Mid level high pressure over New Mexico allowed for a southeast flow into southeast Arizona but upper level winds remained out of the southwest. Thunderstorms formed over Cochise and Graham counties and moved northeast producing isolated areas of damaging winds.
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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.
Mid level high pressure over New Mexico allowed for a southeast flow into southeast Arizona but upper level winds remained out of the southwest. Thunderstorms formed over Cochise and Graham counties and moved northeast producing isolated areas of damaging 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 Aug 10, 2:15 PM MST, 2 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 215 PM MST SAT AUG 10 2013 .SYNOPSIS...SOME MOISTURE RETURN WILL BRING A BETTER CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS THIS WEEKEND...ESPECIALLY SUNDAY. OTHERWISE EXPECT A LOWER THAN NORMAL CHANCE OF SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS EARLY IN THE NEW WEEK AS THE PATTERN KEEPS US ON THE EDGE OF THE DEEPER MOISTURE SOUTH AND EAST OF US. && .DISCUSSION...SOME MID LEVEL MOISTURE RETURN...BUT OVERALL MOISTURE IS STILL FAIRLY LIMITED AS 12Z SOUNDING AND CURRENT SATELLITE ESTIMATE TRENDS CONTINUE TO SHOW MOST OF SE AZ WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER AT UNSEASONABLY LOW VALUES JUST UNDER 1 INCH. DEEPER MOISTURE IS STARTING TO PUSH BACK INTO NORTHERN SONORA...CHIHUAHUA AND SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO. AS EXPECTED WE'VE SEEN ENOUGH SEEP BACK INTO SE AZ TODAY FOR ISOLATED STORMS MAINLY EAST AND SOUTHEAST OF TUCSON THIS AFTERNOON. MOISTURE TREND CONTINUES...CLOSER TO SEASONABLE LEVELS SUNDAY WITH BETTER COVERAGE FOR STORMS. STILL...THE OVERALL LARGER SCALE PATTERN REMAINS PROBLEMATIC AS MOST OF OUR CWA WILL RETAIN SOME WESTERLY COMPONENT TO FLOW TO START THE WORK WEEK. THIS WILL CONTINUE LIMIT OUR CHANCES AT A SUSTAINED AND DEEP FETCH OF MOISTURE. A WEAKER FLOW AS THE RIDGE BUILDS BACK OVERHEAD AROUND WEDNESDAY MIGHT ALLOW SURGE ACTIVITY TO PUSH THIS DIRECTION BEHIND THE ABOVE AVERAGE HEAT. STILL...FORECAST POPS NOT UP TO CLIMO FOR AUGUST. && .AVIATION...ISOLD-SCT TSRA/SHRA MOSTLY ACROSS GREENLEE/GRAHAM/ COCHISE COUNTIES EAST OF KTUS THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. WIND GUSTS MAY APPROACH 40 KTS AND VSBYS REDUCED TO 3SM WITH THE STRONGEST TSRA. OTHERWISE...FEW-SCT CLOUDS AROUND 10K FT AGL THIS MORNING BECOMING SCT-BKN CLOUDS AT 6-10K FT AGL THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES 06Z-15Z SUNDAY. SURFACE WIND GENERALLY LESS THAN 10 KTS THRU SUNDAY MORNING OR 11/17Z. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR TAF AMENDMENTS. && .FIRE WEATHER...GRADUALLY INCREASING MOISTURE WILL PROVIDE ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY FROM TUCSON EASTWARD THIS WEEKEND AND DURING THE UPCOMING WEEK. EXPECT MOST OF THIS ACTIVITY DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. OTHERWISE...NORMAL DIURNAL WIND TRENDS WILL OCCUR WITH OCCASIONAL GUSTS DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING HOURS DUE TO STRONG DAYTIME HEATING. && .TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && VISIT US ON FACEBOOK...TWITTER...YOUTUBE...AND AT WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON MEYER/RASMUSSEN
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
257 PM MST SAT AUG 10 2013
AZZ510-102245-
WHITE MOUNTAINS OF GRAHAM AND GREENLEE COUNTIES INCLUDING HANNAGAN
MEADOW AZ-
257 PM MST SAT AUG 10 2013
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR NORTHERN GREENLEE COUNTY UNTIL
345 PM MST...
AT 248 PM MST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM 8 MILES SOUTHEAST OF HANNAGAN MEADOW...MOVING
NORTH AT 15 MPH.
HAIL UP TO ONE-HALF INCH IN DIAMETER AND WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ARE
EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM...ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN.
AREAS AFFECTED BY THIS STORM INCLUDE...HANNAGAN MEADOW AND BLUE.
LAT...LON 3378 10904 3348 10910 3349 10940 3377 10937
3378 10935 3379 10905
TIME...MOT...LOC 2157Z 194DEG 11KT 3357 10925
MEYERThe Tucson radar (KEMX), 134 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:23 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds caused minor roof damage to several structures in Thatcher and Pima, and downed four power poles east of Fort Thomas. The wind knocked a travel trailer off its block, which in turn damaged a nearby cinder block wall.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arizona in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, August 2013
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: 460410.