High pressure over southern New Mexico continued a moist southeast flow into southeast Arizona. Storms produced gusty winds and heavy rain near Douglas.
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.
High pressure over southern New Mexico continued a moist southeast flow into southeast Arizona. Storms produced gusty winds and heavy rain near Douglas. Lightning struck and killed one person near Sonoita.
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 30, 9:00 AM MST, 5 hours earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 900 AM MST WED JUL 30 2014 .SYNOPSIS...THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CONFINED MAINLY TO THE SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST OF TUCSON TODAY. INCREASING CHANCES OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL START ON THURSDAY FOLLOWED BY SCATTERED MAINLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. EXPECT HOTTER DAYTIME TEMPERATURES TODAY...THEN A MODERATION IN HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL PREVAIL THIS WEEKEND. && .DISCUSSION...REMNANTS OF A THUNDERSTORM COMPLEX OVER SONORA MEXICO LAST NIGHT CONTINUED TO MOVE NORTHWARD INTO FAR SOUTHEAST ARIZONA THIS MORNING. A SLIGHT INCREASE IN MOISTURE AND A WEAK CIRCULATION ASSOCIATED WITH THIS FEATURE WILL HELP INCREASE THE CHANCES OF THUNDERSTORMS AND SHOWERS ACROSS COCHISE AND SANTA CRUZ COUNTIES TODAY. THE PREVIOUS SHIFT ALREADY ADJUSTED POP VALUES FOR THIS AREA...SO THE SHORT TERM FORECAST LOOKED IN GOOD SHAPE. LATEST MODELS WERE STILL SUGGESTING SOMEWHAT LIMITED THUNDERSTORM CHANCES AGAIN FOR THURSDAY BEFORE A NOTICEABLE UPSWING IN ACTIVITY ON FRIDAY. MUCH BETTER CHANCES OF THUNDERSTORMS CAN BE ANTICIPATED AREAWIDE ON SATURDAY. PLEASE REFER TO THE PREVIOUS DISCUSSION IN THIS PRODUCT FOR MORE DETAILS. && .AVIATION...VALID THRU 31/18Z. ISOLATED -TSRA/-SHRA WILL BE LIMITED TO MAINLY NEAR THE MOUNTAINS AND NEAR THE INTERNATIONAL BORDER SOUTH-TO-SOUTHEAST OF KTUS THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING. OTHERWISE...MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES WILL PREVAIL WEST OF KTUS THRU EARLY THURSDAY MORNING. FROM KTUS VICINITY EASTWARD EXPECT A FEW TO BROKEN CUMULOFORM CLOUDS AT 8-12K FT AGL THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING...AND CLOUD BASES MAINLY ABOVE 15K FT AGL AT OTHER TIMES. SURFACE WIND WILL BE MOSTLY LESS THAN 10 KTS INTO EARLY THURSDAY MORNING. AVIATION DISCUSSION NOT UPDATED FOR TAF AMENDMENTS. && .FIRE WEATHER...EXPECT THUNDERSTORMS TO BE LIMITED MOSTLY TO LOCALES SOUTH-TO-SOUTHEAST OF TUCSON THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING. THEREAFTER...SCATTERED MOSTLY AFTERNOON AND EVENING THUNDERSTORMS WILL RETURN STARTING THURSDAY AND CONTINUE INTO THIS WEEKEND AS DEEPER MOISTURE MOVES INTO THE AREA. OTHERWISE...NORMAL DIURNAL WIND TRENDS WILL OCCUR WITH OCCASIONAL GUSTS DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS DUE TO DAYTIME HEATING. && .PREV DISCUSSION...EXPECT SCATTERED SHOWERS/TSTMS THUR AFTERNOON/EVENING EAST AND SOUTH OF TUCSON WITH ISOLATED SHOWERS/TSTMS FROM TUCSON WWD/NWWD INTO WRN PIMA/SOUTH CENTRAL PINAL COUNTIES. GREATER COVERAGE OF SHOWERS/TSTMS WILL OCCUR FRI DUE TO THE PROGGED MOISTURE INCREASE AND A MORE FAVORABLE SELY MID-LEVEL FLOW. A SCENARIO CONSISTING OF GUSTY OUTFLOWS PRODUCING AREAS OF DENSE BLOWING DUST IS A POSSIBILITY FRI AFTERNOON INTO EARLY FRI EVENING...PARTICULARLY NW OF TUCSON. HOWEVER...WILL DEFER DEPICTING AREAS OF BLOWING DUST IN THE GRIDDED DATA WEATHER FIELD UNTIL FORECAST CONFIDENCE INCREASES. SAT-SUN... SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS MAINLY AFTERNOON/EVENING SHOWERS/TSTMS WILL PREVAIL AS HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT BECOMES CENTERED NEAR THE FOUR CORNERS REGION. 30/00Z GFS/ECMWF WERE FAIRLY SIMILAR WITH DEPICTING AN INVERTED TROUGH/WEAK UPPER LOW TO BE OVER THE AREA. THIS SYSTEM WILL ENHANCE THE POTENTIAL FOR LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND PERHAPS FLASH FLOODING. MON-TUE... GFS/ECMWF WERE SIMILAR WITH DEPICTING DRIER AIR TO ADVECT INTO SE AZ FROM THE SOUTHWEST MON AS HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT BECOMES CENTERED SE OF THE AREA. GFS/ECMWF CONTINUED TO BE SIMILAR WITH ESTABLISHING AN UPPER HIGH OVER THE NRN GULF OF CALIFORNIA TUE. THIS SCENARIO WOULD YIELD ANOTHER DRYING TREND EARLY NEXT WEEK. THUS...HAVE OPTED FOR A GRADUAL DECREASE IN SHOWER/TSTM COVERAGE...WITH CHANCE-CATEGORY POPS BY TUE ACROSS ERN SECTIONS AND DRY CONDITIONS ACROSS WRN PIMA COUNTY. HIGH TEMPS THIS AFTERNOON WILL GENERALLY BE ABOUT 2-5 DEGS F WARMER VERSUS TEMPS ACHIEVED TUE...AND WILL AVERAGE NEARLY 3-7 DEGS F ABOVE NORMAL. A GRADUAL COOLING TREND WILL THEN OCCUR THUR-SUN...WITH FORECAST HIGH TEMPS SUN TO BE A FEW DEGS BELOW NORMAL. A WARMING TREND IS ON TAP MON-TUE DUE TO THE EXPECTED DRIER REGIME. && .TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && VISIT US ON FACEBOOK...TWITTER...YOUTUBE...AND AT WEATHER.GOV/TUCSON PREV DISCUSSION...FRANCIS
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TUCSON AZ 141 PM MST WED JUL 30 2014 AZZ503-507-513-302130- DRAGOON/MULE/HUACHUCA AND SANTA RITA MOUNTAINS INCLUDING BISBEE/CANELO HILLS/MADERA CANYON AZ-UPPER SAN PEDRO RIVER VALLEY INCLUDING SIERRA VISTA/BENSON AZ-UPPER SANTA CRUZ RIVER AND ALTAR VALLEYS INCLUDING NOGALES AZ- 141 PM MST WED JUL 30 2014 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR NORTHERN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY UNTIL 230 PM MST...AROUND SONOITA AND PATAGONIA... AT 130 PM MST...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 17 MILES WEST OF HUACHUCA CITY...OR 20 MILES WEST OF SIERRA VISTA. THIS STORM WAS NEARLY STATIONARY OVER STATE HIGHWAY 82 BETWEEN SONOITA AND PATAGONIA. WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM...ALONG WITH HEAVY RAIN. AREAS AFFECTED BY THIS STORM INCLUDE...MAINLY RURAL AREAS OF NORTHERN SANTA CRUZ COUNTY. LAT...LON 3157 11063 3154 11082 3172 11084 3173 11068 TIME...MOT...LOC 2039Z 180DEG 0KT 3161 11062
The Tucson radar (KEMX), 27 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:00 UTC.
1 lightning, 1 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A 17-year old undocumented boy was struck and killed by lightning near Windmill Drive near Sonoita, Arizona.
Penny size hail was reported north of Douglas.
Thunderstorm winds downed large tree limbs north of Douglas.
Over 1.5 inches of rain in less than 30 minutes caused flash flooding along Leslie Canyon Road on the northwest side of Douglas.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning, Santa Cruz | 2014-07-30 | 17 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arizona in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, July 2014
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: 537869, 538214, 538215, 538217.