Alert archive / Arizona / Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in 2002

Severe Thunderstorm Warning 37, NWS Phoenix, AZ

August 28, 2002Pinal County, Arizona

NWS Phoenix, AZ issued this severe thunderstorm warning at Aug 28, 2002, 2:41 PM MST for Pinal County, Arizona. It was in force for 64 min. 1 report came from inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The outline as issued, with what was reported inside it.

The facts

Issued
Aug 28, 2002, 2:41 PM MST (21:41 UTC)
Expired
Aug 28, 2002, 3:45 PM MST
In force
64 min
Issued by
NWS Phoenix, AZ
Area
Counties, with a storm outline in the text

County Pinal County, AZ

The radar

The Phoenix radar (KIWA), 46 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 21:44 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
Aug 28, 3:15 PM MSTHail 1.75Superior, AZ

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.

Did it verify

Not verified. The Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow found no qualifying storm report inside this severe thunderstorm warning while it was in force. That is not proof nothing happened: reports are thin where few people live.

Cow counts a report within 15 km of the polygon while the warning was in force: a tornado for a tornado warning; hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more or wind damage for a severe thunderstorm warning; a flash flood report for a flash flood warning.

The nearest sounding before it

Phoenix, AZ (KPSR), launched 12:00Z, 9.7 hours before the alert went out and 77 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, Phoenix, AZ at 12:00Z on 2002-08-28Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel. CAPE 0 joules per kilogram.LCL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km-30°-20°-10°0°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.
HodographHodograph, Phoenix, AZ at 12:00Z on 2002-08-28The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 64 square meters per square second.19395878Sfc1 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
0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL
3615 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
35 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
64 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
119 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.

192 
WUUS55 KPSR 282141
SVRPSR
AZC021-282245-

BULLETIN - EAS ACTIVATION REQUESTED
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
239 PM MST WED AUG 28 2002

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN PHOENIX HAS ISSUED A

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

* UNTIL 345 PM MST

* AT 229 PM MST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A
  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM 23 MILES SOUTHWEST OF SUPERIOR...OR ABOUT 8
  MILES SOUTHEAST OF FLORENCE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 20 MPH.

THIS STORM WILL AFFECT MCFARLAND STATE PARK...ASHHURST-HAYDEN DAM BY 
300 PM...AND SUPERIOR BY AROUND 330 PM.

LARGE HAIL AND WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH ARE LIKLEY WITH THIS 
STORM.

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 3296 11135 3325 11095 3340 11101 3339 11131

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 28, 9:15 AM MST, 5 hours 26 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 28, 9:15 AM MST, 5 hours 26 minutes before
AZZ020>028-CAZ030>033-282245-

SOUTHWEST ARIZONA/SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
915 AM MST WED AUG 28 2002

.SYNOPSIS...
LOW PRESSURE OVER NEVADA...AND HIGH PRESSURE OVER SONORA MEXICO HAS
CAUSED A SOUTHWEST WIND FLOW ALOFT...IN SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA AND
SOUTHWEST ARIZONA...WHERE DRY WEATHER AND PLENTY OF SUNSHINE WILL
PREVAIL FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS.  A MOIST SOUTHERLY WIND IN SOUTH
CENTRAL ARIZONA WILL ALLOW A RETURN OF MONSOON MOISTURE INTO EAST
CENTRAL ARIZONA BY THURSDAY AND CONTINUE THROUGH THE HOLIDAY
WEEKEND...MAKING FOR A SLIGHT CHANCE OF AFTERNOON AND EVENING
THUNDERSTORMS...OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN FAR TO THE EAST OF PHOENIX.

.DISCUSSION...
MID LEVEL MOISTURE...ABV 15K FT...INCREASING OVER SOUTH CENTRAL AZ
AND THE PRECIPITABLE WATER TRENDING UPWARDS FROM .51 INCHES
YESTERDAY MORNING...TO .69 INCHES LAST EVENING...AND AS OF 12Z THE
PSR SOUNDING IS .89 INCHES.  THIS MORNINGS SFC DEW POINTS ARE UP 15
TO 25 DEGREES FROM 24 HOURS AGO...MAINLY IN THE 45 TO 55 DEG
RANGE...HIGHER IN SOME PLACES.  TAKING INTO CONSIDERATION THE MID
AND HIGH LVL CLDS...STILL THINKG THAT TODAYS AFTERNOON HIGH
TEMPERATURES IN SOUTH CENTRAL AZ WILL BE SUPPRESSED SOME...FROM
YESTERDAYS NEAR RECORD HIGHS. ELSEWHERE...SOUTHEAST CA IS ON THE NRN
SIDE OF JET STREAK...CLR.  WHILE SOUTHWEST AZ IS UNDER THE 70 KT JET
MAX...THIN CI WILL CONT THROUGH TNGT.

OVERALL PATTERN LOOKS SIMILAR IN THIS MORNINGS MODELS...SO FCST
GENLY RMNS THE SAME.  RUNYAN

.PSR...NONE.

The office that day

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

IssuedProductOfficeCountiesLasted
Aug 28, 4:10 PM MSTSevere Thunderstorm WarningPSRPinal65 min

Nearby

Severe Thunderstorm Warnings in Arizona, 2002Every severe thunderstorm warning in 2002

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.