Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 68, NWS Tucson, AZ

August 13, 1997Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 13, 1997, 5:43 PM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 47 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
Aug 13, 1997, 5:43 PM MST (00:43 UTC)
Expired
Aug 13, 1997, 6:30 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 00:44 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.

What was reported inside it

TimeReportWhereRemark
Aug 13, 6:23 PM MSTThunderstorm Wind 78Tuscon Ryan Fld Arpt, AZThunderstorm winds gusting to 78 kts snapped a power pole knocking out power to 1700 customers and toppled a tree onto a house.

NCEI Storm Data entries that began inside the alert's area while it was in force. Before 2003 the local storm report archive is thin, so this is the record of what happened rather than what was phoned in.

The nearest sounding before it

Tuscon, AZ (KTUS), launched 00:00Z, 0.7 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 00:00Z on 1997-08-14Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 394 joules per kilogram.LCLEL10008507005003002001001 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 00:00Z on 1997-08-14The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -16 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
394 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-4 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3093 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
5 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-16 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-34 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 140043 RRA
SVRTUS
AZC019-140130-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
543 PM MST WED AUG 13 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON AZ HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 630 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA

   ...NORTHEASTERN PIMA COUNTY
 
AT 542 PM MST...DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WITH
EXTREMELY HEAVY RAINFALL 154 MILES WEST SOUTHWEST OF NORTHWEST
TUCSON OR 3 MILES NORTHWEST OF RYAN FIELD MOVING EAST AT 5 MPH.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE...
RYAN FIELD              BY 553 PM MST

MEYER

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 13, 5:35 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCGraham, Greenlee65 min
Aug 13, 6:04 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCPima61 min
Aug 13, 6:55 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCPima90 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.