Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 61, NWS Tucson, AZ

August 8, 1997Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 8, 1997, 6:23 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: Aug 8, 1997, 6:23 PM MST (01:23 UTC)
Expired: Aug 8, 1997, 7:10 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 01:25 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 watch it was issued in

The SPC watch in force over the same counties when this warning went out.

Issued	Product	Office	Lasted
Aug 8, 5:15 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Watch	SPC	5 hr

The nearest sounding before it

Tuscon, AZ (KTUS), launched 00:00Z, 1.4 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: 657 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -196 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1881 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 30 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 100 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 196 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 6.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

372 
WUUS1 KTUS 090124 RRA
SVRTUS
AZC019-090210-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
623 PM MST FRI AUG 8 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON AZ HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 710 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA

   ...WESTERN PIMA COUNTY
 
AT 621 PM MST...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS 10
MILES EAST OF AJO. THESE STORMS WERE PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS IN
EXCESS OF 57 MPH. BLOWING DUST HAS REDUCED VISIBILITIES TO NEAR
ZERO.

OKULSKI

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 Aug 8, 2:37 PM MST, 3 hours 46 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 8, 2:37 PM MST, 3 hours 46 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
230 PM MST FRI AUG 8 1997

SCT TSTMS DVLPG THROUGHOUT SE AZ...SEVERAL SEVERE. MAINTAINED STG
SFC DEWPTS WELL ABV 60 THRU AFTN WITH VERY LARGE CAPE VALUES.
SHOULD SEE DVLPMT CONT THRU AFTN AND EVE. WATCH FOR WELL
SUPPORTED OUTFLOWS...ESPECIALLY OFF THE RIM. HEAVY RAINFALL.
ENOUGH HVY RAINFALL WITH DEBRIS CLD COULD DEPRESS ACTIVITY SOME
LOCATIONS TMW. CURRENT FCST TO REFLECT TSTpMS SUSTAINED INTO THE
EVE HRS WITH TEMPS AND TSTM COVERAGE DOWN A LTL FOR TMW. LOW LVL
MSTR THRU EXTD. PATTERN MAY SHIFT RDG AXIS TO LESS FAVORABLE
POSITION...NOTHING TO POINT AT RIGHT NOW. ANOTHER BUSY TIME.
TUS 5233. MEYER

TUS...NONE

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 8, 5:18 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Pima	57 min
Aug 8, 5:18 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pima	57 min
Aug 8, 5:22 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Pinal	63 min
Aug 8, 5:22 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pinal	63 min
Aug 8, 5:38 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Pinal	62 min
Aug 8, 5:38 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pinal	62 min
Aug 8, 6:14 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Pima	61 min
Aug 8, 6:27 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	TWC	Pinal	63 min
Aug 9, 4:42 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pima	48 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.