Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 1, NWS Tucson, AZ

February 15, 1998Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 15, 1998, 5:09 AM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 61 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
Feb 15, 1998, 5:09 AM MST (12:09 UTC)
Expired
Feb 15, 1998, 6:10 AM MST
In force
61 min
Issued by
NWS Tucson, AZ
Area
Whole counties

County Pima County, AZ

The nearest sounding before it

Tuscon, AZ (KTUS), launched 12:00Z, 0.2 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 12:00Z on 1998-02-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 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 1998-02-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 304 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
819 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
46 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
304 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
431 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.

628 
WUUS1 KTUS 151211 RRA
SVRTUS
AZC019-151310-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
509 AM MST SUN FEB 15 1998


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON AZ HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 610 AM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATION...

IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA

   ...EASTERN PIMA COUNTY...INCLUDING THE GREATER TUCSON AREA...


AT 507 AM MST... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SEVERE
THUNDERSTORMS FROM FAR EASTERN TUCSON TO AN AREA ABOUT 15 MILES
SOUTH OF TUCSON. MOVEMENT WAS TO THE EAST AT ABOUT 25 MPH.

MEYER

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 Feb 15, 2:30 AM MST, 2 hours 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 15, 2:30 AM MST, 2 hours 39 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
230 AM MST SUN FEB 15 1998

SYNOPSIS...A STRONG PACIFIC STORM SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH SOUTHEAST
ARIZONA EARLY THIS MORNING...CONTINUING THROUGH THE DAY...BRINGING
VALLEY RAIN AND MOUNTAIN SNOWS. THE MAIN PART OF THE STORM WILL EXIT
INTO NEW MEXICO THIS AFTERNOON BUT LINGERING SHOWERS WILL PERSIST
INTO SUNDAY EVENING. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD INTO SOUTHEAST ARIZONA
MONDAY FOR MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES BUT COOL TEMPERATURES. LITTLE TIME FOR
REST WITH MORE RAIN ON THE WAY BY MID WEEK AND PERHAPS ANOTHER SHOT
NEXT WEEKEND.

DISCUSSION...RAIN IS INCREASING IN COVERAGE FROM NORTHWEST TO
SOUTHEAST...WITH SOME MODERATE INTENSITIES NOW JOINING THE LIGHTER
VARIETIES. STRONG LOW-LEVEL SOUTHWESTERLY UPSLOPE FLOW CONTINUES TO
BE EVIDENT ON KEMX VAD WIND PROFILE WITH COLD FRONT STILL TO OUR
WEST (BUT APPEARS TO FINALLY BE THROUGH YUMA WITH A PRE-FRONTAL
BOUNDARY RAISING A FALSE ALARM EARLIER). RAIN SHOULD CONTINUE TO
INCREASE IN BOTH COVERAGE AND INTENSITY THROUGH MOST OF THE MORNING.
AS THE COLD FRONT PASSES (BEFORE MID MORNING) AND ADDITIONAL PVA
SHIFTS IN WITH THE COLDER AIR ALOFT...THINGS SHOULD GET MORE SHOWERY
BY EARLY AFTERNOON WITH THE WEATHER TREND THEN DECREASING FROM WEST
TO EAST. THE WEATHER SHOULD BE ABOUT OVER IN ALL BUT FAR EASTERN
AREAS LATER TONIGHT. SNOW LEVELS STILL ABOVE 7000 FEET FOR MOST OF
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA AT THIS TIME...BUT THIS WILL CHANGE QUICKLY WITH
IT FALLING TO 6000 FEET WELL BEFORE SUNRISE. SNOW LEVELS EXPECTED TO
BOTTOM OUT NEAR 4500 FEET OR PERHAPS A TOUCH LOWER (A DUSTING
POSSIBLE AT 4000 FEET RIGHT AT THE TAIL END OF PRECIPITATION).
CONTINUING WINTER STORM WARNING WHILE KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON SNOW
LEVELS. GRADIENT WINDS FOR BREEZY TO WINDY CONDITIONS.
OVERALL...GENERALLY CONTINUING TRENDS ESTABLISHED BY PREVIOUS
FORECASTS. TUS +20. MEYER

TUS...WINTER STORM WARNING ABOVE 6000 FT TODAY
      ZONES 019-030-032>035

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arizona, 1998Every severe thunderstorm warning in 1998

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.