5 inches along with upper level low pressure over Sonora and associated moderate southeast flow resulted in thunderstorms that produced damaging winds, mainly over western Pima County.
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.
Precipitable water of over 1.5 inches along with upper level low pressure over Sonora and associated moderate southeast flow resulted in thunderstorms that produced damaging winds, mainly over western Pima County.
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 19, 1:55 PM MST, 3 hours 10 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 155 PM MST FRI JUL 19 2013 .SYNOPSIS...LOW PRESSURE OVER SONORA WILL DRIFT OVER THE GULF OF CALIFORNIA...LEAVING SOUTHEAST ARIZONA IN A MOIST EAST OR SOUTHEAST FLOW...WHICH WILL INCREASE CHANCES FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WITH HEAVY RAIN THROUGH THE WEEKEND. A MORE NORMAL CYCLE OF SCATTERED AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS WILL RETURN FOR MUCH OF NEXT WEEK. && .DISCUSSION...PLENTIFUL MOISTURE IN PLACE ACROSS SOUTHEAST ARIZONA WITH PWATS OF 1.5 TO 2 INCHES. HOWEVER...WARM TEMPERATURES ALOFT SUCH AS -4 TO -6 C AT 500 MB AND CLOUDS INHIBITING SURFACE HEATING ARE KEEPING THE ATMOSPHERE FROM SIGNIFICANTLY DESTABILIZING SO FAR IN SOUTHERN AREAS. CURRENTLY WIDESPREAD SHOWERS WITH LITTLE THUNDER DEVELOPING FROM TUCSON S. EVEN WITH LITTLE VERTICAL EXTENT THESE SHOWERS ARE PRODUCING 0.25 INCH OF RAIN IN ABOUT 20 MINUTES. OPTED NOT TO ISSUE A FLASH FLOOD WATCH BUT SOME HEAVY RAIN IS POSSIBLE. N AN W OF TUCSON...WHERE THERE HAS BEEN LESS CLOUD COVER...ISOLATED STORMS BEGINNING TO DEVELOP. THESE AREAS MAY ACTUALLY SEE HEAVIER ISOLATED DOWNPOURS IN STRONGER STORMS THAT COULD ALSO PRODUCE GUSTY WINDS. WITH THE LOW PRESSURE OVER SONORA AND ATTENDANT CLOUDS DRIFTING ONLY SLOWLY WEST THEN UP THE BAJA/GULF AREA THE NEXT FEW DAYS...MORNING CLOUDS COULD CONTINUE TO HINDER ATMOSPHERIC HEATING...BUT IF THIS HINDRANCE IS OVERCOME...STORMS THAT DEVELOP COULD PRODUCE HEAVY RAIN. MODEL DEPICTIONS OF THE LOW TRACK AND THE MOISTURE FIELDS TEND TO FAVOR MUCH OF THE AREA STILL BEING AFFECTED BY CLOUD COVER AND ONCE AGAIN LIMITING HEATING...WHEREAS SUNDAY WE MAY WARM UP QUICKER AND BE ABLE TO GENERATE MORE THUNDERSTORM COVERAGE. FOR NEXT WEEK...A SECONDARY AREA OF LOW PRESSURE WILL MOVE ACROSS NRN MEXICO...POSSIBLY INFLUENCING OUR WEATHER ONCE AGAIN AND KEEPING THE CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS AT OR ABOVE CLIMATOLOGICAL NORMALS...KD && .AVIATION...UPPER LOW OVER SONORA MEXICO WILL CONTINUE TO ENHANCE THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTHERN ARIZONA...ESPECIALLY NEAR THE MEXICO BORDER WHERE CLOUDINESS WILL REMAIN HEAVIER AND LOWER. THE CONVECTION SHOULD DIMINISH AFT 20/07Z. EXPECT SCT-BKN120 BKN250 WITH AREAS BKN060-080 LCL MVFR CIGS AND VSBYS MAINLY SOUTH. EASTERLY FLOW ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH TONIGHT OUTSIDE OF GUSTY AND ERRATIC THUNDERSTORM OUTFLOWS. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR TAF AMENDMENTS. CERNIGLIA && .FIRE WEATHER...UPPER LOW OVER SONORA MEXICO WILL MAINTAIN A MOIST EASTERLY FLOW ACROSS SOUTHERN ARIZONA THROUGH THE WEEKEND. THE COMBINATION OF THE UPPER LOW AND ABUNDANT ATMOSPHERIC MOISTURE WILL BRING ABOUT PLENTY OF CONVECTION THAT WILL BE ABLE TO OCCUR ANYTIME WITH A FOCUS DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HEAVY DOWNPOURS AS WELL AS GUSTY AND ERRATIC WINDS. RELATIVE HUMIDITIES WILL REMAIN MOIST WITH THE NORMAL DIURNAL WIND PATTERNS DISRUPTED AT TIMES THIS WEEKEND BY CONVECTION. THE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BECOME LESS NUMEROUS AND MORE DIURNAL IN NATURE NEXT WEEK AS THE LOW MOVES FURTHER WEST AND THE AIR MASS BECOMES A BIT DRIER. CERNIGLIA && .TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && VISIT US ON FACEBOOK...TWITTER...YOUTUBE...AND AT WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ
413 PM MST FRI JUL 19 2013
AZZ501-502-200000-
TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION INCLUDING SELLS AZ-WESTERN PIMA COUNTY
INCLUDING AJO/ORGAN PIPE CACTUS NATIONAL MONUMENT AZ-
413 PM MST FRI JUL 19 2013
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR WESTERN PIMA COUNTY UNTIL 500 PM
MST...
AT 408 PM MST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A
STRONG THUNDERSTORM 24 MILES NORTHEAST OF ORGAN PIPE NATIONAL
MONUMENT...OR 34 MILES WEST OF SELLS...MOVING WEST AT 20 MPH.
WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM.
AREAS AFFECTED BY THIS STORM INCLUDE...ORGAN PIPE NATIONAL
MONUMENT...GU VO...PIA OIK AND KUAKATCH.
LAT...LON 3189 11255 3190 11288 3214 11291 3223 11236
3193 11227
TIME...MOT...LOC 2312Z 072DEG 18KT 3210 11245
FRANCISThe Phoenix radar (KIWA), 152 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:04 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorm winds downed a power pole and damaged a roof of a residence near the Gunsight Cemetery.
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, July 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: 459773.