Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2000

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 38, NWS Tucson, AZ

August 15, 2000Pima County, Arizona

NWS Tucson, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 15, 2000, 7:04 PM MST for Pima County, Arizona. It was in force for 56 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline the Iowa Environmental Mesonet reconstructed for it; the warning itself named whole counties, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued: Aug 15, 2000, 7:04 PM MST (02:04 UTC)
Expired: Aug 15, 2000, 8:00 PM MST
In force: 56 min
Issued by: NWS Tucson, AZ
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Pima County, AZ

What was reported inside it

Time	Report	Where	Remark
Aug 15, 7:40 PM MST	Thunderstorm Wind 64 E	Why, AZ	Blowing dust accompanied the gust front moving through the town of Why.

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

Phoenix, AZ (KPSR), launched 00:00Z, 2.1 hours before the alert went out and 163 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-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

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: 371 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -189 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 3039 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 19 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: -39 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 
WUUS55 KTWC 160206
SVRTUS
AZC019-160300-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
704 PM MST TUE AUG 15 2000

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  WESTERN PIMA COUNTY IN ARIZONA

* UNTIL 800 PM MST

* AT 703 PM MST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A 
  LINE OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS FROM 25 MILES EAST OF LUKEVILLE TO    
  10 MILES WEST OF QUIJOTOA...MOVING WEST AT 20 MPH.

* THIS LINE OF STORMS WILL BE ALONG HIGHWAY 85 BETWEEN WHY AND       
  LUKEVILLE AT 745 PM.

WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH...NEAR ZERO VISIBILITIES IN BLOWING DUST...AND 
BRIEF BUT HEAVY RAIN IS LIKELY WITH THIS LINE.

PYTLAK

LAT...LON 3177 11246 3235 11225 3252 11289 3196 11310

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 15, 5:08 PM MST, 1 hour 56 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 15, 5:08 PM MST, 1 hour 56 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
508 PM MST TUE AUG 15 2000

SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE WILL REMAIN NORTH OF THE AREA...KEEPING A
MONSOON FLOW INTO SOUTHEAST ARIZONA. DRIER AIR HAS MOVED IN FROM NEW
MEXICO AND WILL KEEP MOST THUNDERSTORMS WEST OF TUCSON TONIGHT AND
WEDNESDAY. HOWEVER...MOISTURE FROM TROPICAL STORM ILEANA NEAR THE
SOUTHERN TIP OF BAJA COMBINED WITH THE REMNANTS OF TROPICAL STORM
BERYL WILL BRING AN UPSWING IN THUNDERSTORMS LATER THIS WEEK.

DISCUSSION...APPARENT DRY LINE HAS ADVANCED FROM THE HIGHER TERRAIN
E OF TUCSON INTO THE TOHONO OODHAM NATION. DEWPOINTS HAVE PLUNGED
FROM KTUS E, AND ALL CUMULUS CLOUDS HAVE BEEN SQUASHED OUT OF
EXISTENCE OVER GRAHAM/COCHISE COUNTIES. 18Z MESOETA AND 22Z RUC BOTH
SHOWED STRONG NEGATIVE VORTICITY ADVECTION SPREADING IN FROM THE E,
POSSIBLY IN ASSOCIATION WITH SUBSIDENCE ENVELOPE AHEAD OF T.D.
BERYL. ONCE THIS ADVANCES ACROSS THE CWA, MESOETA KEEPS US SHUT DOWN
UNTIL WED NIGHT WHEN A VORT OVER NE NM ROTATES AROUND THE UPPER HIGH
AND HELPS PULL THE REMNANTS OF BERYL TOWARD SE AZ. IN THE SHORT
TERM, HAVE UPDATED ZONES E OF KTUS TO EITHER DROP POPS ENTIRELY, OR
TO BACK THEM OFF. W CWA IS STILL UNDER THE GUN, WITH SATELLITE
SHOWING INCREASING DIFFLUENCE ALOFT UNDERNEATH THE LOW LEVEL THETA-E
RIDGE. ONE OR TWO OF THOSE STORMS COULD BECOME SEVERE WITHIN THE
NEXT HR OR TWO, BUT SO FAR, EVERYTHING'S BEEN HELD JUST BELOW SEVERE
LIMITS. PYTLAK

.TWC...NONE.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Aug 15, 6:09 PM MST, 55 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED FORMAT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
609 PM MST MON AUG 15 2000

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

0455 PM    KELVIN                 AZ      WIND DAMAGE
08/14/00   PINAL                          POWER POLES DOWNED

0500 PM    AJO                    AZ      DUST STORM
08/14/00   PIMA                           VISIBILITY DOWN TO 1/4 MILE

0520 PM    TUCSON                 AZ      LIGHTNING
08/14/00   PIMA                           SEVERAL HOUSES...TREES
                                          AND POWER LINES STRUCK

0535 PM    DAVIS-MONTHAN AFB      AZ      58 MPH TSTM GUST
08/14/00   PIMA                           NO WIND DAMAGE REPORTED

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arizona, 2000 Every 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.