A thunderstorm produced a funnel cloud about 20 miles southeast of St Johns.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 FGZ wrote it up.
A thunderstorm produced a funnel cloud about 20 miles southeast of St Johns.
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 Flagstaff, AZ wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 5, 3:00 PM MST, 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ 300 PM MST TUE AUG 5 2008 .SYNOPSIS...NORTHERN ARIZONA WILL REMAIN IN A MOIST AIRMASS FOR THE NEXT WEEK. LOOK FOR SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DAILY...MAINLY DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. DAYTIME TEMPERATURES WILL BE NEAR AVERAGE FOR THIS TIME OF YEAR. && .DISCUSSION... THE LARGE SCALE CIRCULATION SHOWS AN OVAL SHAPED CLOCKWISE FLOW WITH THE LONG AXIS FROM THE 4 CORNERS TO SRN MISSOURI....AND GENERALLY SOUTH TO SOUTHEAST FLOW INTO AZ. THERE IS GOOD THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE THIS AFTERNOON OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF NORTHERN ARIZONA...WITH STORMS MOVING NORTHWARD INTO THE LITTLE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY. ALSO EVIDENT IS A LARGE AREA OF CONVECTION IN NEW MEXICO NORTH OF SILVER CITY. THIS AREA OF CONVECTION CAN BE ASSOCIATED WITH AN AREA OF UPPER LEVEL INERTIAL INSTABILITY. GFS VORT PROGS IN THE H4-H2 LAYER MOVE THE VORT MIN CENTER INTO THE SRN WHITE MTNS THIS EVENING. WE HAVE INCREASED THE POP CHANCES TO LIKELY THROUGH MIDNIGHT IN ZONE 17 AND ALONG THE AZ/NM BORDER. ELSEWHERE...RADAR THIS AFTERNOON DOES SHOW SEVERAL OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES MOVING AROUND...AND THUS SCATTERED TSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE EARLY EVENING. WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY...MID AND UPPER LEVEL WIND STREAMLINES SHOW THE HIGH PRESSURE CIRCULATION TO REFORM NEAR THE FOUR CORNERS ON THURSDAY. WHILE THE WIND DIRECTIONS ALOFT SHOULD CHANGE FROM SOUTHEASTERLY NOW TO SOUTHERLY WITH TIME THROUGH THURSDAY...WIND SPEEDS ARE NOT VERY FAST AND WE SHOULD KEEP A GENERALLY MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS OVERHEAD. THUS WE WILL CONTINUE TO SHOW A MODERATE GRADE MONSOON PACKAGE. FOR THE WEEKEND...GFS MODEL IS SHOWING INCREASING WESTERLY FLOW BRINGING DRY AND STABLE AIR INTO WESTERN ARIZONA. WE WILL MONITOR FUTURE MODEL RUNS FOR CONSISTENCY TO SEE IF A DECREASE IN TSTORMS CHANCES WILL BE NEEDED. && .AVIATION...FOR THE 00Z PACKAGE...LOOK FOR SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO CONTINUE INTO EARLY THIS EVENING WITH MVFR/IFR CONDITIONS POSSIBLE IN THE STRONGER STORMS...BEFORE DIMINISHING AFTER 03-05Z. THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD BECOME MORE NUMEROUS AGAIN AFTER 18Z WEDNESDAY. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR AMENDMENTS. && .FIRE WEATHER...SEE FIRE WEATHER FORECAST (FWFFGZ) FOR DISCUSSION OF DAYS 1 AND 2. FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS WILL BRING ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS EACH AFTERNOON AND EVENING. && PUBLIC.............DL AVIATION/FIRE WX...DB VISIT WEATHER.GOV/FLAGSTAFF FOR NORTHERN ARIZONA WEATHER INFORMATION.
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ 943 AM MST TUE AUG 5 2008 AZZ004>018-037>040-060700- KAIBAB PLATEAU-MARBLE AND GLEN CANYONS-GRAND CANYON COUNTRY- COCONINO PLATEAU-YAVAPAI COUNTY MOUNTAINS- NORTHEAST PLATEAUS AND MESAS HWY 264 NORTHWARD-CHINLE VALLEY- CHUSKA MOUNTAINS AND DEFIANCE PLATEAU- LITTLE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY IN COCONINO COUNTY- LITTLE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY IN NAVAJO COUNTY- LITTLE COLORADO RIVER VALLEY IN APACHE COUNTY- WESTERN MOGOLLON RIM-EASTERN MOGOLLON RIM-WHITE MOUNTAINS- NORTHERN GILA COUNTY-YAVAPAI COUNTY VALLEYS AND BASINS- OAK CREEK AND SYCAMORE CANYONS-BLACK MESA AREA- NORTHEAST PLATEAUS AND MESAS SOUTH OF HWY 264- 943 AM MST TUE AUG 5 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF EAST CENTRAL ARIZONA...NORTH CENTRAL ARIZONA...NORTHEAST ARIZONA AND WEST CENTRAL ARIZONA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT EXPECT SCATTERED RAIN SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP BY LATE MORNING OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF APACHE AND YAVAPAI COUNTIES AND DURING THE EARLY AFTERNOON ELSEWHERE IN NORTHERN ARIZONA. STORM MOVEMENT WILL BE VERY SLOW TODAY AND ALLOW FOR LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. EXPECT ACTIVITY TO DIMINISH WITHIN A COUPLE OF HOURS AFTER SUNSET. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY EXPECT CONTINUED CHANCES FOR DAILY AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. 41
The Flagstaff radar (KFSX), 193 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:44 UTC.
1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
A spotter reported seeing a funnel cloud for 5 to 10 minutes with a clockwise rotation in the base of the clouds.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arizona in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, August 2008
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: 129344.