Thunderstorm activity was much reduced yesterday, with storms occurring from the Tucson metro area eastward. Only 31 stations in the ALERT network (33% areal coverage) reported rainfall in past 24-hours and amounts were very light. We had a shower here in midafternoon that left another 0.02" in the gauge, and heard thunder at dusk from the south. The only heavy rain amounts were at TUS with 0.67" and at Atmo with 0.46". These rains were produced by two small, but strong thunderstorm cells that formed near the airport at dusk. See 8 pm TUS radar image below - there were also strong storms near Sierra Vista at several times yesterday afternoon and evening.
One of the two cells produced a damaging microburst. This led to the hyperbole in this morning's paper, whose main headline is: "Second Big Storm Delivers More Power Line Punches." The microburst took down power poles along south Wilmot, leaving more people without power. However, the only reasonable way to describe yesterday's event is "isolated." In fact, NWS forecaster Chris Rasmussen was quoted in the article as saying: "What likely hit the I-10 and Wilmot area was a wet microburst, but not on the scale we had Sunday." An accurate statement by Chris - but an isolated microburst becomes a second big storm event in the Arizona Daily Star.
Looks like the models try to keep storms in the area this afternoon, but I can't seem to access the early WRF-GFS forecasts. Perhaps "Another Big Storm...?" Have appointments this morning, so that's it for awhile.
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