Alert archive / Arizona / Tornado Warnings in 1997
Tornado Warning 1, NWS Las Vegas, NV
NWS Las Vegas, NV issued this tornado warning at Aug 7, 1997, 5:28 PM MST for Mohave County, Arizona; San Bernardino County, California. It was in force for 62 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 7, 1997, 5:28 PM MST (00:28 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 7, 1997, 6:30 PM MST
- In force
- 62 min
- Issued by
- NWS Las Vegas, NV
- Area
- Whole counties
Counties Mohave County, AZ, San Bernardino County, CA
The radar
The Las Vegas radar (KESX), 48 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:27 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
| Time | Report | Where | Remark |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 7, 5:50 PM MST | Hail 1 | Lake Havasu City, AZ | |
| Aug 7, 5:50 PM MST | Thunderstorm Wind 60 | Lake Havasu City, AZ | |
| Aug 7, 6:33 PM MST | Tornado F0 | Needles, CA | A Mohave County Deputy Sheriff sighted a tornado briefly touching down in open country near I-40. |
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
Mercury/Desert R, NV (KDRA), launched 00:00Z, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 176 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 530 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -10 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 3846 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 22 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- -4 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 75 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.3
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
000 TTAA00 KLAS 080029 RRA TORLAS AZC015-CAC071-080130- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED TORNADO WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LAS VEGAS NV 528 PM PDT THU AUG 7 1997 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LAS VEGAS NV HAS ISSUED A TORNADO WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 630 PM PDT FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS... IN NORTHWEST ARIZONA ...SOUTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY IN SOUTHEASTERN CALIFORNIA ...EXTREME EASTERN SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY AT 528 PM MST/PDT...LAS VEGAS DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A TORNADIC THUNDERSTORM 13 MILES NORTHEAST OF LAKE HAVASU CITY. THIS STORM WAS MOVING SOUTHWEST AT 20-25 MPH AND IS EXPECTED TO AFFECT THE LAKE HAVASU CITY AREA BETWEEN 530 AND 600 PM MST/PDT. THIS STORM WAS EMBEDDED IN A LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS EXTENDING FROM 14 MILES EAST OF NEEDLES CALIFORNIA TO 18 MILES SOUTHEAST OF LAKE HAVASU CITY ARIZONA. HAIL UP TO 2 INCHES IN DIAMETER...DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 75 MPH...AND HEAVY RAINFALL ARE ALSO LIKELY WITH THESE STORM@S. THIS UPGRADES AND REPLACES THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING ISSUED EARLIER FOR SOUTHERN MOHAVE COUNTY ARIZONA. RUNK
The office that day
Everything else NWS Las Vegas, NV issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 7, 6:24 PM MST | Flash Flood Warning | VEF | Mohave | 2 hr |
| Aug 7, 6:33 PM MST | Flash Flood Warning | VEF | San Bernardino | 117 min |
| Aug 7, 6:33 PM MST | Tornado Warning | VEF | San Bernardino | 117 min |
| Aug 8, 2:11 PM MST | Flash Flood Warning | VEF | San Bernardino | 64 min |
| Aug 8, 2:11 PM MST | Severe Thunderstorm Warning | VEF | San Bernardino | 64 min |
Nearby
Tornado Warnings in Arizona, 1997Tornado Warnings in California, 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; verification from NCEI's Storm Data; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.