Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2000

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 59, NWS Phoenix, AZ

October 4, 2000Maricopa County, Arizona

NWS Phoenix, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Oct 4, 2000, 7:29 AM MST for Maricopa County, Arizona. It was in force for 31 min. 1 report 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
Oct 4, 2000, 7:29 AM MST (14:29 UTC)
Expired
Oct 4, 2000, 8:00 AM MST
In force
31 min
Issued by
NWS Phoenix, AZ
Area
Whole counties

County Maricopa County, AZ

The radar

The Phoenix radar (KIWA), 77 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 14:32 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

TimeReportWhereRemark
Oct 4, 7:30 AM MSTThunderstorm WindPhoenix, AZThunderstorms developed over a large area of the metropolitan area. Lightning struck the towers on Mummy Mountain and knocked out the Paradise Valley Police Department communication system.Lightning was also blamed on causing a house fire on 35th Avenue an

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

Tuscon, AZ (KTUS), launched 12:00Z, 2.5 hours before the alert went out and 198 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 2000-10-04Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 69 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 12:00Z on 2000-10-04The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity -2 square meters per square second.1939587897Sfc1 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
69 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-278 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
2167 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
39 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
-2 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
124 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
0.5

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The text

As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.

000 
WUUS55 KPSR 041429
SVRPHX
AZC013-041500-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
729 AM MST WED OCT 4 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PHOENIX HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  CENTRAL MARICOPA COUNTY IN CENTRAL ARIZONA

* UNTIL 800 AM MST

* AT 730 AM MST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM EAST PHOENIX...SCOTTSDALE... MOVING NORTHEAST
  AT 25 MPH....

* THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL AFFECT...
  SCOTTSDALE AT 740 AM...FOUNTAIN HILLS AT 755 AM

DAMAGING WINDS AND LARGE HAIL ARE LIKELY. GO INSIDE A STURDY
BUILDING AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS!

AJ

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 Phoenix, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before this severe thunderstorm warning went out at Oct 4, 2:50 AM MST, 4 hours 39 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 4, 2:50 AM MST, 4 hours 39 minutes before
AZZ020>028-CAZ030>033-041745-

SOUTHWEST ARIZONA/SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
250 AM MST WED OCT 4 2000

.SYNOPSIS...
A WEAKENING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE THROUGH ARIZONA TODAY. THE
MAIN EFFECTS OF THIS SYSTEM WILL BE ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS...MAINLY DURING THE MORNING HOURS...AND SOME COOLING. A
RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL SLOWLY BUILD INTO THE REGION FOR A
GRADUAL WARMING OVER THE WEEKEND. OTHERWISE...MOSTLY CLEAR NIGHTS AND
SUNNY DAYS CAN BE EXPECTED THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY.

.DISCUSSION...
THE OLD CLOSED LOW OFF THE SOUTHERN CA COAST HAS NOW OPENED UP AND IS
MOVING NEWD INTO SERN CA AND SWRN AZ...AND IS CAUSING ISOLATED TO
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER WRN AND NRN AZ. A LOOK AT
00Z RAOBS AND GOES PWAT AND LIFTED INDEX IMAGERY SHOWS THAT MOST OF
AZ IS RATHER MOIST AND UNSTABLE...WITH PWAT VALUES AT AND ABOVE ONE
INCH. GOOD PVA...CONVERGENCE OF Q...MID LVL UVV...AND DIFLUENCE
ASSOCIATED WITH THIS LOW...ALL OF WHICH ARE ACTING TO SPUR AN
INCREASING AMOUNT OF SHOWERS AND STORMS SINCE MIDNIGHT. EXPECT ISOLD
TO SCT SHOWERS AND STORMS OVER THE CWA TODAY...MAINLY DURING THE
MORNING...WITH CLOUDS AND SHOWERS DECREASING FROM THE SW DURING THE
AFTERNOON AS THE LOW MOVES NE. SHOULD SEE SOME COOLING AND LOCAL
BREEZES AS WELL...WITH TEMPS INTO THE LOW TO MID 90S OVER MUCH OF THE
DESERTS. LOW TO BE EAST OF THE CWA TONIGHT...FOR PARTLY CLOUDY TO
MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES...AS DRIER SUBSIDENT AIR FILTERS ACROSS THE
REGION. DRY SWLY FLOW ON TAP FOR THU FOR MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES WITH
LITTLE CHANGE IN TEMPS...POSSIBLY UP SLIGHTLY DUE TO DRIER AIR IN
PLACE. NO CHANGE PLANNED TO THE EXTENDED AS A DRY FLOW CONTS FRI THRU
SUN.  11

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arizona, 2000Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2000

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.