Isolated thunderstorms developed and moved west across Graham and Cochise counties during the afternoon. One storm produced severe wind gusts at Safford.
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The episode as NWS TWC wrote it up.
Isolated thunderstorms developed and moved west across Graham and Cochise counties during the afternoon. One storm produced severe wind gusts at Safford.
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 20, 1:54 PM MST, 2 hours 2 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Tucson AZ 154 PM MST Sun Aug 20 2023 .SYNOPSIS... Daily rounds of scattered showers and thunderstorms this week. Cooler than normal temperatures today and Monday then warming to above normal to close out the week. && .DISCUSSION... Weather for the rest of today will continue to be heavily influenced by Hilary, now a tropical storm near the California & Baja CA coast. NHC confirmed that Hilary made landfall over Baja California earlier today. Southeast Arizona will be in the outer bands of this system, and as of this writing, we are starting to see banded convection forming across the region. Winds have picked up across the region, with several gusts in the 35-45 mph range, and localized higher gusts over higher terrain. We've received reports of blowing dust lowering visibility to a mile or less mainly over the Tohono O'odham Nation and westward. As such, we've issued a blowing dust advisory for the next few hours for these areas. We should contine to see an increase in coverage of precipitation this afternoon, continuing into the evening hours. Because of the banded nature of this precipitation, storms may train over the same areas and bring locally very heavy rainfall. This banded precipitation looks to dissipate overnight. Hilary will rapidly move northward, but atmospheric moisture will remain for continued potential for convection. For Monday, the HREF and UofA WRF models are hinting at convection starting up around Tucson early to mid afternoon, with steering flow taking these storms northwestward. Scattered showers and thunderstorms look to continue through the week, with a potential uptick on Wednesday as a Gulf of Mexico wave makes its way through the region. Temperatures will be below normal next two days due to showers and cloud cover, then slowly warm up to slightly above normal to end the week into next weekend. && .AVIATION...valid through 22/00z. SCT SHRA/-TSRA through much of the period with SCT-BKN clouds 8-14k ft AGL. Erratic wind gusts of 35-45 kts possible with TSRA. S to SE surface winds with speeds 18-28 kts with gusts up to 30-40 kts will gradually diminish this evening, and be less than 10 kts overnight. Aviation discussion not updated for TAF amendments. && .FIRE WEATHER... Scattered showers and thunderstorms today with gusty southeast winds, especially from Tucson west. Minimum humidity levels will range from the mid 20s in the Gila Valley to 40+ Tucson westward. Monday winds stay elevated in Graham and Greenlee Counties. After that, we will have the typical daily rounds of scattered showers and thunderstorms with temperatures and humidity level running closer to normal. && .TWC WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Blowing Dust Advisory until 7 PM MST this evening for AZZ501-502. Wind Advisory until 10 PM MST this evening for AZZ501>505-515. && Public...Dang Aviation...Dang Fire Weather....Dang Visit us on Facebook...Twitter...YouTube...and at weather.gov/Tucson
The Tucson radar (KEMX), 142 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:57 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Safford Airport ASOS KSAD recorded a wind gust of 60 mph at 1556MST.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Arizona in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Arizona, August 2023
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: 1129878.