Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1997

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 53, NWS Las Vegas, NV

August 27, 1997Mohave County, Arizona

NWS Las Vegas, NV issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 27, 1997, 5:27 PM MST for Mohave County, Arizona. It was in force for 58 min. 3 reports 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 27, 1997, 5:27 PM MST (00:27 UTC)
Expired: Aug 27, 1997, 6:25 PM MST
In force: 58 min
Issued by: NWS Las Vegas, NV
Area: Whole counties

County Mohave County, AZ

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Aug 27, 6:00 PM MST	Thunderstorm Wind 65	Kingman, AZ	Damaging winds ripped part of a roof off a house, downed several trees and knocked over a fence. Although the exact time was not known, a Skywarn Spotter also recorded a 75 mph thunderstorm gust that occurred sometime between 5:30 and 8:00 pm MST. Other event
Aug 27, 6:25 PM MST	Hail 1.75	Topock, AZ	A Skywarn Spotter reported golf ball sized hail.
Aug 27, 6:30 PM MST	Hail 0.75	Kingman, AZ	A Skywarn Spotter reported dime-sized hail which caused minor damage to his 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

Flgstf/Belemont, AZ (KFGZ), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 185 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: 251 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -1 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 2135 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -10 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 30 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.1

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

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

000 
TTAA00 KLAS 280028 RRA
SVRLAS
AZC015-280125-

BULLETIN - IMMEDIATE BROADCAST REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
527 PM PDT/MST WED AUG 27 1997

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAS VEGAS NV HAS ISSUED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 625 PM PDT FOR PEOPLE IN
THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN NORTHWEST ARIZONA

  ...CENTRAL MOHAVE COUNTY
  ...INCLUDING THE CITY OF KINGMAN

AT 525 PM MST...LAS VEGAS DOPPLER RADAR DETECTED A SEVERE
THUNDERSTORM 5 MILES SOUTH OF KINGMAN.  THE STORM WAS MOVING TO
THE NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH.

SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCE DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 57 MPH
...DESTRUCTIVE HAIL...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND VERY HEAVY RAIN.
SEEK SHELTER IN A STRONG BUILDING...BUT STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS.

BE AWARE OF THE DANGER OF LOCAL FLOODING CAUSED BY THUNDERSTORM
RAINS.

PIERCE

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 Las Vegas, NV wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Aug 27, 2:05 PM MST, 3 hours 22 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 27, 2:05 PM MST, 3 hours 22 minutes before

MOJAVE DESERT/SOUTHERN GREAT BASIN AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV
205 PM PDT WED AUG 27 1997

LOW LVL MSTR SURGE ACRS ERN PTNS OF THE CWA WAS HELPING TO FIRE
CONVECTION ACRS NW ARIZONA...INCLUDING PTNS OF THE LAKE MEAD
NATIONAL RECREATION AREA. KESX RADAR SHOWED THE STRONGEST STORMS IN
THE TRUXTON VCNTY ALG ROUTE 66. MAIN CONCERN IS LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN
WITH TRAINING ECHOES AND LITTLE MOVMT OF STORMS. SPOTTER REPORTS
INDICATED 1 INCH PER HOUR RAINFALL RATES IN THE PEACH SPRINGS
VCNTY. FLASH FLOOD WARNING WAS ISSUED FOR 3 HOURS FOR ERN MOHAVE
COUNTY. 12Z MDLS DEPICTED LITTLE OVERALL CHANGE OVR THE
NXT FEW DAYS. UPR TROF RMNS ACRS THE PAC NW WITH THE UPR HI OVR NEW
MEXICO. AS HAS TYPICALLY BEEN THE CASE THIS SUMMER...BELIEVE NGM
AND AVN WANT TO DRY THINGS OUT TOO MUCH AND TOO QUICKLY. PREFER THE
ETA SOLUTION WHICH KEEPS THE MONSOONAL FLO FARTHER W. WITH THIS IN
MIND...USED A BROADBRUSH APPROACH AND KEPT AT LEAST SLIGHT CHANCE
POPS AS FAR W AS CALIFORNIA ZN 29 AND NEVADA ZN 16. EXTND PROGS
SHOWED A SLGTLY DRIER AND COOLER REGIME AS THE UPR RDG WKNS SLGTLY
AND 582 H5 HGT LINE SINKS S INTO SRN NEVADA. LAS 000. MATUSIEWICZ

SRN NV...NONE
ERN CA...NONE
NW AZ ...NONE

The office that day

Everything else NWS Las Vegas, NV issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 27, 6:10 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	VEF	Mohave	2 hr
Aug 27, 6:10 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	VEF	Mohave	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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive.