1 flash 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 Tucson, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 4, 2:45 PM MST, 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 245 PM MST WED AUG 4 2004 SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FORECAST DISCUSSION .SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE TO OUR EAST WILL PROVIDE SOUTHEAST ARIZONA WITH A MOIST SOUTHERLY FLOW THE NEXT FEW DAYS. AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING FOR AN INCREASE CHANCE IN SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. OVER THE WEEKEND THE UPPER LEVEL HIGH SHIFTS TOWARD SOUTHEAST ARIZONA...WHICH WOULD LEAD TO A DECREASE IN THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY. && .DISCUSSION...IT HAS BASICALLY TAKEN A GOOD PORTION OF THE DAY BUT THE CLOUD COVER HAD CLEARED UP AT LEAST ACROSS EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE CWA...ALLOWING FOR DEVELOPMENT OVER THE MOUNTAINS. THUNDERSTORMS PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL CONTINUES ACROSS THE NUTTALL BURN AREA ON MT GRAHAM. A FLASH FLOOD WARNING CONTINUES IN EFFECT UNTIL 330 PM MST. THE MAIN CONCERN ARE THE TOWNS OF PIMA AND THATCHER AS WELL AS ANY CROSSINGS ALONG THE FRYE...DEADMAN...COTTONWOOD...MARIJILDA...AND ASH WASHES. THE STREAM GAGE FOR MARIJILDA WASH INDICATED A THREE FOOT RISE AS WELL AS AN INCREASE IN DEADMAN WASH. HEAVY RAINFALL CONTINUES TO FALL OVER THIS AREA WITH THE DEADMAN PRECIPITATION GAGE RECORDING A HALF OF AN INCH FALLING IN 30 MINUTES. CONCERN WILL ALSO BE FOR MUDSLIDES ALONG THE ROADWAYS NEAR THESE WASHES. THIS AREA RECEIVED .75 TO 1.0 INCHES OF RAINFALL YESTERDAY AND THERE WERE REPORTS OF MUDSLIDES ALONG HIGHWAY 366. THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO REDEVELOP OVER THIS AREA AND THE FLASH FLOOD WARNING MAY NEED TO BE EXTENDED. WILL WAIT TO SEE IF THERE ARE ANY FLOODING PROBLEMS BEFORE ANY EXTENSIONS. FROM TUCSON WEST...THERE IS STILL SOME LINGERING MID AND HIGH LEVEL CLOUD COVER. THIS CLOUD COVER HAS LIMITED HEATING THROUGHOUT THE DAY. ALTHOUGH UPDATED FORECAST TO LOWER MAXIMUM TEMPERATURES TODAY...MAY NOT HAVE BEEN ENOUGH AS TUCSON IS CURRENTLY AT 94 DEGREES. OTHER SITES ACROSS SOUTHEAST ARIZONA ARE ALSO A 3 TO 4 DEGREES COOLER THAN YESTERDAY THIS TIME. HOWEVER...DOUGLAS WAS STRUGGLING AT FIRST AND WITH APPROXIMATELY TWO HOURS OF SUNSHINE HAVE WARMED UP TO 92 DEGREES THUS FAR. EXPECT THUNDERSTORM AND SHOWERS TO EXPAND IN COVERAGE THROUGH LATER EVENING AS A WEAK UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE ENHANCES CONVECTION OVER SOUTHEAST ARIZONA. WILL CONTINUE TO EXPECT TYPICAL MONSOON GRADE POPS OVER SOUTHEAST ARIZONA FOR TOMORROW. THERE MAY BE SOME LINGERING CLOUD COVER AGAIN TOMORROW AS ANOTHER MCS WILL DEVELOP OVER MEXICO AND COULD PUSH NORTHWARD INTO SOUTHERN ARIZONA. HOWEVER...EXPECTING TOMORROW MORNING WITH LESS CLOUD COVER THAN TODAY. OVER THE WEEKEND THE 500MB HIGH BEGINS TO SHIFT TOWARDS SOUTHEAST ARIZONA AND SOUTHWEST NEW MEXICO. GFS AND NCEP EXPERIMENTAL ENSEMBLE MEMBERS SHOW THE HIGH POSITIONED OVER THIS AREA THROUGH NEXT WEEK. THIS PATTERN HAS NOT BEEN FAVORABLE FOR AFTERNOON THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. THUS THE FORECAST SHOWS A DECREASING TREND IN POPS ACROSS THE CWA AS EARLY AS SUNDAY. && .TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 1145 AM MST WED AUG 4 2004 AZZ019-029>035-050700- NORTHERN GREENLEE COUNTY-UPPER GILA RIVER VALLEY-COCHISE COUNTY-SOUTHEAST PINAL COUNTY-TUCSON METRO/MARANA/GREEN VALLEY-SANTA CRUZ COUNTY-TOHONO OODHAM NATION-WESTERN PIMA COUNTY- 1145 AM MST WED AUG 4 2004 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHEAST ARIZONA .DAY ONE...TODAY SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE THAT IS STILL LINGERING TO THE EAST OF ARIZONA WILL CONTINUE TO BRING A MOIST SOUTHERLY FLOW TO OUR AREA. AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WILL MOVE ACROSS ARIZONA LATER TODAY...ENHANCING THUNDERSTORMS ACTIVITY FOR LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE POTENTIAL FOR HEAVY RAINFALL AND FOR HIGH WINDS IS NEAR NORMAL FOR TODAY. DISCUSSION...A THICK LAYER OF CLOUDS...LEFT OVER FROM AN MCS THAT DEVELOPED OVERNIGHT IN MEXICO...CONTINUE TO COVER MOST OF SOUTHEAST ARIZONA THIS MORNING. THE 12Z KTUS SOUNDING SHOWED A VERY MOIST ATMOSPHERE WITH A PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUE 1.57 INCHES...COMPARED TO 24 HOURS AGO WHICH WAS 1.43 INCHES. A DISTURBANCE CURRENTLY LOCATED OVER NORTHERN MEXICO IS EXPECTED TO MOVE ACROSS ARIZONA LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. BETWEEN THE MOIST ATMOSPHERE AND THE DYNAMICS FROM THIS DISTURBANCE...WE EXPECT THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT ACROSS MOST OF SOUTHEAST ARIZONA LATER TODAY. ONCE AGAIN TODAY WE HAVE A WEAK FLOW AT 700 MB...SO IT COULD TAKE A WHILE FOR THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP ON MOUNTAINS TO MOVE INTO THE VALLEYS. STORMS THAT DO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ARE EXPECTED TO PRODUCE HEAVY RAINFALL...FROM A HALF INCH TO THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH. THESE STORMS ALSO HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE STRONG GUSTY WINDS. INITIAL DEVELOPMENT HAS ALREADY BEGUN ON THE MOUNTAINS IN GRAHAM COUNTY. ADDITIONAL STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO BEGIN DEVELOPING WITHIN THE NEXT FEW HOURS IN COCHISE...AND EASTERN PIMA COUNTIES...MAINLY NEAR THE MOUNTAINS. SIMILAR TO YESTERDAY BELIEVE THAT LATE IN THE AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING STORMS WILL MAKE IT INTO THE VALLEYS. STORM MOVEMENT WILL BE SLOWLY TO THE NORTH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY. WITH THE HIGH LINGERING TO THE EAST OF ARIZONA...WE WILL CONTINUE TO SEE A SOUTH FLOW...THAT WILL CONTINUE TO BRING MOISTURE INTO OUR AREA. WITH THIS WE WILL SEE AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS EACH DAY THROUGH FRIDAY. THE POSITION OF THE HIGH PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL DETERMINE THE FORECAST AFTER FRIDAY. NEWER MODEL RUNS HAVE THE HIGH MOVING OVER ARIZONA...CUTTING US OFF FROM OUR MOISTURE FLOW...AND HENCE DECREASING THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY. HOWEVER...THERE COULD STILL BE ENOUGH RESIDUAL MOISTURE IN THE ARIZONA FROM THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. WILL HAVE A BETTER FEEL FOR THIS LATER IN THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. ELSLAGER
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
1103 AM MST WED AUG 04 2004
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION...ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 PM FLASH FLOOD 10 SSW SAFFORD 32.67N 109.80W
08/03/2004 GRAHAM AZ DEPT OF HIGHWAYS
NOON CREEK FLOODED AND OVERTOPPED AT HIGHWAY 366 DUE TO
RAINFALL ON THE NUTTALL BURN AREA. SEVERAL LARGE LOGS AND
DEBRIS COVERED ROAD AND BLOCKED IT TILL REMOVED THE
FOLLOWING MORNING. TIME OF EVENT IS APPROX.
&&
MSSThe Tucson radar (KEMX), 135 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:29 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Significant rainfall on the Nuttal burn area caused Noon Creek to flood and overtop highway 366. Debris and large logs blocked the road making it impassable.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arizona in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, August 2004
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: 5419931.