS MOST CLOUDS N OF THE
AREA...BUT CLOUD ENHAMCEMENT AND SOME LIGHTNING IS ALREADY OCCURRING
IN COCHISE COUNTY. RADAR DOES SHOW A COUPLE POCKETS OF ONE INCH
STORM TOTAL SINCE TUE..AND FEEL VERY LOCALIZED HEAVY RAIN POSSIBLE
AGAIN TODAY...MAINLY TUS EWD. FOG PRODUCT ALSO SHOWED PATCHY FOG IN
ERN ZONES AND SAFFORD METAR WAS REPORTING 1/4 MILE EARLIER...BUT
SHOULD BE GONE BY NOW.  12Z ETA AGREES WITH NGM ON MOVEMENT OF UPPER
LOW.  LOW NEAR TUS THIS AFTERNOON AND OPENS INTO A TROF IN NM BY 12Z
THU. THIS PUTS AREA UNDER NWLY FLOW. BUT SOME COLD AIR ALOFT STILL
OVER ERN ZONES AND ISOLATED TSTMS NOT OUT OF THE QUESTION...AS PER
CURRENT FORECAST.   TUS 631.

TUS...NONE

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.