Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2001

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 24, NWS Phoenix, AZ

August 13, 2001Pinal County, Arizona

NWS Phoenix, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 13, 2001, 1:52 PM MST for Pinal County, Arizona. It was in force for 38 min. No storm report in the archive falls 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.

The facts

Issued: Aug 13, 2001, 1:52 PM MST (20:52 UTC)
Expired: Aug 13, 2001, 2:30 PM MST
In force: 38 min
Issued by: NWS Phoenix, AZ
Area: Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction

County Pinal County, AZ

The radar

The Phoenix radar (KIWA), 60 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 20:52 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

Phoenix, AZ (KPSR), launched 12:00Z, 8.9 hours before the alert went out and 62 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: 569 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: -171 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL: 1682 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 7 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 4 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 14 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.

057 
WUUS55 KPSR 132055
SVRPHX
AZC021-132130-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
152 PM MST MON AUG 13 2001

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PHOENIX HAS ISSUED A

* SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR...
  WEST CENTRAL PINAL COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA

* UNTIL 230 PM MST

* AT 142 PM MST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED 
  A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM JUST SOUTH OF STANFIELD...OR ABOUT 25
  MILES WEST OF CASA GRANDE...MOVING NORTH AT 15 MPH.

THIS STORM WILL AFFECT THE STANFIELD AREA...AND INTERSTATE 8 BETWEEN 
CASA GRANDE AND GILA BEND.  DAMAGING MICROBURST WINDS ARE LIKELY 
WITH THIS STORM.  LARGE HAIL IS ALSO POSSIBLE.

REPORT SEVERE WEATHER TO THE NEAREST LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. THEY
WILL RELAY YOUR REPORT TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORECAST
OFFICE IN PHOENIX.

LAT...LON 3274 11221 3276 11195 3311 11193 3309 11222

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 Aug 13, 10:15 AM MST, 3 hours 37 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 13, 10:15 AM MST, 3 hours 37 minutes before

AZZ020>028-CAZ030>033-132245-

SOUTHWEST ARIZONA/SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
1015 AM MST MON AUG 13 2001

.SYNOPSIS...
A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM MOVING SLOWLY EAST ACROSS ARIZONA...COMBINED
WITH HUMID AIR MEANS SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS
AND THUNDERSTORMS TODAY INTO TUESDAY...MOSTLY OVER SOUTH-CENTRAL
ARIZONA. HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL BE OFF THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
COAST BY MID WEEK. THIS WILL PUSH DRIER AIR FROM THE PACIFIC OVER
SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA AND FAR SOUTHWEST ARIZONA...AND ELIMINATE THE
CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS THERE BY TUESDAY. THE HIGH PRESSURE AREA WILL
MOVE OVER ARIZONA WITH HOTTER WEATHER BY THE LAST HALF OF THE WEEK.

.DISCUSSION...
THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM THAT WAS MOVING WEST OVER CENTRAL INTO
WESTERN ARIZONA EARLY LAST NIGHT HAS REVERSED DIRECTION AND IS NOW
MOVING SLOWLY EAST. THE AIRMASS IS VERY HUMID AND COMBINED WITH
DYNAMICS FROM THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM...EXPECT THERE WILL BE
SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN
DEVELOPING EAST MAINLY ACROSS MARICOPA COUNTY AND EAST TODAY AND
TONIGHT. WILL UPDATE THE FORECAST FOR HIGHER PROBABILITIES OF
RAIN IN MARICOPA AND NORTHWEST PINAL COUNTY TODAY AND THIS EVENING.
ALSO PLAN ON ISSUING A HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK PRIMARILY FOR
LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN AND DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. HIGH
PRESSURE ALOFT WILL BE OFF THE SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST BY MID
WEEK. THIS WILL PUSH DRIER AIR FROM THE PACIFIC OVER SOUTHEAST
CALIFORNIA AND FAR SOUTHWEST ARIZONA...AND ELIMINATE THE CHANCE OF
THUNDERSTORMS THERE BY TUESDAY. THE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM IS EXPECTED
TO BE SOUTHEAST OF SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA BY TUESDAY NIGHT...WHICH
MEANS A DECREASING CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS FOR SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA
BY THEN. THE HIGH PRESSURE AREA WILL MOVE OVER ARIZONA WITH HOTTER
WEATHER BY THE LAST HALF OF THE WEEK.

ELLIS

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Aug 13, 11:30 AM MST, 2 hours 22 minutes before

AZZ022>024-027-028-140700-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
1130 AM MST MON AUG 13 2001

...HAZARDOUS WEATHER POSSIBLE OVER SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA THIS
AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT...

COUNTIES IN THE RISK AREA INCLUDE:
     IN ARIZONA...MARICOPA...NORTHWEST PINAL...AND SOUTHERN GILA.

THE PRIMARY HAZARDOUS WEATHER RISKS INCLUDE:
     LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN...DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING...AND
     STRONG GUSTY WINDS.

STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NECESSARY LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND
TONIGHT.

CRAIG ELLIS

Local storm report, Aug 13, 1:50 PM MST, 2 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
150 PM MST MON AUG 13 2001

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

0215 PM    DATELAND                  AZ   WIND DAMAGE
08/12/01   YUMA                           16 POWER POLES DOWNED
                                          REPORTED BY UTILITY CO

The office that day

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

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Aug 12, 9:47 PM MST	Flash Flood Warning	PSR	La Paz	73 min
Aug 13, 3:08 PM MST	Severe Thunderstorm Warning	PSR	Maricopa, Pinal	52 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arizona, 2001 Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2001

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.