A localized microburst caused several downed trees at the Omni Tucson National Resort.
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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.
A localized microburst caused several downed trees at the Omni Tucson National Resort.
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 Jul 5, 12:50 PM MST, 7 hours 40 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 1250 PM MST SAT JUL 5 2008 .SYNOPSIS...HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL REMAIN CENTERED TO THE NORTH AND EAST OF ARIZONA INTO NEXT WEEK. THE FLOW AROUND THIS SYSTEM ALONG WITH AVAILABLE MOISTURE WILL GENERATE THE DAILY CYCLE OF ISOLATED TO SCATTERED AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS. && .DISCUSSION...WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS WEAK HIGH PRESSURE IN THE MID LEVELS GENERALLY OVER NORTHERN NEW MEXICO WITH AN APPROACHING WEAK TROUGH MAKING ITS WAY TOWARD NORTHWEST ARIZONA. VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY AND RADAR MOSAIC SHOWS LINGERING DEBRIS CLOUDINESS FROM LAST EVENING/OVERNIGHT CONVECTION OVER THE NORTHERN PART OF THE STATE...BUT ALSO OVER SONORA MEXICO AND SOUTHWESTERN ARIZONA. MEANWHILE...A PRETTY GOOD CUMULUS FIELD IS DEVELOPING OVER MUCH OF SOUTHWESTERN NEW MEXICO...NORTHEASTERN SONORA AND ALL OF CHIHUAHUA MEXICO AND INTO EXTREME SOUTHEAST ARIZONA. RADAR IS DETECTING ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOPING ALONG THE RIM AND ALSO THE MOUNTAINS OF GRAHAM...COCHISE AND SANTA CRUZ COUNTIES. THIS MORNINGS KTWC SOUNDING UNMODIFIED SHOWED SLIGHT WARMING ABOVE AROUND 550MB AND SLIGHT COOLING BELOW THAT LEVEL. THE SOUNDING EXHIBITED A PWAT OF 1.49 INCHES WITH A LIFTED INDEX OF MINUS 5 AND A CAPE OF AROUND 2700 J/KG. HOWEVER...MODIFYING THE SOUNDING USING T=100TD=60 YIELDED A CAPE OF AROUND 2400 J/KG IF USING THE SURFACE PARCEL LIFTING METHOD...BUT AROUND 1800 J/KG IF USING THE MEAN TEMP LIFTING METHOD. SO...THE BOTTOM LINE IS STILL A FAIRLY ACTIVE DAY ON TAP. BASED ON THE SOUNDING AND MODEL FORECAST SOUNDINGS THE STORMS SHOULD MOVE WEST OR SLIGHTLY NORTH OF WEST TODAY. POP FORECAST OF CHANCE CATEGORY FOR MOST PLACES LOOKS GOOD FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND INTO THE EVENING. MODELS INDICATE THE AFOREMENTIONED WEAK TROUGH WILL MAKE ITS WAY EAST ACROSS NORTHERN ARIZONA AND INTO COLORADO THROUGH SUNDAY. AS THIS OCCURS THE HIGH GETS PUSHED EAST AND ANOTHER TROUGH IS BACK TO THE NW OVER CALIFORNIA...AND THIS ONE MOVES GENERALLY ACROSS THE FOUR CORNERS REGION THROUGH MONDAY. BY TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY HIGH PRESSURE BECOMES ESTABLISHED OVER THE GREAT BASIN WITH A COL GENERALLY OVER NEW MEXICO. BY LATE IN THE WEEK THE GFS AND ECMWF SHOW A SERIES OF DISTURBANCES MOVING UP FROM MEXICO INTO THE DESERT SOUTHWEST WHICH WILL LIKELY ENHANCE THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT FOR LATE IN THE WEEK AND INTO THE WEEKEND. NAM HAS BEEN DOING A FAIRLY GOOD JOB AT DEPICTING THE DAY TO DAY ACTIVITY FOR THE MOST PART...SO MY FORECAST FOR THE NEXT 2 TO 3 DAYS GENERALLY FOLLOWS THE NAM...BUT WITH ADJUSTMENTS TO BLEND WITH THE SURROUNDING OFFICES. WITH THAT SAID...I INCREASED THE RAIN CHANCES FOR SUNDAY AND MONDAY...BUT NOT DRAMATICALLY. BASICALLY INCREASED POPS BY A CATEGORY OR SO. SHOULD THEN SEE A SLIGHT DECREASE IN ACTIVITY TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY...BUT THEN BOTH THE GFS AND ECMWF SHOW A POTENTIALLY WET PERIOD FOR LATE IN THE WEEK AND INTO THE WEEKEND...SO I INCREASED POPS FOR THAT TIME PERIOD. THE PHOENIX OFFICE SAID THEY WOULD DO LIKEWISE. HIGH TEMPS GENERALLY NEAR NORMAL THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD...WITH LOWS TEMPS SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL. && .FIRE WEATHER...HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL BE CENTERED OVER NORTHERN NEW MEXICO TODAY WITH A WEAK TROUGH PUSHING EAST ACROSS NORTHERN ARIZONA AND INTO COLORADO THROUGH SUNDAY. FLOW AROUND THE HIGH WILL RESULT IN A DAILY CYCLE OF AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS... ALONG WITH SEASONABLY HOT DAYTIME TEMPERATURES. EXPECT A SLIGHT DECREASE IN THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY...BUT A WET PERIOD COULD BE STORE FOR LATE IN THE WEEK AND EARLY NEXT WEEKEND. ANY THUNDERSTORMS THAT DO DEVELOP WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE STRONG... ERRATIC...AND GUSTY WINDS. && .AVIATION...ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. WINDS WILL GENERALLY BE LIGHT AND DIURNALLY DRIVEN EXCEPT NEAR THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH 06Z SUN...WHERE WINDS WILL BE VARIABLE AND GUSTY AT TIMES. OUTFLOW WINDS WITH STORMS COULD HAVE GUSTS TO NEAR 45 KTS. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR TAF AMENDMENTS. && .TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. MOLLERE WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON
The Tucson radar (KEMX), 63 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 03:28 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Several large trees were downed at the Tucson Omni National Resort.
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, July 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: 100428.