Flash Flood, Cochise
- When
- July 28, 4:15 PM MST to 6:00 PM MST
- Where
- Cochise County, Sierra Vista
- Property damage
- $10,000
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
- Coordinates
- 31.880, -109.751 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Flash Flood in Arizona, July 28, 2001
A late afternoon thunderstorm caused heavy rains in Sierra Vista which caused several streets to flood. At 1630 MST, a driver was rescued from his car when the car was swept off the road by swift rising water and carried into a wash.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- $10,000
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS TWC wrote it up.
A late afternoon thunderstorm caused heavy rains in Sierra Vista which caused several streets to flood. At 1630 MST, a driver was rescued from his car when the car was swept off the road by swift rising water and carried into a wash.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the first event, 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 the first event at Jul 28, 2:30 PM MST, 1 hour 45 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jul 28, 2:30 PM MST, 1 hour 45 minutes before
SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 230 PM MST SAT JUL 28 2001 SYNOPSIS...MOISTURE WILL BE ON A GRADUAL INCREASE THROUGH THE WEEKEND AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS FROM NORTHERN ARIZONA INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS. EXPECT SCATTERED AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE UPCOMING WEEK. DISCUSSION...HIGH PRESSURE REORGANIZING WITH ILL DEFINED CENTER BUILDING IN NORTHEAST ARIZONA TODAY. WEAK EASTERLY IMPULSE NEAR SONORA COULD FOCUS ANOTHER COMPLEX NEAR THE BORDER OVERNIGHT. NEW HIGH CIRCULATION WRAPPING SLIGHTLY COOLER MID LEVEL AIR INTO THE AREA FROM TRAILING REMAINS OF TROUGH. PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES STILL IN THE 1.2 TO 1.5 INCH RANGE ACROSS OUR AREA...BUT NOT MUCH FOR THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE STATE. WIND PROFILE STARTING TO SHOW FAVORABLE VECTORS FOR A LITTLE BETTER ORGANIZATION...AND CONVECTION SO FAR THIS AFTERNOON HAS BORNE THIS OUT. SHOULD CONTINUE TO BE A GOOD AFTERNOON FOR MOUNTAIN STORMS WITH ENOUGH SUPPORT FOR MORE VALLEY STORMS THAN YESTERDAY. INCREASING EASTERLY FLOW AND APPARENT ONGOING SURGE TRYING TO EXTEND DEEPER MOISTURE WESTWARD. SHOULD SEE FLOW BECOME SOUTHEASTERLY AND THEN SOUTHERLY IN RESPONSE TO THE RIDGE SHIFTING EASTWARD AND DEVELOPMENT OF ANOTHER WEST COAST TROUGH. M .TWC...NONE.
In the hours before
Special weather statement, Jul 28, 11:35 AM MST, 4 hours 40 minutes before
AZZ019-029>035-290700- SOUTHEAST ARIZONA HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 1135 AM MST SAT JUL 28 2001 .SYNOPSIS...THE FOCUS FOR THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY TODAY WILL BE ACROSS THE EASTERN PORTIONS OF STATE AS THE MIXTURE OF AMPLE SURFACE HEATING...INCREASED MID LEVEL MOISTURE AND A DESTABILIZING ATMOSPHERE ALOFT WILL AID THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. EAST OF TUCSON...THERE IS AN INCREASED THREAT OF SEVERE DOWNBURST WINDS IN THE VALLEYS WITH A NEAR CLIMATOLOGICAL THREAT OF FLASH FLOODING. .DISCUSSION...THE MAJORITY OF THE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY TODAY WILL OCCUR OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN ACROSS THE EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE COUNTY WARNING AREA. FIRST OF ALL...UPPER LEVEL NORTHEAST WINDS WILL TRANSPORT COLDER AIR ALOFT WHICH WILL DESTABILIZE THE ATMOSPHERE ACROSS THE REGION. IN ADDITION...AN EASTERLY FLOW AT MID LEVELS WILL TRANSPORT MOISTURE BACK INTO THE EASTERN COUNTIES. COMBINE THESE FACTORS WITH PLENTY OF SUNSHINE TODAY AND YOU HAVE NO PROBLEM DEVELOPING THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE MOUNTAINS. SINCE THE STEERING FLOW IS NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH...STORMS WILL BE ABLE TO PUSH OFF OF THE MOUNTAINS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND ORGANIZE OVER THE VALLEYS. HOWEVER...THE SPEED OF THE STORMS AND THE FACT THAT DRIER AIR OCCUPIES THE LOWER LEVELS WILL DECREASE THE THREAT OF HEAVY RAIN AND THUS THE THREAT OF FLASH FLOODING. IT WILL HOWEVER INCREASE THE THREAT OF SEVERE STORMS WITH STRONG WINDS BEING THE SIGNIFICANT PLAYER. STORM MOVEMENT WILL BE TO THE SOUTHWEST AT 15 MPH.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Flash Flood
- Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Heat in Nebraska, July 28 to 31, 2001
- Flash Flooding in Missouri, July 28 to 29, 2001
- Flash Flood in Missouri, July 28, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Missouri, July 28, 2001
- Damaging Winds in Arkansas, July 28, 2001
- Damaging Winds in Indiana, July 28, 2001
- Lightning Strike in Missouri, July 28, 2001
- Lightning Strike in Indiana, July 28, 2001
- Flash Flooding in Kentucky, July 28, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Montana, July 28, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Arizona, July 28, 2001
- Hail and Damaging Winds in Montana, July 28, 2001
More
Every storm in Arizona in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, July 2001
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5258404.