1 flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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.
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.
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 Phoenix, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 6, 3:00 PM MST, 1 hour 40 minutes earlier.
AZZ020>028-CAZ030>033-070545- SOUTHWEST ARIZONA/SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ 300 PM MST TUE MAR 6 2001 .SYNOPSIS... AN INTENSE LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM OFFSHORE OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WILL MOVE INLAND TONIGHT...OVER SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...THEN ACROSS SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA WEDNESDAY. AS A RESULT...THERE WILL BE SHOWERS AND POSSIBLE THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE AREA TONIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING...WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN POSSIBLE. IT WILL BE MUCH COOLER IN SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA WEDNESDAY. IMPROVED WEATHER WITH SOMEWHAT WARMER TEMPERATURES WILL FOLLOW THURSDAY AS HIGHER PRESSURE MOVES IN. HOWEVER...ANOTHER PACIFIC STORM WILL LIKELY BRING A NEW ROUND OF SHOWERS TO THE AREA OVER THE WEEKEND. .DISCUSSION... CLOSED UPPER LVL LOW JUST OFF THE SRN CA COAST NOW STARTING TO WORK ITS WAY TOWARDS THE COAST...AND SHOWERS HAVE DEVELOPED NICELY OVER SERN CA AND FAR WRN DESERTS...IN THE DIFLUENT AREA AHD OF THE LOW. IR IMAGERY SHOWS A NICE TAP OF SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE...WITH PWAT VALUES OFF THE GOES IMAGERY OVER THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH. LATEST SHORT TERM MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT WITH THE TIMING AND TRACK OF THE LOW...AND WILL GO WITH THE AVN AS IT HAS BEEN WORKING BEST OVER RECENT RUNS...ESPECIALLY WITH THE RH AND QPF FIELDS. AS LOW APCHGS THIS AFTN AND TONIGHT...COULD SEE SOME TSTMS DEVELOP TO OUR WEST...AS COLD AIR ALF STARTS TO WORK ITS WAY OVERHEAD...AND THE LIFTED INDEX FORECASTS FROM THE PROGS INDICATE VALUES BECOMING NEGATIVE. LOW SHOULD TRACK INLAND TONIGHT AND ACRS SRN AZ TOMORROW...WITH SHOWERS INCREASING OVER THE FORECAST AREA TONIGHT...AND CONTINUING THRU WED EVE. BEST CHANCES FOR RAIN OVER SERN CA SHOULD BE TONIGHT AND EARLY WED...OVER SWRN AZ WILL BE LATER TONIGHT AND WED MORNING...AND OVER SCNTRL WILL BE FROM AFTER MIDNIGHT THRU MIDDAY TOMORROW. MOST OF THE CWA WILL SEE QPF FROM ONE THIRD TO THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH...WITH VALUES OVER ONE INCH POSSIBLE OVER PARTS OF THE SOUTHCENTRAL..MAINLY OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN. CHANCES FOR TSTMS WILL CONT THRU TOMORROW AS THE COLD AIR POOL WITH THE LOW MOVES SLOWLY OVERHEAD DESTABLIZING THE AMS. SNOW LEVELS WILL REMAIN HIGH WITH THIS STORM PER HIGH THICKNESSES ...LOWERING TO BETWEEN 5500 AND 6000 FEET WED NIGHT OVER SRN GILA COUNTY. MAIN ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE OVER THE HIGHEST ELEVATIONS IN THIS ZONE..AND THUS WILL NOT NEED TO ISSUE ANY WINTER WEATHER ADVISORIES OR WARNINGS. THU WILL BE A BREAK DAY AS A DIRTY HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE MOVES OVERHEAD...AND SHOULD SEE SOME RECOVERY IN TEMPS. MEDIUM RANGE MODELS AND THE MRF SPAGHETTI ENSEMBLES SUGGEST THAT ANOTHER PAC LOW WILL IMPACT OUR AREA IN THE EXTENDED...WITH INCRG CLOUDS COMING FRI...AND A CHANCE OF SHOWERS ON TAP FOR SAT AND SUN. THIS LOW MIGHT NOT BE AS SLOW TO MOVE INLAND AS THE CURRENT ONE...AS THERE SHOULD NOT BE AS MUCH OF A BLOCKING PATN DOWNSTREAM DURING THE LATTER PART OF THE WEEK. MON AND TUE APPEAR DRY IN THE WAKE OF THIS NEXT DEPARTING LOW. 11
AZZ020>028-CAZ030>033-070400- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT 230 PM MST TUE MAR 6 2001 ...SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS EXPECTED OVER SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY... A STRONG UPPER LOW PRESSURE AREA WAS CENTERED ABOUT 250 MILES WEST OF LOS ANGELES EARLY TUESDAY AFTERNOON. THIS LOW...WHICH HAS BEEN RESPONSIBLE FOR PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAIN AND LOCALIZED FLOODING OVER PORTIONS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA THE PAST 24 HOURS...HAS SHOWN LITTLE MOVEMENT TODAY...AND RAINFALL WITH THIS SYSTEM CONTINUED TO BE FOCUSED ON SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. HOWEVER...RAIN SHOWERS HAD BEGUN TO OVERSPREAD FAR SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA...INCLUDING THE IMPERIAL AREA... EARLY THIS AFTERNOON...SUGGESTING THAT THE LOW WILL BEGIN TO MOVE EAST LATER TODAY AND TONIGHT. THIS STORM IS FORECAST TO GRADUALLY WEAKEN WHILE IT ACCELERATES TOWARD THE EAST TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. BY LATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON... THE CENTER OF THE LOW IS EXPECTED TO BE OVER SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA. AS A RESULT...SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL AFFECT FAR SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA AND THE LOWER COLORADO RIVER VALLEY THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...THEN OVERSPREAD SOUTHWEST AND SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA TONIGHT. OVER THE GREATER PHOENIX AREA...SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY BEGIN AFTER DARK...WITH THE BEST CHANCE FOR RAIN BEWTEEN MIDNIGHT AND NOON WEDNESDAY. THE CHANCE FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD END OVER FAR SOUTHEAST CALIFORNIA BY EARLY WEDNESDAY...OVER SOUTHWEST ARIZONA BY LATE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON...AND OVER SOUTH-CENTRAL ARIZONA WEDNESDAY EVENING. RAINFALL AMOUNTS FROM THIS STORM WILL VARY WIDELY ACROSS THE AREA... BUT GENERALLY RANGE FROM ONE THIRD TO TWO THIRDS OF AN INCH. GREATEST AMOUNTS...IN EXCESS OF 1 INCH...WILL BE POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY OVER HIGHER TERRAIN LOCATIONS IN NORTHERN AND EASTERN MARICOPA COUNTY AND SOUTHERN GILA COUNTY. RAINFALL IS EXPECTED TO AVERAGE AROUND ONE HALF INCH OV4ER THE GREATER PHOENIX AREA. THE SNOW LEVEL WILL BE RATHER HIGH WITH THIS STORM...GENERALLY ABOVE 5500 FEET. DG
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy rainfall throughout much of southwest Arizona left streets and roads flooded and washes running. A weather spotter at Yuma Foothills recorded over an inch of rain, bringing his year-to-date total to just over 3 inches. The average annual rainfall in Yuma is 2.7 inches.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arizona in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, March 2001
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: 5235041.