Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2001
Severe Thunderstorm Warning 55, NWS Tucson, AZ
NWS Tucson, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 20, 2001, 5:28 PM MST for Cochise County, Arizona. It was in force for 27 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 20, 2001, 5:28 PM MST (00:28 UTC)
- Expired
- Aug 20, 2001, 5:55 PM MST
- In force
- 27 min
- Issued by
- NWS Tucson, AZ
- Area
- Whole counties; the outline is the Mesonet’s reconstruction
County Cochise County, AZ
The radar
The Tucson radar (KEMX), 70 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 00:29 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, 0.5 hours before the alert went out and 110 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.
- Mixed-layer CAPE
- 679 J/kg
- Mixed-layer CIN
- -32 J/kg
- Mixed-layer LCL
- 2997 m above ground
- 0-6 km bulk shear
- 21 kt
- 0-1 km storm-relative helicity
- 10 m²/s²
- 0-3 km storm-relative helicity
- 9 m²/s²
- Significant tornado parameter
- 0.0
- Supercell composite
- 0.0
The text
As transmitted, in the capitals the NWS used until 2016.
049 WUUS55 KTWC 210031 SVRTUS AZC003-210045- BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 528 PM MST MON AUG 20 2001 THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TUCSON HAS ISSUED A * SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING FOR... SOUTHWESTERN COCHISE COUNTY IN ARIZONA * UNTIL 555 PM MST * AT 527 PM MST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ABOUT 11 MILES WEST OF BISBEE...NEAR PALOMINAS...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 5 TO 10 MPH. * THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WILL BE NEAR... RURAL SOUTHWESTERN COCHISE COUNTY AT 540 PM MST REMEMBER...A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAN PRODUCE LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH...DEADLY LIGHTNING...AND HEAVY RAIN. LAT...LON 3138 11027 3128 11010 3149 10988 3163 11009
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 20, 2:25 PM MST, 3 hours 3 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 20, 2:25 PM MST, 3 hours 3 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 225 PM MST MON AUG 20 2001 .SYNOPSIS...ENOUGH MOISTURE WILL OVER SOUTHERN ARIZONA TO SUPPORT ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT AND TUESDAY. OTHERWISE...A DRYING TREND CAN BE EXPECTED WEDNESDAY INTO THE WEEKEND AS A MODERATE WESTERLY FLOW DEVELOPS OVER THE STATE. .DISCUSSION...THE TAIL END OF A SHORTWAVE TROUGH MOVING THROUGH NORTHERN ARIZONA AND SOUTHERN UTAH WAS HELPING FOCUS THUNDERSTORMS EAST OF TUCSON THIS AFTERNOON. SUBSIDENCE AND DRYING WERE TAKING PLACE OUT WEST OVER CENTRAL AND WESTERN PIMA COUNTY WHICH SHOULD INHIBIT STORMS THERE. OTHERWISE...THE TROUGH WILL MOVE EAST OF THE REGION OVERNIGHT SO DO NOT EXPECT MUCH OF THE TSTM ACTIVITY THIS EVENING TO LINGER PAST MIDNIGHT. ANOTHER SHORTWAVE TROUGH IS FORECAST TO ENTER NEVADA TOMORROW WITH THE TAIL END OF IT PROVIDING SOME WEAK LIFT OVER SOUTHEAST ARIZONA. HOWEVER...THE AFFECTS OF THIS TROUGH WILL BE MINIMAL THIS FAR SOUTH. SO WILL JUST CALL FOR LOW SCATTERED OR ISOLATED POPS EAST OF TUCSON AGAIN TOMORROW AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. MODELS WERE IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH SPREADING DRIER AIR INTO THE AREA AS A MODERATE WESTERLY FLOW DEVELOPS OVER MOST OF THE STATE. STILL NOT SURE HOW MUCH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL BE SCARED OUT BY THIS PROCESS...BUT LATEST MRF SUGGESTED THAT ENOUGH MOISTURE WILL LINGER ALONG THE ARIZONA/NEW MEXICO STATE LINE THROUGH MONDAY. THUS...WILL KEEP A MENTION OF A CHANCE AFTN/EVE TSTMS FOR THE FAR EASTERN MOUNTAINS DURING THE EXTENDED PERIOD. OTHERWISE...DRY ELSEWHERE. .TWC...NONE.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Aug 20, 12:05 PM MST, 5 hours 23 minutes before
AZZ019-029>035-210700- SOUTHEAST ARIZONA HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 1205 PM MST MON AUG 20 2001 .SYNOPSIS...THE COMBINATION OF AMPLE SUNSHINE...A MOIST ATMOSPHERE...AND SOME WEAK VERTICAL MOTION OVER THE AREA...WILL LEAD TO AN INCREASE IN THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. .DISCUSSION...ONLY A THIN SCATTERED DECK OF CIRRUS THIS MORNING ACROSS SOME PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST ARIZONA...HOWEVER THIS WILL NOT LIMIT HEATING. TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE COUNTY WARNING AREA WERE SIMILAR TO YESTERDAY AS OF 12 NOON. BEST AREAS OF MOISTURE SEEM TO BE FROM TUCSON EAST WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES 1.50. FROM TUCSON WEST PWAT VALUES ARE ONE INCH OR LESS. A SHORT WAVE LOCATED IN NORTHWEST ARIZONA MAY PROVIDE SOME WEAK UPWARD MOTION WHICH WILL HELP THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY. CURRENTLY THERE IS SOME TOWERING CUMULUS DEVELOPING MAINLY OVER THE MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN. THE CU FIELD SHOULD DEVELOP INTO THUNDERSTORMS LATER IN THE AFTERNOON WITH FURTHER HEATING...AND MOVE OFF INTO THE VALLEY IN THE EARLY EVENING. THE THREAT FOR FLASH FLOOD IS NEAR OR SLIGHTLY ABOVE THAN CLIMATOLOGY FROM TUCSON WEST...SINCE STORM MOVEMENT SHOULD BE AROUND 15 MPH. THE MAIN THREAT TODAY WOULD BE SEVERE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY FROM TUCSON EAST...WITH THREATS SLIGHTLY HIGHER THAN CLIMATOLOGY. FROM TUCSON WEST SEVERE THUNDERSTORM THREATS ARE BELOW CLIMATOLOGY...WITH FLASH FLOOD THREAT EVEN LOWER. STORM MOVEMENT WILL BE GENERALLY TO THE NORTHWEST AT 15 MPH.
The office that day
Everything else NWS Tucson, AZ issued on the same UTC day.
| Issued | Product | Office | Counties | Lasted |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 20, 8:16 PM MST | Flash Flood Warning | TWC | Greenlee |
Nearby
Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arizona, 2001Every 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.