Although cloud cover kept temperatures in SE Arizona several degrees cooler than normal, portions of Cochise County saw enough clearing in weak southwest flow for daytime surface heating to combine with high dewpoints to ignite storms which produced severe wind.
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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.
Although cloud cover kept temperatures in SE Arizona several degrees cooler than normal, portions of Cochise County saw enough clearing in weak southwest flow for daytime surface heating to combine with high dewpoints to ignite storms which produced severe wind.
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 6, 9:35 AM MST, 3 hours 23 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 935 AM MST TUE AUG 6 2013 .SYNOPSIS...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THEREAFTER...DRIER AIR WILL SPREAD INTO THE DESERT SOUTHWEST FOR A DECREASE IN THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE THE REST OF THE WEEK. THIS DRIER AIR WILL ALSO RESULT IN WARMER DAYTIME TEMPERATURES. && .DISCUSSION...INFRARED SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWED EXTENSIVE CLOUD COVER WEST OF TUCSON UP THROUGH CENTRAL ARIZONA INTO NORTHERN ARIZONA WITH CLEAR TO PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF SE ARIZONA. REGIONAL DOPPLER RADAR DEPICTED SCATTERED SHOWERS WEST AND NORTH OF TUCSON. RADAR ALSO SHOWED TWO WEAK CIRCULATIONS...ONE EAST OF FLAGSTAFF MOVING NORTH AND THE OTHER OVER SW PINAL COUNTY SLOWLY MOVING N. UPPER LEVEL TROFINESS OVER THE WESTERN ARIZONA WITH VORT LOBE ON SRN END NEAR ROCKY POINT. PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES ARE UP FROM YESTERDAY AND RANGED FROM 1.40" TO 1.65"...WETTEST FROM TUCSON WEST. 12Z TUCSON SOUNDING HAD AN ONION SHAPE LOOK TO IT WITH SOUTHERLY WINDS FROM 10KFT ON UP. HAVE SEEN A FEW THUNDERSTORMS IN THE PAST HOUR NEAR THE VORT LOBE OVER FAR NW SONORA MEXICO. 12Z UA WRF NAM DID A REALLY GOOD JOB IN INITIALIZED THE CLOUD COVER OVER THE STATE EARLY THIS MORNING WHICH IS ALWAYS A GOOD THING WHEN LOOKING AT THE HIGH RESOLUTION MODELS. SHOULD SEE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP BETWEEN 11 AM AND 1 PM FROM WESTERN COCHISE COUNTY WEST INTO CENTRAL PIMA COUNTY. WITH PW VALUES RUNNING 125% ABOVE NORMAL...EXPECT LOCALLY HEAVY RAINERS. THERE IS SOME DRIER MID-LEVEL AIR THAT WILL WORK NORTH ACROSS THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON...WHICH MAY ENHANCE THE CHANCES FOR ISOLATED SEVERE WET MICROBURSTS...ESPECIALLY FROM TUCSON EAST. THIS AREA WILL ALSO HAVE A LITTLE BETTER UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE. WILL RUN OUT AN UPDATE TO THE FORECAST TO HIGHLIGHT THE THINKING ABOVE. DEPENDING ON HOW FAST THE OVERALL TROF MOVES THROUGH THE STATE THIS EVENING...COULD SEE LINGERING SHOWERS CONTINUE INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. HIGH TODAY WILL BE 5-10 DEGREES BELOW NORMAL...WITH BIGGEST DEPARTURES OCCURRING OVER WEST OF TUCSON DUE TO CLOUD COVER AND RAIN. && .AVIATION...SCT SHRA MAINLY NORTH AND WEST OF KTUS PERSISTING THROUGH ABOUT 06/20Z...THEN SCT TSRA DEVELOPING AFT 06/18Z AND CONTINUING THRU 07/05Z...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 07/18Z. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR TAF AMENDMENTS. && .FIRE WEATHER...MOISTURE WILL REMAIN IN PLACE ACROSS THE REGION TODAY...RESULTING IN A CHANCE OF MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTHEAST ARIZONA. SLIGHTLY DRIER AIR WILL MOVE IN FROM THE WEST DURING THE SECOND HALF OF THE WEEK AND INTO THE WEEKEND FOR LESSER RAIN CHANCES. OUTSIDE OF GUSTY THUNDERSTORM OUTFLOWS...WINDS DURING THE 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
The Tucson radar (KEMX), 108 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:59 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Bisbee-Douglas Airport ASOS recorded thunderstorm wind gust of 64 mph.
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: 473551.