At strong cold front brought strong winds and blowing dust along I-40 between Flagstaff and Winslow.
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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 FGZ wrote it up.
At strong cold front brought strong winds and blowing dust along I-40 between Flagstaff and Winslow.
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 Apr 7, 2:45 PM MST, 20 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FLAGSTAFF AZ 245 PM MST TUE APR 07 2009 .SYNOPSIS...A STORM SYSTEM WILL BRING WINDY AND COOLER CONDITIONS ALONG WITH RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS ON WEDNESDAY. A STRONGER SYSTEM MOVING INTO THE REGION LATE FRIDAY INTO SATURDAY WILL BRING ANOTHER ROUND OF STRONG WINDS AND ADDITIONAL CHANCES FOR PRECIPITATION. && .DISCUSSION...HIGH AMPLITUDE RIDGE OVER THE SOUTHWEST HAS BROUGHT ABOVE SEASONABLE DAYTIME TEMPS ALONG WITH MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES AND GENERALLY LIGHT WINDS. A STRONG S/W TROUGH AND SFC COLD FRONT WILL APPROACH THE AREA ON WEDNESDAY. SFC PRESSURE GRADIENTS WILL STRENGTHEN AND WINDS WILL INCREASE DURING THE DAY. WINDS WILL EXCEED ADVISORY THRESHOLDS IN MANY LOCATIONS...THUS WILL ISSUE A WIND ADVISORY FOR WEDNESDAY. STRONG DYNAMICS ASSOCIATED WITH THIS SYSTEM WILL BE SUFFICIENT TO GENERATE SHOWERS WITH THE COLD FRONT AS IT SWEEPS ACROSS THE STATE FROM WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY MORNING. MOISTURE REMAINS MARGINAL WITH THIS SYSTEM AND EXPECTING GENERALLY LIGHT PCPN AMOUNTS. SNOW LEVELS WILL FALL TO AROUND 6000 FEET BY EARLY THURSDAY MORNING. A WEAK S/W RIDGE MOVES ACROSS THE AREA ON THURSDAY ALLOWING TEMPS TO RECOVER AND WINDS TO SLACKEN ACROSS THE AREA. A MUCH STRONGER STORM SYSTEM WILL APPROACH THE AREA ON FRIDAY. BOTH GFS AND ECMWF ARE CONSISTENT WITH BRINGING THIS SYSTEM FARTHER SOUTH THAN PREVIOUS SYSTEMS AND IT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO TAP SOME SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE AND DRAW IT NORTHWARD ACROSS AZ. THE LAST FEW RUNS OF THE GFS AND ECMWF ARE ALREADY SUGGESTING THIS POSSIBILITY AND ARE SHOWING SUBSTANTIAL PCPN AMOUNTS BUT ARE STILL INCONSISTENT WITH LOCATION AND TIMING. CURRENT THINKING IS THAT THERE SHOULD BE WIDESPREAD AREAS OF .25 INCHES. LOCALLY HEAVIER AMOUNTS OF TWICE THIS AMOUNT OR MORE ARE POSSIBLE...ESPECIALLY OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN AND IN THE FAVORED SOUTH-FACING SLOPES OF YAVAPAI AND NRN GILA COUNTIES. SNOW LEVELS COULD FALL BELOW 5000 FEET WITH THIS SYSTEM WITH ACCUMULATING SNOW LIKELY ABOVE 7000 FEET. A MOIST AND UNSTABLE NWLY FLOW WILL REMAIN ACROSS AZ ON SUNDAY ALLOWING SHOWERS TO LINGER ACROSS THE REGION. DRIER AND WARMER WEATHER WILL RETURN BEGINNING ON MONDAY. && .AVIATION...FOR THE 00Z PACKAGE...MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES AND VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH 18Z WEDNESDAY...AFTER WHICH LOW-LEVEL CLOUDINESS AND CHANCES FOR PRECIPITATION WILL INCREASE. SOUTHWEST WINDS OF 10 TO 20KT WITH GUSTS AROUND 25KT WILL CONTINUE THROUGH EARLY THIS EVENING...BEFORE DECREASING TO 5-15KT FOR MOST LOCATIONS AFTER 02Z WEDNESDAY. WINDIER CONDITIONS CAN BE ANTICIPATED ACROSS NORTHERN ARIZONA AFTER SUNRISE WEDNESDAY WITH LOCAL DAYTIME GUSTS TO ABOUT 45 KTS. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR AMENDMENTS. && .FIRE WEATHER...LOW PRESSURE APPROACHING THE WEST COAST WILL BRING GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS ON WEDNESDAY WITH GRADUALLY INCREASING LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE. SUSTAINED WINDS OF 20 TO 35 MPH WITH HIGHER GUSTS WILL BE EXPECTED...AND DRY CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST OVER FAR EASTERN AZ. INCREASING RH IS FORECAST ELSEWHERE WITH SHOWERS POSSIBLE BY LATE IN THE DAY AND INTO THURSDAY. FOR FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...ANOTHER TROUGH WILL MOVE ACROSS ARIZONA LATE THIS WEEK WITH INCREASING WINDS AND HUMIDITY. EXPECT COOLER TEMPERATURES AND A CHANCE FOR RAIN AND SNOW BY LATE FRIDAY AND INTO SATURDAY. && .FGZ WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...RED FLAG WARNING FROM 9 AM UNTIL 7 PM MST WEDNESDAY FOR ZONES 109>114-140. WIND ADVISORY FROM 6 AM UNTIL 8 PM MST WEDNESDAY FOR PUBLIC ZONES AZZ004>007-009-015-016. WIND ADVISORY FROM 8 AM UNTIL 10 PM MST WEDNESDAY FOR PUBLIC ZONES AZZ010>014-016-017-039-040. && PUBLIC.....................DB AVIATION/FIRE WEATHER......KD VISIT WEATHER.GOV/FLAGSTAFF FOR NORTHERN ARIZONA WEATHER INFORMATION.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 dust storm. Local standard time, as filed.
An anemometer along I-40 near Two Guns reported a peak wind gust go 58 MPH with frequent gusts over 50 MPH. Blowing dust and sand from this storm caused the closure of I-40 between Meteor Crater and Winslow.
The Winslow ASOS reported wind gust up to 58 MPH with blowing dust and sand. Blowing dust and sand from this storm caused the closure of I-40 between Meteor Crater and Winslow.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arizona in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, April 2009
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 2026-09-30. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 158276, 158277.