Alert archive / Arizona / Flash Flood Warnings in 1999

Flash Flood Warning 13, NWS Tucson, AZ

July 14, 1999Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this flash flood warning at Jul 14, 1999, 6:53 PM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 92 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
Jul 14, 1999, 6:53 PM MST (01:53 UTC)
Expired
Jul 14, 1999, 8:25 PM MST
In force
92 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 01:53 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, 1.9 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 1999-07-15Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 8 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 1999-07-15The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 13 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
8 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-67 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2929 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
2 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
13 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
12 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 150147
FFWTUS
AZC019-150325-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
FLASH FLOOD WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
653 PM MST WED JUL 14 1999

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WARNING FOR...
  EASTERN PIMA COUNTY IN SOUTHERN ARIZONA
  INCLUDING TUCSON

* UNTIL 825 PM MST

* AT 645... NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  THUNDERSTORM WITH VERY HEAVY RAIN OVER SOUTHWEST TUCSON...MOVING
  NORTHEAST AT 10~ MPH. RAINFALL RATES IN EXCESS OF TWO INCHES PER
  HOUR CAN BE EXPECTED WITH THESE STORMS.

*

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this flash flood 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 flash flood warning went out at Jul 14, 2:30 PM MST, 4 hours 23 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 14, 2:30 PM MST, 4 hours 23 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
230 PM MST WED JUL 14 1999

SYNOPSIS...A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE WILL LIFT NORTHEAST ACROSS THE
STATE TONIGHT. THIS HAS ENHANCED THE THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT WITH MAIN
THREAT BEING HEAVY DOWNPOURS WITH ANY OF THE STORMS. THURSDAY WILL
BEGIN A TREND OF LESS ACTIVITY AS UPPER RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE SAGS
SOUTH WITH A DRIER SOUTHWEST WIND FLOW ALOFT OVER THE AREA. SO
EXPECT ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE WEEKEND.

DISCUSSION...HAS BEEN A BUSY DAY SO FAR...NOT MANY WARNINGS BUT A LOT
OF RADAR WATCHING...WITH MOST OF THE ACTIVTY FROM TUCSON EAST. WESTERN
AREAS SLOWER TO GET GOING BUT ITS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME. ATMOSPHERE IS
PLENTY UNSTABLE AND LOTS OF MOISTURE AROUND FOR AN ACTIVE NIGHT.
MODIFIED 12Z TUS SOUNDING FOR 2 PM TEMP/DEWPOINT OF 96F/59F GAVE
SBCAPE OF 1700 J/KG AND LIFTED INDEX OF -7. GOES DERIVED SOUNDER
DATA BACKS THIS UP. TROUGH LIFTING ACROSS THE STATE TONIGHT WITH BEST
DYNAMICS UP NORTH. HOWEVER ENOUGH TO KEEP THINGS GOING UNTIL AROUND
MIDNIGHT AND WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES 125% OF NORMAL ACROSS
THE AREA...MAIN THREAT WILL BE HEAVY RAINFALL. SO FLASH FLOOD WATCH
WAS HOISTED THIS MORNING THROUGH MIDNIGHT FOR ALL OF SE AZ. ALTHOUGH
WESTERN ZONES ARE SLOW TO START WILL KEEP THEM IN WATCH AREA.

UPPER RIDGE SAG SOUTH NEXT SEVERAL DAYS AND CONTINES INTO THE
WEEKEND. A DRIER SW FLOW ALOFT WILL SLOWLY PUSH MOISTURE EAST WITH
THE WESTERN ZONES DRYING OUT THE MOST. WILL SHOW A DOWNTURN IN AREAL
COVERAGE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS AND CONTINUE INTO THE WEEKEND. TEMPERATURES
WARMING UP SLIGHTLY IN RESPONSE TO A LITTLE DRIER AIR. GLUECK.

.TWC...FLOOD WATCH ALL SOUTHEAST ARIZONA THRU MIDNIGHT.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Jul 15, 6:49 AM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCPima86 min
Jul 15, 8:14 AM MSTFlash Flood WarningTWCPima61 min

Nearby

Flash Flood Warnings in Arizona, 1999Every flash flood warning in 1999

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.