1 lightning, 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 May 27, 2:30 PM MST, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 230 PM MST FRI MAY 27 2005 .SYNOPSIS...INCREASED MOISTURE FROM THE SOUTH AND INSTABILITY WILL BRING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS...MAINLY FOR AREAS EAST AND SOUTH TUCSON. COOLING TREND ALSO EXPECTED AS HIGH PRESSURE CONTINUES TO WEAKEN OVER THE REGION. AN IMPULSE MOVING IN FROM BAJA AND ADDITIONAL MOISTURE WILL LEAD TO AN INCREASE IN THE CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE WEEKEND WITH TEMPERATURES BELOW SEASONAL AVERAGES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN WEEKS. DRY AND HOTTER AGAIN AS A RIDGE BUILDS IN FROM THE WEST THE SECOND HALF OF THE NEW WEEK. && .DISCUSSION...SURFACE HEATING IS OBVIOUSLY A HUGE FACTOR IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THUNDERSTORMS TODAY. SINCE THE CLOUD COVER LIMITS SURFACE HEATING AND IT ULTIMATELY LIMITS THUNDERSTORM POTENTIAL. THUS FAR TEMPERATURES HAVE BEEN STRUGGLING...PARTICULARLY SOUTH OF TUCSON NEAR DOUGLAS AND NOGALES. DOUGLAS IS CURRENTLY 11F DEG COOLER THAN YESTERDAY AT 19Z AND NOGALES IS 10F DEG COOLER. ALTHOUGH THUNDERSTORMS ARE DEVELOPING OVER COCHISE AND GREENLEE COUNTIES...NOT NEARLY AT THE SEVERE CRITERIA LEVEL THAT WAS ANTICIPATED DUE TO THE CLOUD COVER. KEMX RADAR INDICATING RELATIVELY WEAK ECHOES OF 35 TO 40DBZ OVER MUCH OF COCHISE COUNTY AND GREENLEE COUNTY. THE STORMS OVER THE WHITE MOUNTAINS ARE SLOWLY MOVING SOUTHWEST TOWARD SAFFORD. THE MORE LIGHTNING STRIKES APPEARS TO BE ASSOCIATED THE CLUSTER OF STORMS DEVELOPING OVER THE WHITE MOUNTAINS AND EXTENDING INTO NEW MEXICO AS WELL. WILL CONTINUE WITH THE SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS BUT THE THREAT IS NOT AS HIGH. DECIDED TO ISSUE A PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT FOR TODAY AND SATURDAY MAY 28TH ABOUT THE POTENTIAL FOR A FEW LOCATION BREAKING RECORD MAXIMUM RAINFALL. OF COURSE IT IS DIFFICULT TO PIN POINT EXACT LOCATIONS AND AMOUNTS...THUS DECIDED TO JUST MENTION ALL THE RECORDS FOR TODAY AND SATURDAY. DO NOT EXPECT TO BREAK THE RECORDS FOR TUCSON TOMORROW WITH 0.89 INCHES SET IN 1943 OR CLIFTON 1.24 INCHES...BUT THOUGH WOULD JUST MENTION THE RAINFALL AMOUNTS. FOR ADDITIONAL CLIMATE INFORMATION REGARDING RECORD RAINFALL AMOUNTS FOR OTHER SITES ACROSS SOUTHEAST ARIZONA...REFER TO PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT/AWIPS HEADER PHXPNSTWC/WMO HEADER NOUS45 KTWC. WEAK IMPULSE EXPECTED TO MOVE NORTH ACROSS ARIZONA ON SATURDAY INTO SUNDAY...BRINGING INCREASED PROBABILITY OF PRECIPITATION FOR THE ENTIRE CWA. EXPECTING MORE THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY TOMORROW THAN WHAT HAS BEEN SEEN SO FAR TODAY. HOWEVER...AGAIN IT WILL DEPEND ON HOW EXTENSIVE THE CLOUD COVER IS OVERNIGHT AND LINGERING INTO SATURDAY. ON THE OTHER HAND...WE SHOULD GET ADDITIONAL DYNAMICS FROM THE UPPER LEVEL FEATURE AND NOT RELYING ON SURFACE HEATING ALONE. GFS CONTINUES TO SHOW AN UPPER LEVEL LOW SLIDING DOWN ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN AREA...BRUSHING ACROSS NORTHERN ARIZONA. ALTHOUGH IT WILL BRING COOLER TEMPERATURES THAN THE EXPERIENCED OVER THE PAST TWO WEEKS...DO NOT EXPECT ANY PRECIPITATION. && .FIRE WEATHER...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING DUE TO THE INCREASED MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY...MAINLY FOR AREAS EAST AND SOUTH OF TUCSON. INCREASING MOISTURE WILL LEAD TO A BETTER CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE WEEKEND...WITH A STRONG INCREASE IN RH TRENDS. ISOLATED DRY LIGHTNING ON THE PERIPHERY OF STORMS ALONG WITH GUSTY WINDS FROM DOWNBURSTS AND OUTFLOWS A CONCERN. && .TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && MG WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON
The Tucson radar (KEMX), 46 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:43 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
21,400 customers in Cities of Nogales, Tubac, and Rio Rico lost power after lightning struck a power substation. The power was lost at about 6:45 pm MST and was restored again by 11:00 pm MST.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arizona in 2005Every state in 2005This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, May 2005
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: 5446987.