Moisture moving into Arizona from northern Mexico helped to generate thunderstorms across portions of Southeast Arizona throughout a 5 day period towards the end of the month of May. Severe storms developed along several boundaries that moved through Southeast Arizona throughout the 5 day time frame.
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 episode as NWS TWC wrote it up.
Moisture moving into Arizona from northern Mexico helped to generate thunderstorms across portions of Southeast Arizona throughout a 5 day period towards the end of the month of May. Severe storms developed along several boundaries that moved through Southeast Arizona throughout the 5 day time frame.
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 28, 1:38 PM MST, 5 hours 22 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 138 PM MST SAT MAY 28 2005 .SYNOPSIS...MOISTURE COMBINED WITH A WEAK SYSTEM OVER SONORA MEXICO WILL PROVIDE THE AREA WITH SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT AND SUNDAY. THE SYSTEM WILL TRACK EAST OF THE REGION EARLY NEXT WEEK...WITH THE CHANCES OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ENDING. ALONG WITH THE RAIN CHANCES...TEMPERATURES WILL BE AT READINGS BELOW SEASONAL AVERAGES FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ALMOST TWO WEEKS. DRIER AND WARMER WEATHER CAN BE EXPECTED THE SECOND HALF OF THE NEW WEEK AS A RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN FROM THE WEST. && .DISCUSSION...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WERE STARTING TO DEVELOP EARLY THIS AFTERNOON...ESPECIALLY IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS AND ALONG THE RIM COUNTRY OF ARIZONA. EXPECT AREAL COVERAGE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO INCREASE THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THIS EVENING. WILL RAISE POPS ABOUT 10 TO 15 PERCENT EVERYWHERE FOR THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT. THE MOIST AIRMASS IN PLACE TODAY WILL INCREASE THE THREAT OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WHICH COULD LEAD TO MINOR RUNOFF PROBLEMS IN SPOTS LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. A WEAK UPPER LOW OVER SONORA MEXICO WILL HELP SUSTAIN THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY OVERNIGHT AND INTO SUNDAY AS IT LEFTS FARTHER NORTH. MODELS TRACK THIS LOW EAST OF THE REGION BY MONDAY WITH A DRIER WESTERLY FLOW ALOFT DEVELOPING OVER THE STATE BY MIDWEEK. THIS DRIER AIR WILL PUT AN END TO OUR THUNDERSTORM CHANCES MOST AREAS MONDAY...WITH ONLY A FEW THUNDERSTORMS EXPECT IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS INTO TUESDAY. TEMPERATURES WILL BE BELOW NORMAL THE NEXT FEW DAYS DUE TO THE RAIN CHANCES...THEN WARMUP TO NEAR SEASONAL READINGS BY MID NEXT WEEK AS THE DRIER AIR SPREADS IN FROM THE WEST. && .FIRE WEATHER...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO BE IN THE FORECAST THIS HOLIDAY WEEKEND RESULTING IN HIGHER RH TRENDS. && .TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON
The Tucson radar (KEMX), 112 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:00 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
The body of a 70-year-old man was found in a Cemetery in Tucson on Sunday, May 29, 2005. The man was killed by lightning on Saturday night while visiting a gravesite at the cemetery.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Pima | 2005-05-28 | 70 | Male | Under Tree | Direct |
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: 5446992.