An upper-level impulse passing through southeast Arizona contributed to some dry thunderstorms on the evening of June 9th. With the dry lower levels of the atmosphere, the showers and storms produced strong microburst winds.
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.
An upper-level impulse passing through southeast Arizona contributed to some dry thunderstorms on the evening of June 9th. With the dry lower levels of the atmosphere, the showers and storms produced strong microburst winds.
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 Jun 9, 1:28 PM MST, 6 hours 2 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 128 PM MST TUE JUN 9 2009 .SYNOPSIS...AN AREA OF LOW PRESSURE OVER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA WILL LIFT NORTHEAST THROUGH ARIZONA TONIGHT. EXPECT A CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ALONG WITH GUSTY WINDS AT TIMES AS THIS SYSTEM MOVES ACROSS THE REGION. DRIER CONDITIONS ARE THEN EXPECTED BEHIND THIS SYSTEM. WARMER TEMPERATURES WILL ALSO BE ON TAP THE SECOND HALF OF THIS WEEK...ALTHOUGH READINGS WILL REMAIN BELOW SEASONAL AVERAGES INTO THE UPCOMING WEEKEND. && .DISCUSSION...THE CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS TONIGHT AS THE MAIN ENERGY OVER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA KICKS OUT LATE THIS AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING AND THEN SHIFTS NORTHEAST THROUGH NORTHWEST ARIZONA TONIGHT BEFORE MOVING EAST OF THE REGION ON WEDNESDAY. THE PRECIPITATION HAS SHIFTED FROM A MORE STRATIFORM TYPE EARLY THIS MORNING TO SHOWERY IN NATURE THIS AFTERNOON. AS OF YET...NO LIGHTNING STRIKES HAVE OCCURRED ACROSS THE CWA...ALTHOUGH A FEW BUILDUPS ARE NOTED ON SATELLITE IMAGERY AND RADAR RETURNS. AS SURFACE HEATING CONTINUES THIS AFTERNOON...AND THE MID LEVELS DESTABILIZE AS THE SYSTEM CORE MOVES TOWARD THE REGION... EXPECT ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP. THE HIGH TEMPERATURES THIS AFTERNOON AT THE TUCSON INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT HAVE TOPPED OUT (SO FAR) AT 89 DEGREES...OR ABOUT 10 DEGREES BELOW SEASONAL AVERAGES. OTHERWISE...THIS SYSTEM WILL MOVE EAST OF THE REGION ON WEDNESDAY... WITH LINGERING SINGLE DIGIT PRECIPITATION CHANCES IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS. DRY CONDITIONS ARE THEN EXPECTED AREAWIDE BY WEDNESDAY NIGHT. WEST COAST TROUGHING IS THEN FORECASTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE FORECAST CYCLE...WITH THE TROUGH AXIS DIGGING/DEEPENING ALONG THE CALIFORNIA COAST EARLY/MID NEXT WEEK. THIS WILL LEAD TO DRY CONDITIONS ACROSS SOUTHEAST ARIZONA THROUGH THE UPCOMING WEEKEND AS DRY MID/UPPER LEVEL WESTERLY-SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW CONTINUES ACROSS THE REGION. THIS PERSISTENT TROUGHING ALONG THE WEST COAST WILL KEEP HEIGHTS SUPPRESSED ACROSS SOUTHEAST ARIZONA...AND THUS TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN BELOW SEASONAL NORMALS...ALTHOUGH A SLOW AND GRADUAL WARMING TREND IS EXPECTED DURING THE LATTER PORTION OF THIS WEEK. WINDS WILL BE BREEZY AT TIMES THIS WEEK...AS ARIZONA REMAINS SANDWICHED BETWEEN THE WEST COAST TROUGH AND A SUBTROPICAL HIGH PRESSURE AREA OVER SOUTHERN TEXAS. && .AVIATION...SCT TO BKN CLOUDS WILL HAVE BASES AT 6 TO 8 KFT ABV VALLEY FLOORS AND WILL OCCASIONALLY RESULT IN MVFR CIGS OVER MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN UNTIL JUST AFTER MIDNIGHT. SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLD TSTMS WILL ALSO OCCUR THIS AFTN INTO THIS EVENING...MAINLY N AND E OF TUCSON. MT OBSCURATIONS COULD OCCUR IN THE HEAVIEST RAIN SHOWERS. WIND GUSTS TO 40 OR 45 KTS COULD ACCOMPANY THE STRONGER SHOWERS AND TSTMS. OUTSIDE OF CONVECTION...SURFACE WIND GUSTS TO 35 KTS ARE POSSIBLE INTO THIS EVE AT LOWER ELEVATIONS AND THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN. SURFACE WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 20 KTS WED AFTN WITH GUSTS TO 30 KTS. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR TAF AMENDMENTS. && .FIRE WEATHER...A FEW SITES MAY REACH CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON AS RELATIVE HUMIDITIES DIP BELOW 15 PERCENT WHILE WINDS OCCASIONALLY GUST TO 35 MPH. AREAS SOUTH OR WEST OF TUCSON ARE MOST LIKELY TO SEE THESE CONDITIONS DEVELOP...ALTHOUGH GUSTY WINDS ARE JUST AS LIKELY OVER THE HIGH TERRAIN TO THE NORTH AND EAST...ESPECIALLY NEAR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. THE TROUGH RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PRECIPITATION WILL EXIT THE REGION BY WEDNESDAY...LEAVING A DRY SOUTHWEST FLOW IN ITS WAKE. LOWER HUMIDITIES WILL PREVAIL AND AND GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL PICK UP EACH AFTERNOON AND EVENING THROUGH THE WEEKEND. THUS...CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE A DISTINCT POSSIBILITY EACH DAY...ESPECIALLY SOUTH AND EAST OF TUCSON. WILL HOLD OFF ON FIRE WEATHER WATCH FOR WEDNESDAY AT THIS TIME AS THIS APPEARS TO BE THE LEAST WINDY OF THE UPCOMING DAYS AND TEMPERATURES MAY NOT WARM SUFFICIENTLY TO YIELD A LONG ENOUGH DURATION OF LOW HUMIDITY VALUES. && .TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A strong microburst wind gust of 70 mph snapped a 125-foot flag pole in half. The wind gust was recorded via a local television station's weather station at the RV park where the flag pole was located. No other damage was noted nearby.
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, June 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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 166649.