Strong thunderstorms with locally heavy rainfall developed across Southeast Arizona resulting in flash flooding, sporadic wind and lightning damage.
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 TWC wrote it up.
Strong thunderstorms with locally heavy rainfall developed across Southeast Arizona resulting in flash flooding, sporadic wind and lightning damage.
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 7, 2:00 PM MST, 1 hour 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 200 PM MST THU AUG 7 2008 .SYNOPSIS...FAVORABLE CONDITIONS FOR STRONG THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT TODAY AND TONIGHT...OTHERWISE SUFFICIENT MOISTURE WILL REMAIN OVER THE AREA FOR A DAILY CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS INTO NEXT WEEK. && .DISCUSSION...STRONG CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON WITH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE CONVERGENCE...DECENT INSTABILITY AND SHEAR. AS STATED THIS MORNING DURING THE UPDATE...ORGANIZED CONVECTION INITIALLY NEAR THE BORDER THAT SPREADS INTO MUCH OF SANTA CRUZ AND EASTERN PIMA COUNTIES AND SUBSEQUENTLY THE TOHONO OODHAM NATION DURING AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. ISOLATED ACTION KICKING IN FOR SOUTHEAST PINAL AND GRAHAM COUNTIES AS WELL. MID SHIFT HAD A NICE TREND SHOWING THIS...WE PUT OUT A MORNING UPDATE TO TWEAK AND EMPHASIZE THIS A BIT MORE. ALSO HWO OUT FOR STRONGER STORMS TODAY. CONCERN INCLUDES BOTH SEVERE AND FLASH FLOOD POTENTIAL. IF WE DO GO OFF OVER A WIDE ENOUGH AREA TODAY AND TONIGHT (WHICH IS STARTING TO BE THE CASE)...THE FLOW IS NOT SUCH TO RESET RIGHT AWAY...SO WOULD SEE SOMEWHAT OF A DOWN DAY FRIDAY. IF WE DONT HAVE WIDESPREAD ENOUGH CONVECTION THEN FRIDAY SHOULD BE A STRONG THUNDERSTORM DAY. OTHERWISE SHOULD BE A GOOD WEEKEND FOR STORMS WITH A STANDARD FORECAST TO START THE WEEK AS SUFFICIENT MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY HANG IN FOR TYPICAL EARLY AUGUST WEATHER. && .AVIATION...SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND STRONG OUTFLOWS. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR TAF AMENDMENTS. && .TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...CORRECTION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 823 AM MST THU AUG 7 2008 AZZ019-029>035-080700- NORTHERN GREENLEE COUNTY-SOUTHEAST PINAL COUNTY- UPPER GILA RIVER VALLEY-WESTERN PIMA COUNTY-TOHONO OODHAM NATION- TUCSON METRO/MARANA/GREEN VALLEY-SANTA CRUZ COUNTY-COCHISE COUNTY- 823 AM MST THU AUG 7 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA AND SOUTHEAST ARIZONA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THE RISK HAS INCREASED FOR A FEW SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVES WEST ACROSS CHIHUAHUA MEXICO. THIS DISTURBANCE HAS ALREADY BEGUN TO DESTABILIZE THE ATMOSPHERE...AND COMBINED WITH EAST WINDS OF 10 TO 15 MPH ALOFT...THE STORMS TODAY WILL TEND TO ORGANIZE INTO CLUSTERS OR LINES. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER THE MOUNTAINS OF SOUTHEAST ARIZONA AFTER 11 AM...ESPECIALLY OVER SANTA CRUZ AND COCHISE COUNTIES. THESE WILL THEN INCREASE IN COVERAGE AND INTENSITY AS THEY MOVE WEST INTO THE VALLEYS AND DESERTS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE STRONGEST STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WINDS IN EXCESS OF 60 MPH...HAIL UP TO ONE INCH IN DIAMETER...1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN...AND FREQUENT LIGHTNING. THE MAIN THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE FROM AROUND 1 PM UNTIL AROUND 10 PM...BUT A FEW THUNDERSTORMS COULD LINGER OVER THE WESTERN DESERTS INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY AN ACTIVE MONSOON FLOW PATTERN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE UPCOMING WEEKEND AS A SERIES OF DISTURBANCES MOVE WEST ACROSS NORTHERN MEXICO AND SOUTHERN ARIZONA. IT IS DIFFICULT TO DETERMINE WHICH DAYS WILL BE MORE ACTIVE THAN OTHERS SINCE THERE WILL LIKELY BE AT LEAST SOME RESIDUAL CLOUD COVER EACH MORNING WHICH MAY REDUCE DAYTIME HEATING AND INSTABILITY. HOWEVER ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DEVELOP THIS WEEKEND WILL POSE A HEAVY RAIN THREAT AS EVEN MORE MOISTURE SPREADS NORTH FROM THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. PYTLAK CORRECTED TYPO IN DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN SECTION WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
137 PM MST THU AUG 07 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0345 PM TSTM WND DMG 10 E TUCSON 32.24N 110.77W
08/06/2008 PIMA AZ NWS EMPLOYEE
2 LARGE TREE LIMBS DOWN...4-5 FEET LONG ABOUT 6 INCHES IN
DIAMETER
&&
JMEYERThe Tucson radar (KEMX), 66 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:38 UTC.
3 flash flood, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
A 7 foot rise occurred on the Nogales Wash in Nogales.
Lightning sparked a fire in a vacant home on the southwest side of Tucson near West Valencia and South Mission Roads.
Several streets were flooded in Sierra Vista with 0.75 inches of rain reported in 15 minutes.
Power lines were blown down and a roof was reported blown off a house in Sells.
A swift water rescue occurred at a wash in Sells where two people needed to be rescued.
Power outages were reported in Ajo as a result of power lines being down.
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: 114440, 122493, 114442, 114443, 114460, 114445.