Alert archive / Arizona / Tornado Warnings in 1997

Tornado Warning 1, NWS Tucson, AZ

September 12, 1997Pinal County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this tornado warning at Sep 12, 1997, 1:46 PM MST for Pinal County, Arizona. It was in force for 29 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 12, 1997, 1:46 PM MST (20:46 UTC)
Expired
Sep 12, 1997, 2:15 PM MST
In force
29 min
Issued by
NWS Tucson, AZ
Area
Whole counties

County Pinal County, AZ

The radar

The Phoenix radar (KIWA), 52 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:50 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, 8.8 hours before the alert went out and 92 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 1997-09-12Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 1002 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 1997-09-12The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 36 square meters per square second.193958Sfc1 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
1002 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-65 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1475 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
21 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
36 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
67 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.3

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KTUS 122046
TORTUS
AZC021-122115-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
TORNADO WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
146 PM MST FRI SEP 12 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON AZ HAS ISSUED A
TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 215 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA

   ...SOUTHEASTERN PINAL COUNTY
 
...TORNADO WARNING FOR SOUTHEAST PINAL COUNTY 9 MILES SOUTH
SOUTHWEST OF DUDLEYVILLE...

DOPPLER RADAR INDICATES A POSSIBLE TORNADO 9 MILES SOUTH SOUTHWEST
OF DUDLEYVILLE MOVING NORTH 15 MPH. THIS IS A REMOTE AREA ABOUT 5
MILES WEST OF HIGHWAY 77.

THIS STORM MAY REACH DUDLEYVILLE AROUND 210 PM.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Sep 12, 11:24 AM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCPima61 min
Sep 12, 12:02 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCGraham63 min
Sep 12, 12:15 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCPima50 min
Sep 12, 12:40 PM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCPinal60 min

Nearby

Tornado Warnings in Arizona, 1997Every tornado warning in 1997Tornadoes 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.