An upper level trough triggered evening thunderstorms over Cochise County that developed westward across southeast Arizona, resulting in pockets of damaging winds and heavy rain.
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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.
An upper level trough triggered evening thunderstorms over Cochise County that developed westward across southeast Arizona, resulting in pockets of damaging winds and heavy rain.
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 30, 2:35 PM MST, 5 hours 55 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 235 PM MST MON JUL 30 2012 .SYNOPSIS...ENOUGH MOISTURE WILL BE AROUND THIS WEEK FOR CONTINUED CHANCE OF MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. && .DISCUSSION...THUNDERSTORM FREE ACROSS MOST OF SOUTHEAST ARIZONA THIS AFTERNOON. THE EXCEPTION WERE STORMS IN WESTERN PIMA COUNTY ASSOCIATED WITH MCV MOVING INTO SE YUMA COUNTY. EVEN MOST OF SONORA MEXICO WAS THUNDERSTORM FREE AS BOTH AREAS HAVE SEEN SOME DRYING AND BOTH AREAS WERE UNDER SUBSIDENCE FIELD IN WAKE OF INVERTED TROF WHICH WAS OVER WESTERN ARIZONA THIS AFTERNOON. SURFACE DEWPOINTS WERE MOSTLY IN THE 50S ACROSS THE AREA DOWN ACROSS SONORA MEXICO WITH HERMOSILLO MID AFTERNOON DEWPOINT IN THE MID 50S. HOWEVER THERE IS SOME HOPE THAT PORTIONS OF THE AREA MAY SEE STORMS TONIGHT. THAT WOULD BE SOUTHEAST OF TUCSON WHERE APPROACHING SMALL WELL-DEFINED INVERTED TROF WAS MOVING THROUGH NORTHERN CHIHUAHUA MEXICO. STORMS HAVE FORMED ALONG SONORA/HERMOSILLO STATE LINE AND WERE SLOWLY MOVING W-NW. SO FOR TONIGHT...HAVE MADE SOME ADJUSTMENTS BY HAVING THE FOCUS FOR HIGHER POPS ACROSS COCHISE COUNTY AND WESTERN PIMA COUNTY. REMAINS OF INVERTED TROF WILL BE OVER WESTERN ARIZONA OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF DAYS...WITH ENOUGH MOISTURE AROUND TO SEE ISOLATED TO WIDELY SCATTERED AFTERNOON/EVENING STORMS. A WEAK REFLECTION FROM THE CHIHUAHUA INVERTED TROF MAY BE AROUND TOMORROW TO FOCUS STORMS. PROBLEM IS WHERE WILL IT BE? LOW END MONSOON FORECAST THU INTO THE UPCOMING WEEKEND. HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL GRADUALLY WARM TO NEAR NORMAL LEVELS BY WEDNESDAY AND HANG AROUND THERE IF NOT A BIT WARMER THU INTO THE WEEKEND. NOTE TO OUR RADAR USERS: AS OF 230 PM...THE COMMUNICATION ISSUE FOR THE RADAR IS IN THE HANDS OF THE TELCO FOLKS. STILL NO TIMETABLE ON WHEN THIS WILL BE RESOLVED. GOOD THING ITS A DOWN DAY ACROSS THE AREA. && .AVIATION...ISOLD TSRA/SHRA THIS EVENING. ISOLD-SCTD TSRA/SHRA DVLPG TUE AFT 31/18Z. ERRATIC WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THUNDERSTORMS OTHERWISE NORMAL DIURNAL TRENDS GENERALLY LESS THAN 10 KTS. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR TAF AMENDMENTS. && .FIRE WEATHER...NO FIRE WEATHER CONCERNS AT THIS TIME. && .TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 1053 AM MST MON JUL 30 2012 AZZ501>515-310600- WESTERN PIMA COUNTY-TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION- UPPER SANTA CRUZ RIVER VALLEY/ALTAR VALLEY-TUCSON METRO AREA- SOUTH CENTRAL PINAL COUNTY-SOUTHEAST PINAL COUNTY- UPPER SAN PEDRO RIVER VALLEY- EASTERN COCHISE COUNTY BELOW 5000 FEET-UPPER GILA RIVER VALLEY- WHITE MOUNTAINS OF GRAHAM AND GREENLEE COUNTIES- GALIURO AND PINALENO MOUNTAINS-CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS- DRAGOON AND MULE AND HUACHUCA AND SANTA RITA MOUNTAINS- CATALINA AND RINCON MOUNTAINS-BABOQUIVARI MOUNTAINS- 1053 AM MST MON JUL 30 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST ARIZONA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. SINCE THE ATMOSPHERE IS STILL PRETTY MOIST ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST ARIZONA...THE STORMS WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN AND LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING. WIND GUSTS IN SOME OF THE STRONGEST STORMS MAY APPROACH 40 TO 50 MPH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS ARE FORECAST EACH DAY. HEAVY RAIN AND GUSTY WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO BE THE MAIN THREATS FROM THESE STORMS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
656 PM MST MON JUL 30 2012
AZZ508-512-310245-
CHIRICAHUA MOUNTAINS INCLUDING CHIRICAHUA NATIONAL MONUMENT
AZ-EASTERN COCHISE COUNTY BELOW 5000 FEET INCLUDING DOUGLAS/WILLCOX
AZ-
656 PM MST MON JUL 30 2012
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHERN COCHISE COUNTY UNTIL 745
PM MST...
AT 653 PM MST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM 6 MILES EAST OF DOUGLAS...MOVING NORTHWEST AT 15
MPH.
WIND GUSTS UP TO 45 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM...ALONG WITH
HEAVY RAIN.
AREAS AFFECTED BY THIS STORM INCLUDE...DOUGLAS...PIRTLEVILLE AND
BISBEE-DOUGLAS AIRPORT.
LAT...LON 3134 10984 3159 10951 3136 10932 3132 10935
3132 10981
TIME...MOT...LOC 0155Z 119DEG 29KT 3133 10947
MEYERThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds blew down a power pole near Bowie. About 2000 people lost electrical power.
Flash flooding forced the closure of roads south of Sierra Vista as well as the Hereford and Tombstone areas. A man was rescued from his vehicle that was stuck in flood waters on Three Canyons Road west of Hereford. Flood debris blocked part of Moson Road.
Thunderstorm winds blew apart a carport in Whetstone.
Lightning struck and destroyed a generator that provided power for Huachuca City Police Department telephone lines.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arizona in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, July 2012
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: 405398, 405395, 405399, 405402.