Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 3, NWS Tucson, AZ

February 24, 1998Pima County, Pinal County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Feb 24, 1998, 3:14 PM MST for Pima County, Pinal County, Arizona. It was in force for 51 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 24, 1998, 3:14 PM MST (22:14 UTC)
Expired
Feb 24, 1998, 4:05 PM MST
In force
51 min
Issued by
NWS Tucson, AZ
Area
Whole counties

Counties Pima County, AZ, Pinal County, AZ

The radar

The Phoenix radar (KIWA), 88 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 22:17 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, 10.2 hours before the alert went out and 73 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 1998-02-24Temperature 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 1998-02-24The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 370 square meters per square second.1939587897117Sfc1 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
2979 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
104 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
370 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
506 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.

122 
WUUS1 KTUS 242215 RRA
SVRTUS
AZC019-021-242305-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
314 PM MST TUE FEB 24 1998


THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON AZ HAS ISSUED A
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING EFFECTIVE UNTIL 405 PM MST
FOR PEOPLE IN THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...

IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA

   ...NORTH CENTRAL PIMA COUNTY

IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA

   ...SOUTH CENTRAL PINAL COUNTY


AT 313 PM MST... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 23
MILES SOUTHWEST OF ELOY OR 17 MILES SOUTHWEST OF FRIENDLY CORNERS
MOVING EAST NORTHEAST AT 40 MPH.

SOME LOCATIONS IN THE PATH OF THIS STORM ARE...
FRIENDLY CORNERS        BY 338 PM MST
ELOY                    BY 345 PM MST
PICACHO                 BY 347 PM MST
PICACHO PEAK            BY 349 PM MST
RED ROCK                BY 353 PM MST

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 24, 2:30 PM MST, 44 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 24, 2:30 PM MST, 44 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
230 PM MST TUE FEB 24 1998

SYNOPSIS...WINTER STORM MOVING ACROSS AREA. FRONT MOVING INTO
EASTERN AREAS AND WILL PUSH INTO NEW MXICO AROUND 500 PM. HIGH WINDS
ARE OCCURING AHEAD OF THE FRONT...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ALONG
AND BEHIND THE FRONT. BROADER AREA OF RAIN EXPECTED TO DEVELOP LATER
THIS EVENING.

DISCUSSION...WILL ALLOW WIND ADVSY TO END AT 5PM...MOST OF WNDS
SHOULD BE DOWN AS FRONTAL BAND OF PRECIP MOVES THRU. MAY NEED HIGH
WND WARNING STILL FOR FAR SE AZ BUT WILL HOLD OFF ON THIS FOR NOW
BUT MAY NEED TO ADD THIS IF FRONT DOES NOT GET THRU. NOT MUCH PRECIP
WITH FRONT BUT EXPECTING MORE TO DEVELOP AS COLD AIR MOVES IN THE
TONIGHT. THIS IS KIND OF AN IFFY SCENARIO BUT MM5 SHOWS UPSLOPE
STARTING THIS EVENING AND FEEL COMFORTABLE IT WILL HAPPEN. QUESTION
IS HOW MUCH RAIN...MODELS INDIACTE UP TO AN INCH ON MTNS AND THIS
MAY CAUSE SOME FLOODING PROBLEMS. THICKNESS COOLING ENDS LATE
TONIGHT AND PRECIP SHOULD END SHORTLY THEREAFTER. LUKS LIKE A
CLIPPER WILL PASS BY FOR SOME LIGHT PRECIP THU NIGHT/FRI.
TUS +94. HOLBROOK

TUS...WINTER STORM WARNING ABOVE 5000 FEET TONIGHT ALL OF SOUTHEAST
ARIZONA EXCEPT FAR WESTERN PIMA COUNTY.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Feb 24, 2:37 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningTWCPima33 min

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; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.