Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 1998

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 71, NWS Tucson, AZ

August 21, 1998Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 21, 1998, 7:01 PM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 34 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
Aug 21, 1998, 7:01 PM MST (02:01 UTC)
Expired
Aug 21, 1998, 7:35 PM MST
In force
34 min
Issued by
NWS Tucson, AZ
Area
Whole counties

County Pima County, AZ

The radar

The Tucson radar (KEMX), 112 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 02:05 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 00:00Z, 2.0 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 00:00Z on 1998-08-22Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 18 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 00:00Z on 1998-08-22The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -19 square meters per square second.1939Sfc1 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
18 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-29 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
3025 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
11 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-19 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
-8 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.

000 
TTAA00 KTUS 220201 RRA
SVRTUS
AZC019-220235-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
701 PM MST FRI AUG 21 1998

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  NEAR KITT PEAK
  EAST CENTRAL PIMA COUNTY IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA

* UNTIL 735 PM MST

* AT 700 PM MST... DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 24
  MILES EAST OF SELLS OR 9 MILES SOUTHEAST OF KIT PEAK MOVINGj WEST
  AT 15 MPH.

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR...
  KIT PEAK                BY 713 PM MST

JRG

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 Aug 21, 2:30 PM MST, 4 hours 31 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 21, 2:30 PM MST, 4 hours 31 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
230 PM MST FRI AUG 21 1998

SYNOPSIS...MOISTURE HAS RETURNED TO SOUTHEAST ARIZONA. SCATTERED
THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING WILL BE FOLLOWED BY A LITTLE LESS
ACTIVITY SATURDAY AS CONDITIONS OUT AHEAD OF AN EASTERLY DISTURBANCE
MOVING IN FROM TEXAS BRIEFLY STABLIZES THE ATMOSPHERE. THIS SAME
DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE IN ALONG WITH EVEN MORE MOISTURE SUNDAY FOR
ANOTHER STRONG THUNDERSTORM DAY FOLLOWED BY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS
TO START THE WORK WEEK.

DISCUSSION...AGAIN A DECAYING CLOUD SHIELD TO DEAL WITH...EDGES
DISSIPATING MORE SLOWLY TODAY WITH SOME THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT
FINALLY UNDERWAY. GOING TO NEED A FEW MORE DEGREES TO REALLY GET
GOING IN SANTA CRUZ VALLEY AND I JUST DONT HAVE A GOOD FEEL FOR THE
NEXT 6 HOURS. ILL GO AHEAD AND KNOCK A FEW PERCENT OFF THE POPS AND
MENTION CONDITIONAL PROBABILITIES RATHER THAN AREAL COVERAGE. HEAVY
RAINFALL STILL A POTENTIAL CONCERN. WESTERN AREAS MAY SEE
INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT WITH RATHER STRONG STORMS POSSIBLE NEAR THE
TIGHT MOISTURE GRADIENT CREATED BY A DRIER SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW IN
WESTERN ARIZONA.

VERY CLEAR EASTERLY DISTURBANCE SHOWING UP ON WATER VAPOR IMAGERY
MOVING THROUGH WEST TEXAS TOWARD NORTHERN MEXICO. BRIEF DRYING WITH
SUBSIDENCE WRAPPING AHEAD OF THIS FEATURE TO INHIBIT THUNDERSTORM
DEVELOPMENT DURING THE DAY SATURDAY...BUT JUST THE OPPOSITE FOR
SUNDAY AS THE FEATURE NEARS SOUTHEAST ARIZONA. MEYER 3235.

.TWC...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 21, 5:54 PM MST, 1 hour 7 minutes before
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON ARIZONA
554 PM MST FRI AUG 21 1998

TIME(MST)  .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE  ...EVENT/REMARKS...
           ....COUNTY LOCATION....

0534 PM    GREEN VLY                 AZ   60 MPH TSTM GUST
08/21/98   PIMA                           TREES DOWNED

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.