Monsoon moisture produced severe thunderstorms across the City of Safford causing a power pole to be knocked down at 2nd St and Thatcher.
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.
Monsoon moisture produced severe thunderstorms across the City of Safford causing a power pole to be knocked down at 2nd St and Thatcher.
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 6, 1:42 PM MST, 3 hours 33 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 142 PM MST SUN JUL 6 2008 .SYNOPSIS...AVAILABLE MOISTURE COMBINED WITH DAYTIME HEATING WILL GENERATE ISOLATED TO SCATTERED AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS THE NEXT FEW DAYS. HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL BE RUNNING NEAR NORMAL FOR JULY THROUGH THE WEEK. A BROAD AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL RESULT IN A STRONGER EAST TO SOUTHEAST STEERING FLOW BY LATE IN THE WEEK. THIS SHIFT IN THE PATTERN WILL BRING AN INCREASE IN THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY BY THURSDAY. && .DISCUSSION...WATER VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS WEAK HIGH PRESSURE EXTENDING FROM EXTREME SOUTHEAST ARIZONA/NORTHERN MEXICO TO NORTHERN TEXAS AND SW OKLAHOMA. MEANWHILE...A TROUGH OVER NEVADA IS MOVING EAST AND WILL MAKE ITS WAY INTO THE PLAINS ON MONDAY. IR AND VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY INDICATE THAT THE SOLID DECK OF MID LEVEL CLOUDS OVER A LARGE PORTION OF MY FORECAST AREA THIS MORNING HAS ERODED. CURRENT SATELLITE IMAGES SHOW A FAIRLY TYPICAL MONSOON DAY WITH BUILDS UPS OVER THE MOUNTAINS. THIS MORNINGS KTWC SOUNDING WITHOUT MODIFICATION SHOWED A PWAT OF 1.64 INCHES...A LIFTED INDEX OF MINUS 8 AND A CAPE OF AROUND 3400 J/KG. MODIFYING THE SOUNDING USING T=100TD=57 YIELDS A PW OF 1.55 INCHES...A LIFTED INDEX OF MINUS 6 AND A CAPE OF AROUND 1600 J/KG ASSUMING THE PARCEL IS LIFTED FROM THE SURFACE. THE MEAN TEMP LIFTING METHOD YIELDS A CAPE OF AROUND 1400 J/KG. WINDS IN THE COLUMN WERE ALMOST NON-EXISTENT WITH VERY WEAK FLOW FROM AROUND 700-375MB. WITH THAT SAID...EXPECT THE STORMS THAT DO DEVELOP TODAY TO BE MAINLY HEAVY RAINERS WITH LITTLE MOVEMENT OR PERHAPS A SLOW DRIFT TO THE WEST. MODELS INDICATE THE HIGH WILL MOVE FARTHER EAST AS THE TROUGH WHICH IS CURRENTLY OVER NEVADA CONTINUES TO PUSH EAST REACHING THE CENTRAL PLAINS AND DRAPED ACROSS NEW MEXICO BY MONDAY. AS THIS OCCURS A DOUBLE CENTERED HIGH WILL SET-UP WITH ONE HIGH PRESSURE CELL OVER THE PACIFIC WATERS AND EXTENDING INTO NW ARIZONA ON TUESDAY. THE OTHER HIGH WILL BE CENTERED OVER THE DIXIE STATES AND EXTENDING BACK INTO WEST TEXAS. BETWEEN THESE TWO HIGH CELLS WILL RESIDE A COL OVER NEW MEXICO. THIS CONFIGURATION WILL PERSISTS FOR A FEW DAYS PROVING A LOW END CHANCE OF POPS FOR MOST LOCATIONS WITH HIGHER CHANCES OVER MOUNTAIN TOPS. BY LATE NEXT WEEK....BOTH THE GFS AND ECMWF SHOW AN INVERTED TROUGH MOVING WEST THROUGH NORTHERN MEXICO ON THURSDAY AND EVENTUALLY INTO THE DESERT SOUTHWEST ON FRIDAY. THIS WILL LIKELY ENHANCE STORM DEVELOPMENT LATE IN THE WEEK AND INTO THE WEEKEND. I THEREFORE INCREASED RAIN CHANCES FOR THIS PERIOD...BUT PERHAPS NOT ENOUGH. SUBSEQUENT SHIFTS WILL HAVE AMPLE TIME TO MASSAGE THE FORECAST BASED ON FRESH MODEL RUNS. HIGHS THROUGH THE PERIOD WILL REMAIN AT OR SLIGHTLY BELOW NORMAL. LOWS WILL REMAIN SEVERAL DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD. && .FIRE WEATHER...HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT WILL REMAIN CENTERED NORTHWEST OF US THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK. FLOW AROUND THIS HIGH WILL RESULT IN A DAILY CYCLE OF AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS. A FAIRLY ACTIVE PERIOD LOOKS TO BE IN STORE FOR SOUTHERN ARIZONA THIS WEEK AS ADDITIONAL MOISTURE COUPLED WITH SOME DISTURBANCES MOVING INTO THE AREA FROM MEXICO LATE IN THE WEEK AND INTO THE 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 MON...WHERE WINDS WILL BE VARIABLE AND GUSTY AT TIMES. OUTFLOW WINDS WITH STORMS COULD HAVE GUSTS TO AROUND 35 KTS. THE MAIN FOCUS WITH STORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING WILL BE HEAVY RAIN. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR TAF AMENDMENTS. && .TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. MOLLERE WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON
The Tucson radar (KEMX), 136 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:14 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A power pole was knocked down at 2nd Ave. and Thatcher St. in Safford.
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: 100429.