Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 95, NWS Tucson, AZ

September 1, 1997Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Sep 1, 1997, 2:44 PM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 46 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 1, 1997, 2:44 PM MST (21:44 UTC)
Expired: Sep 1, 1997, 3:30 PM MST
In force: 46 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 21:45 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, 9.7 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-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: 91 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -191 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1989 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 16 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 20 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.

976 
WUUS1 KTUS 012145 RRA
SVRTUS
AZC019-012230-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
244 PM MST MON SEP 1 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON AZ HAS EXTENDED THE 
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING UNTIL 330 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA

   ...EASTERN PIMA COUNTY
 
AT 240 PM MST...TUCSON DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO DETECT A LINE OF
SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM SOUTHWEST TUCSON TO 10 MILES NORTHWEST OF
AMADO. THIS LINE CONTINUED TO MOVE TO NORTHWEST AT 25 MPH. THIS
LINE WILL BE NEAR RYAN FIELD BY 3 PM. THUNDERSTORMS ALONG THIS LINE
REMAIN CAPABLE OF PRODUCING WIND GUSTS TO 65 MPH AND BRIEF HEAVY
RAIN.

SEVERE WEATHER HAS MOVED WEST OF THE GREEN VALLEY AND SAHUARITA AREA
...BUT ADDITIONAL STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT THE AREA THROUGH
330 PM.

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 Sep 1, 2:30 PM MST, 14 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Sep 1, 2:30 PM MST, 14 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
230 PM MST MON SEP 1 1997

DRIER AIR MOVG INTO SE AZ AT MID LVLS FM THE E THIS AFTN. DEW PTS
IN THE MID TO UPR 40S DEGREES F IN SW NM. TS SCT TO ISOLD...BUT
SOME ARE SUPRISINGLY INTENSE.

DRY MID LVL AIR TO MAKE FOR A FAIRLY QUIET TUE FOR MOST OF SE AZ.
DP MSTR STILL ACRS WRN AZ. H5 HI TO LIFT INTO ERN CO AND BACK THE
FLOW ALF TO A E TO SE DIRECTION NEXT TWO DAYS WHICH SHOULD LIMIT
THE SEEMINGLY NON STOP FLOW OF TROP MSTR INTO THE CWA. DRY AIR IS
ERODED BY THE SURROUNDING H7 MSTR WED FOR A RETURN TO A MORE
TYPICAL MONSOONAL PATTERN.

MED RNG MODELS DIVERGE ON THE STRENGTH OF A GULF OF AK TROF
POISED TO MOV INTO THE WRN U.S. BY NEXT WEEKEND. MRF FCSTS
PERSISTANCE FOR SE AZ WHILE THE EURO MODELS...SPCLLY THE UKMET
WANT TO MAKE THIS FEATURE THE THE POTENTIAL MONSOON ENDER. AGREE
WITH PHX THAT MRF LOOKS LIKE THE BETTER MODEL SINCE THE TREND HAS
BEEN THIS SUMMER FOR THESE SYSTEMS TO SHEAR THEMSELVES APART WHEN
THEY HIT THE MEAN RDG POSTN. TUS 3232. OKULSKI

TUS...NONE

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Sep 1, 11:43 AM MST, 3 hours 1 minute before

AZZ019-026>030-012300-
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT...SOUTHEAST ARIZONA CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
1145 AM MST MON SEP 1 1997...THIS PRODUCT IS NOT UPDATED

                AREAL    PROBABILITY   RAIN GREATER THAN   STORM
              COVERAGE    OF SEVERE     1.00       2.00    MOTION

COCHISE          25          10          25         10     NW 12
GRAHAM           25          10          25         10     NW 12
GREENLEE         30          10          25         10     NW 12
TUCSON/ERN PIMA  30          20          40         20     NW 15
TOHONO OODHAM   35          20          45         25     NW 15
WESTERN PIMA     40          20          45         25     NW 15
SOUTHEAST PINAL  30          20          40         20     NW 15
SANTA CRUZ       40          25          45         25     NW 15

SYNOPSIS...MOISTURE CONTINUES TO STREAM UP FROM MEXICO INTO
SOUTHWESTERN ARIZONA. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED
THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE INTO THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS
ACROSS WESTERN PIMA COUNTY. SKIES HAVE CLEARED IN SOUTHEAST
ARIZONA AT MIDDAY. DRIER AIR HAS MOVED INTO EASTERN COCHISE AND
GRAHAM COUNTIES FOR LESS THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY. SANTA CRUZ AND
CENTRAL PIMA COUNTIES WILL SEE THE BEST CHANCE FOR STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING WITH HEAVY RAIN AND
STRONG GUSTY WINDS.

*****************************************************************
KEY...
AREAL COVERAGE - PERCENT OF COUNTY OR AREA THAT WILL EXPERIENCE
                  THUNDERSTORMS
PROB OF SEVERE - THE PROBABILITY THAT ANY ONE OF THE STORMS WILL
                  REACH SEVERE LEVELS (DAMAGING WIND AND/OR
                  LARGE HAIL)
RAIN GRTR THAN - THE PROBABILITY THAT ANY ONE OF THE STORMS WILL
                  PRODUCE RAIN EXCEEDING 1 INCH OR 2 INCHES IN
                  ANY LOCATION
STORM MOTION   - GENERAL DIRECTION TO WHICH THE STORMS WILL
                  LIKELY MOVE AND SPEED IN MPH

NOTE...
VALID TIME IS FROM 12 NOON TO 12 MIDNIGHT OF THE DAY OF ISSUANCE

THIS PRODUCT IS NOT TO BE USED IN PLACE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORM OR
FLASH FLOOD WARNINGS OR WATCHES. THIS PRODUCT IS ONLY USED FOR
OUTLOOK PURPOSES.

END/OKULSKI

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Sep 1, 2:04 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pima	46 min
Sep 1, 3:37 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	TWC	Pima	2 hr

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.