Several days of thunderstorms that produced heavy rain on the Tohono O'Odham Nation caused the Vamori Wash to fill and leave its banks resulting in the closure of a major road.
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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.
Several days of thunderstorms that produced heavy rain on the Tohono O'Odham Nation caused the Vamori Wash to fill and leave its banks resulting in the closure of a major road.
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 Sep 9, 9:30 PM MST, 2 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 930 PM MST SUN SEP 9 2012 .SYNOPSIS...A WEAK WEATHER SYSTEM WILL PASS THROUGH THE REGION MONDAY AND TUESDAY BRINGING MORE WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO THE AREA. A DRIER WESTERLY FLOW WILL LEAD TO MUCH LESS THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY THE SECOND HALF OF THE WEEK. && .DISCUSSION...CENTRAL AND WESTERN PIMA COUNTY ONCE AGAIN SAW MODERATE TO HEAVY RAINERS TODAY. WITH THIS AREA PRETTY MUCH SOAKED FROM PAST SEVERAL DAYS OF RAIN...DIDN'T TAKE MUCH TO GET THE WASHES AND STREAMS RUNNING AGAIN. CHECK HYDROLOGY SECTION FOR FURTHER DETAILS. AT 9 PM...SOUTHEAST ARIZONA WAS PRECIPITATION FREE BUT A FEW CELLS WERE STARTING TO POP UP SOUTH OF THE BORDER IN SONORA MEXICO. WITH THE WEAK UPPER LOW OVER NORTHERN BAJA...WILL KEEP SLIGHT CHANCE POPS GOING MOST AREAS OVERNIGHT...WITH CHANCE POPS IN THE WEST SINCE THIS AREA IS CLOSER TO THE UPPER LOW. BAJA UPPER LOW WILL LIFT TOWARD SW ARIZONA ON MONDAY. ISOLATED TO SCATTERED SHOWERS MONDAY AFTERNOON/EVENING WITH MAIN THREAT FROM STORMS BEING LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN. && .AVIATION...SCT-BKN CLOUDS 8-13KFT AGL. ISOLD SHRA/TS THRU 10/15Z THEN AFT 10/18Z ISOLD-SCT -TSRA. WINDS SPEEDS LESS THAN 12 KTS. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR TAF AMENDMENTS. && .FIRE WEATHER...MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH TUESDAY. DRIER WESTERLY FLOW WILL BEGIN TO MOVE IN BY WEDNESDAY WITH A DOWNWARD TREND IN STORMS WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. && .HYDROLOGY...RUNOFF FROM EARLIER STORMS HAS ONCE AGAIN PUSHED VAMORI WASH AT KOM VO IN CENTRAL PIMA COUNTY ABOVE BANKFULL. THE FLOOD WARNING FOR THIS AREA WILL CONTINUE THROUGH 1245 AM MONDAY. IF STORMS SOUTH OF THE BORDER MOVE THROUGH OVER THE NEXT 4-6 HOURS MIGHT HAVE TO EXTEND WARNING TIME. WILL CONTINUE TO MONITOR RADAR AND PRECIPITATION TOTALS. && .TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && VISIT US ON FACEBOOK...TWITTER...AND AT WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 1006 AM MST SUN SEP 9 2012 AZZ504>514-100300- 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- 1006 AM MST SUN SEP 9 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST ARIZONA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT AFTER A ROUND OF SCATTERED SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS THIS MORNING...MORE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE MAIN THREAT WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY A WEAK WEATHER SYSTEM EXITING BAJA WILL BRING WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS LATE MONDAY AND TUESDAY. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE THE MAIN THREAT. ONCE THE SYSTEM EXITS...DRIER AIR WILL MOVE INTO THE REGION RESULTING IN DIMINISHING RAIN CHANCES BY THURSDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. AZZ501>503-515-100300- WESTERN PIMA COUNTY-TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION- UPPER SANTA CRUZ RIVER VALLEY/ALTAR VALLEY-BABOQUIVARI MOUNTAINS- 1006 AM MST SUN SEP 9 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST ARIZONA. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT CLEARING SKIES THIS MORNING WILL GIVE WAY TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. SEVERAL OF THE WASHES AND SMALL STREAMS WERE EXPERIENCING FLOWS FROM RAIN YESTERDAY...SO ADDITIONAL HEAVY RAINFALL TODAY MAY CAUSE FLOODING IN THOSE AREAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY A WEAK WEATHER SYSTEM EXITING BAJA WILL BRING WIDESPREAD SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS LATE MONDAY AND TUESDAY. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE THE MAIN THREAT. ONCE THE SYSTEM EXITS...DRIER AIR WILL MOVE INTO THE REGION RESULTING IN DIMINISHING RAIN CHANCES BY THURSDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Daily rounds of heavy rain created high flows in Vamori Wash, causing it to leave its banks and flow across Indian Road 21, keeping the road inundated for several days. The peak flow occurred during the afternoon of September 11th.
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, September 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: 414371.