Surface high pressure centered just north of the four corners region along with low pressure located over the southern Nevada helped pull monsoonal moisture northward from Mexico into southern Arizona, fueling storms with damaging thunderstorm winds and small hail.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
Surface high pressure centered just north of the four corners region along with low pressure located over the southern Nevada helped pull monsoonal moisture northward from Mexico into southern Arizona, fueling storms with damaging thunderstorm winds and small hail.
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 2, 8:40 AM MST, 5 hours 26 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 840 AM MST FRI AUG 2 2013 .SYNOPSIS...SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE INTO NEXT WEEK WITH NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES. && .DISCUSSION...QUICKER CLEARING THIS MORNING WITH MUCH LESS DEBRIS CLOUD. STILL VERY WET WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES RANGING FROM ABOUT 1.5 INCHES NEAR THE NEW MEXICO BORDER TO THE 1.7 TO 1.8 THROUGH PIMA COUNTY. ANOTHER DAY WITH WEAK STORM LEVEL FLOW AND SLOW MOVING STORMS. HEAVY RAIN THE MAIN CONCERN WITH ISOLATED WET MICROBURST SEVERE POSSIBLE. ON THE LARGER SCALE SE AZ IS IN A SWATH OF MODEST UPPER LEVEL DIFFLUENCE ON THE NORTHEAST CORNER OF THE LOW PUSHING INTO THE BAJA PENINSULA. IN ADDITION...A WEAK INFLECTION ON WATER VAPOR IMAGERY PUSHING FROM NORTHEAST SONORA INTO SANTA CRUZ AND PIMA COUNTY TODAY. WE TWEAKED THE FORECAST TO ENHANCE THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE ACROSS SANTA CRUZ...EASTERN PIMA...AND THE TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION / CENTRAL PIMA COUNTY AREA THIS AFTERNOON. PORTIONS OF THOSE AREAS WERE HIT PRETTY HARD YESTERDAY...ESPECIALLY AREAS SOUTHWEST AND WEST OF TUCSON. && .PREV DISCUSSION...MODELS KEEP THE UPPER HIGH CENTERED OVER TEXAS THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS...WITH A SOUTHERLY FLOW REMAINING IN PLACE OVER SOUTHEAST ARIZONA. NO NOTEWORTHY LARGE-SCALE FEATURES TO AID IN DAILY THUNDERSTORM DEVELOP SHOWING UP IN THE MODELS. THUS...WILL KEEP THE POP FORECAST AROUND CLIMO VALUES THROUGH THE PERIOD. OTHERWISE...TEMPERATURES WILL VARY DAILY BUT IN GENERAL REMAIN NEAR NORMAL READINGS. && .AVIATION...SCT-BKN CLOUDS AT 6-10K FT AGL. SCT TSRA DEVELOPING AFT 02/18Z AND CONTINUING THRU 03/05Z. WIND GUSTS TO 45 KTS NEAR ANY TSRA...AS WELL AS LOCAL MVFR/IFR CIGS/VSBYS. OTHERWISE...SURFACE WIND GENERALLY LESS THAN 10 KTS THRU 03/16Z. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR TAF AMENDMENTS. && .FIRE WEATHER...MOISTURE WILL REMAIN IN PLACE ACROSS THE REGION INTO NEXT WEEK...RESULTING IN A CHANCE OF MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY ACROSS MUCH OF SOUTHEAST ARIZONA. OUTSIDE OF GUSTY THUNDERSTORM OUTFLOWS...WINDS DURING THIS PERIOD ARE EXPECTED TO BE LIGHT...GENERALLY LESS THAN 15 MPH AND DIURNALLY DRIVEN. && .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 1108 AM MST FRI AUG 2 2013 AZZ507-513-021845- DRAGOON/MULE/HUACHUCA AND SANTA RITA MOUNTAINS INCLUDING BISBEE/CANELO HILLS/MADERA CANYON AZ-UPPER SAN PEDRO RIVER VALLEY INCLUDING SIERRA VISTA/BENSON AZ- 1108 AM MST FRI AUG 2 2013 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR NORTHEASTERN SANTA CRUZ AND WESTERN COCHISE COUNTIES UNTIL 1145 AM MST... AT 1100 AM MST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 14 MILES NORTHWEST OF SIERRA VISTA NEAR HIGHWAY 82 BETWEEN SONOITA AND WHETSTONE...MOVING EAST AT 5 MPH. WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM...ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN. AREAS AFFECTED BY THIS STORM INCLUDE...HUACHUCA CITY...FORT HUACHUCA AND WHETSTONE. LAT...LON 3180 11034 3158 11027 3160 11053 3168 11054 TIME...MOT...LOC 1807Z 263DEG 7KT 3170 11044
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 1251 PM MST FRI AUG 2 2013 AZZ507-513-022030- DRAGOON/MULE/HUACHUCA AND SANTA RITA MOUNTAINS INCLUDING BISBEE/CANELO HILLS/MADERA CANYON AZ-UPPER SAN PEDRO RIVER VALLEY INCLUDING SIERRA VISTA/BENSON AZ- 1251 PM MST FRI AUG 2 2013 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR CENTRAL COCHISE COUNTY UNTIL 130 PM MST... AT 1242 PM MST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR TOMBSTONE...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 5 MPH. WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM...ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN. THIS STORM MAY INTENSIFY...SO BE CERTAIN TO MONITOR LOCAL RADIO AND TV STATIONS...AS WELL AS LOCAL CABLE TV OUTLETS...FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND POSSIBLE WARNINGS FROM THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE. LAT...LON 3190 11002 3175 10988 3162 11006 3174 11018 TIME...MOT...LOC 1950Z 219DEG 5KT 3173 11006 MEYER
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
157 PM MST FRI AUG 02 2013
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0148 PM TSTM WND DMG 8 SE MARANA 32.34N 111.07W
08/02/2013 PIMA AZ FIRE DEPT/RESCUE
FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORTS POWER POLE DOWN ON INA BETWEEN
1-10 AND SILVERBELL
&&
EVENT NUMBER TWC1300090
RHThe Tucson radar (KEMX), 62 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:08 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A spotter measured a thunderstorm wind gust to 58 mph northwest of Hereford.
A spotter west of Hereford reported nickel size hail.
Thunderstorm winds downed a large tree near Speedway Blvd. and Stone Ave.
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: 471790, 471791, 471786.