The Swisshelms Fire started on June 27th, possibly due to spotting from the smaller Saddle Fire which was ongoing to its south. The Swisshelms Fire quickly spread due to strong winds and was not fully contained until July 10th, after nearly 11,000 acres had been burned.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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.
The Swisshelms Fire started on June 27th, possibly due to spotting from the smaller Saddle Fire which was ongoing to its south. The Swisshelms Fire quickly spread due to strong winds and was not fully contained until July 10th, after nearly 11,000 acres had been burned.
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 Jun 30, 9:32 PM MST, 2 hours 28 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Tucson AZ 932 PM MST Fri Jun 30 2017 .SYNOPSIS...Dry conditions will continue through Saturday night. Isolated to scattered afternoon and evening thunderstorms will then occur Sunday into next Friday. The bulk of thunderstorms will be east to south of Tucson. Daytime temperatures will generally be a few degrees above normal into next week. && .DISCUSSION...Clear skies across the area tonight. Current forecast looked in good shape, so no updates necessary this evening. Please refer to the additional sections for more details. && .AVIATION...Valid thru 02/06Z. Clear skies much of southeast Arizona into Saturday afternoon. The exception will be mainly southeast of KTUS where a few clouds above 15k ft AGL may occur. Surface wind Saturday afternoon wly/swly 10-15 kts with gusts to near 25 kts. Surface wind variable in direction less than 12 kts at other times. Aviation discussion not updated for TAF amendments. && .FIRE WEATHER...Dry conditions through Saturday. Daytime minimum relative humidity will generally range from 5-15 percent area-wide. Isolated to scattered afternoon and evening thunderstorms will then expected Sunday into next Friday. The bulk of these thunderstorms will be mainly east to south of Tucson. Thunderstorm outflows will create gusty and erratic winds at times, and there is the potential for new fire ignitions due to lightning. Otherwise, southwest to northwest afternoon winds at 10-15 mph are expected into early next week, with the strongest speeds northeast of Tucson and especially in the vicinity of Safford. && .PREV DISCUSSION...Broad upper ridge extends from well west of the southern California coast eastward into the southern CONUS this afternoon. This pattern will provide dry conditions through Saturday night. Various 30/12Z numerical prediction models then depict an upper pattern that will become more conducive to the development of showers and thunderstorms starting Sunday and continuing during the upcoming week. In essence, high pressure aloft is progged to become centered generally near the Four Corners region Tuesday and remain quasi- stationary over the central Rockies into the latter part of next week. There were differences amongst the various deterministic solutions and even between high resolution models such as the Univ of Arizona WRF-NAM and WRF-GFS regarding daily precip chance detail for this forecast area. As an example, the WRF-NAM was more aggressive versus the WRF-GFS regarding precip potential especially for the Tucson metro area Sunday afternoon/evening. As another example, the deterministic ECMWF was generally for robust with available moisture and liquid precip amounts versus the GFS through around the middle of next week. Thereafter, the GFS/ECMWF were quite similar regarding the depiction of better precip chances by next weekend. At any rate, only minor adjustments were made to the inherited gridded data PoPs through next Friday. In summary for this forecast period, expect isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms, with the best precip chances east-to-south of Tucson. The bulk of these showers/tstms will occur during the afternoon and evening hours, although some showers/tstms may occur during the late night/early morning hours as well. High temperatures this forecast period will generally average at least a few degrees above normal. && .TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...None. && Visit us on Facebook...Twitter...YouTube...and at weather.gov/Tucson
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The Swisshelms Fire started on June 27th in the Swisshelms Mountains and spread quickly due to strong winds. By the end of June the fire had consumed 7250 acres. The fire was not fully contained until July 10th after a total of 10,950 acres burned.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arizona in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, July 2017
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: 711001.