Damaging Wind in Arizona, July 25, 2003

Name: Damaging Wind in Arizona, July 25, 2003
Start: 2003-07-25T22:00
End: 2003-07-25T22:45
Location: Arizona

July 25, 2003 · NWS TWC · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A microburst occurred during the late evening over the town of Ft Thomas, producing damaging winds. The severe storm damaged 400 acres or cotton crops near Indian Hot Springs.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $60,000
Crop damage: $100,000
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 microburst occurred during the late evening over the town of Ft Thomas, producing damaging winds. The severe storm damaged 400 acres or cotton crops near Indian Hot Springs. Another farm nearby had 500 acres of damaged cotton crops. A roof of a home, near Highway 70, was blown off and landed some distance away from the house.

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 25, 9:43 PM MST, 17 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 25, 9:43 PM MST, 17 minutes before

SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
943 PM MST FRI JUL 25 2003

.SYNOPSIS...DISTURBANCES ROTATING AROUND THE UPPER LEVEL HIGH
LOCATED OVER THE FOUR CORNERS AREA WILL ENHANCE THE DEVELOPMENT OF
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS AGAIN SATURDAY. AN INCREASE IN STORMS
IS EXPECTED SUNDAY AND MONDAY AS THE HIGH PRESSURE CENTER WEAKENS
AND A STRONGER DISTURBANCE MOVES TOWARD SOUTHEAST ARIZONA.
TEMPERATURES ARE ALSO EXPECTED TO DECREASE ON SUNDAY AND MONDAY BUT
WILL THEN SLOWLY REBOUND NEXT WEEK.

.DISCUSSION...A RATHER ACTIVE EVENING THUNDERSTORM WISE WITH SEVERAL
LOCATIONS RECEIVING HEAVY RAINFALL AND A FEW HAIL REPORTS. IT LOOKS
LIKE THE AREAS TO WATCH THE REST OF THIS EVENING WILL BE CENTRAL
PIMA COUNTY AND PARTS OF CENTRAL GRAHAM COUNTY WHERE STORMS HAVE
MADE A RUN UP THE SAFFORD VALLEY. OTHERWISE...SHOWER AND
THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY SHOULD BE TAPERING OFF OVERNIGHT. THE WEATHER
PATTERN IN GENERAL LOOKS VERY PROMISING FOR MORE SHOWER AND
THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY THE NEXT FEW DAYS...ESPECIALLY TOMORROW IF THE
AIRMASS CAN RECOVER FROM THIS EVENINGS RAINFALL. CURRENT FORECAST
LOOKS ON TRACK...SO NO UPDATES EXPECTED.

.TWC...NONE.

Hazardous weather outlook, Jul 25, 11:50 AM MST, 10 hours 10 minutes before

AZZ019-029>035-261400-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
1150 AM MST FRI JUL 25 2003

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST ARIZONA

.DAY ONE...TODAY

SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE CENTERED OVER NORTHERN NEW MEXICO WILL
ALLOW A COUPLE OF WEAK DISTURBANCES TO ROTATE AROUND THE HIGH
TODAY...ENHANCING THE DEVELOPMENT OF SCATTERED AFTERNOON SHOWERS AND
THUNDERSTORMS. THUNDERSTORM WILL DEVELOP MAINLY EAST OF TUCSON THIS
AFTERNOON THEN MOVE INTO THE WESTERN DESERTS BY EARLY THIS EVENING.
THE MAIN WEATHER CONCERN WILL BE THE POTENTIAL FOR A FEW OF THE
STORMS TO PRODUCE STRONG GUSTY WINDS...SMALL HAIL AND LOCALIZED
HEAVY RAINFALL AS THE STORMS DEVELOP...ESPECIALLY DURING THE EVENING
HOURS ACROSS THE WESTERN DESERTS.

DISCUSSION...THE GOES-10 PRECIPITABLE WATER IMAGERY INDICATED AN
AREA OF MODERATELY DEEP LOW TO MID LEVEL MOISTURE EXTENDED ALONG AND
WEST OF A LINE FROM ELOY TO DOUGLAS...WITH DRIER AIR PUSHING INTO
THE EASTERN PORTIONS OF ARIZONA. IN FACT...THE MORNING UPPER AIR
SOUNDING INDICATED A PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUE OF 1.48 INCHES IN
TUCSON...UP 0.18 INCHES OVER THE PAST 24 HOURS. THIS MOISTURE WILL
BE ENOUGH TO ALLOW THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP ACROSS SOUTHEAST ARIZONA
TODAY.

THE UPPER AIR ANALYSIS PLOT INDICATED THAT A POOLING OF COOL AIR IN
THE MID TO UPPER LEVELS EXTENDED FROM EL PASO INTO THE MEXICAN
STATE OF CHIHUAHUA. THIS COOLER AIR...AS WELL AS A WEAK MID LEVEL
COL WILL MOVE NORTHWEST AROUND THE BASE OF THE UPPER HIGH...MOVING
INTO THE FAR SOUTHEAST CORNER OF THE STATE BY MID AFTERNOON AND INTO
THE WESTERN DESERTS BY EARLY THIS EVENING. BOTH OF THESE FEATURES
WILL AID IN DESTABILIZING THE ATMOSPHERE AND AID THUNDERSTORM
DEVELOPMENT TODAY.

EXPECT THUNDERSTORMS TO BEGIN DEVELOPING OVER THE EASTERN MOUNTAINS
BY THE EARLY AFTERNOON...THEN PUSH NORTHWEST AT 10 TO 15 MPH INTO
THE EASTERN VALLEYS BY MID AFTERNOON...AND FINALLY INTO THE WESTERN
DESERTS BY THE EARLY EVENING.

WATER VAPOR IMAGERY INDICATED THAT AN AREA OF DRY AIR...MAINLY AT
MID TO UPPER LEVELS HAD PUSHED INTO THE EASTERN PORTIONS OF ARIZONA
THIS MORNING...WITH THE STRONGEST GRADIENT EXTENDING ALONG A LINE
FROM SASABE TO ELOY. THIS MOISTURE DISCONTINUITY LINE IS PROGGED BY
THE MODELS TO STAY RATHER STATIONARY THROUGHOUT THE DAY AND SHOULD
SERVE AS BOUNDARY TO AID THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT LATER THIS
EVENING. GIVEN THE DEEPER LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE AND HIGHER PRECIPITABLE
WATER VALUES TO THE WEST OF THIS LINE...ANY THUNDERSTORM THAT DOES
DEVELOP IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING VERY HEAVY RAINFALL. THEREFORE...THE
CHANCE OF RECEIVING PRECIPITATION IN EXCESS OF ONE INCH IS ABOVE
CLIMATOLOGY WEST OF TUCSON.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY

THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW.

SUFFICIENT MOISTURE WILL BE IN PLACE FOR AT LEAST A STANDARD
SUMMERTIME THUNDERSTORM SEASON FORECAST WITH SCATTERED MAINLY
AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS SATURDAY.
HOWEVER...SUNDAY AND MONDAY...ATMOSPHERIC MODELS ARE INDICATING THAT
AN EASTERLY WAVE WILL PUSH IN FROM THE WESTERN GULF COAST REGION...
THROUGH MEXICO AND INTO THE DESERT SOUTHWEST. AS A RESULT...EXPECT
AN INCREASE IN SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY THAN NORMALLY
ASSOCIATED WITH THE MONSOON.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER
CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.

In the hours before

Local storm report, Jul 25, 9:28 PM MST, 32 minutes before

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON ARIZONA
0928 PM MST FRI JUL 25 2003

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

0640 PM    SIERRA VISTA              AZ   60 MPH TSTM GUST
07/25/03   COCHISE

0650 PM    SIERRA VISTA              AZ   64 MPH TSTM GUST
07/25/03   COCHISE                        RECORDED AT FORT HUACHUCA ASOS

0705 PM    SIERRA VISTA              AZ   FLASH FLOOD
07/25/03   COCHISE                        SAVANNAH WASH OUT OF BANKS WASHED
                                          AWAY FENCE FLOODING OF 4RTH AND
                                          7TH STREETS

0918 PM    THATCHER                  AZ   1 INCH HAIL
07/25/03   GRAHAM                         REPORTED BY TRAINED SPOTTER

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.

Thunderstorm Wind, Graham

When: July 25, 10:00 PM MST to 10:45 PM MST
Where: Graham County, Ft Thomas
Measured: 61 kt (70 mph) estimated gust
Property damage: $60,000
Crop damage: $100,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 33.033, -109.967

What these are

Thunderstorm Wind: Winds from a thunderstorm of 50 knots (58 mph) or more, or lower winds that caused damage or casualties. Measured gusts are marked MG, estimated EG.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Arizona in 2003 Every state in 2003 This day in weather history Warnings in Arizona, July 2003

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: 5330166.