Severe Storms Last Night

 

Post from NWS (above) - photo of haboob moving across parts of Tucson last evening - looking more or less toward the south. Below shows severe thunderstorm reports for yesterday, with numerous reports in Arizona - mostly severe winds but also a couple of hail reports. Some of the high end gusts reported: 91 mph at Pioneer airfield; 83 mph Tortilla Flat east of Phoenix; 76 mph Freeman and Old Spanish Trail in Tucson; DM 62 mph; TUS 56; Atmo 43 mph (which looks to be too low when compared to other sites). Estimated winds here were 50 to 60 mph during the evening. 

Very active thunderstorm day across southern Arizona, as per plot of detected CG flashes through 1:33 am MST this early morning (from Atmo and Vaisala). Reports from the ALERT network (two panels below) show numerous reports over half an inch - note site with 2.95" in Redington Pass area. Rain amounts over north part of network were less than 0.04". Rainfall was generally over before midnight - gauge here this morning had 0.54" - second significant amount so far this month.

The 500 mb anticyclone (above) has weakened some and shifted into Nevada - hard to tell, but there may have been an inverted trough moving along the Borderlands during the storms.

The TWC sounding this morning (above) has stronger north to northeast winds this morning above 500 mb, as well as a worked-over lower atmosphere below 600 mb, giving it a bit of an onion character. The SPC outlook for today is shown below.

However, given the widespread character of yesterday's event, I'd expect a mostly down day today, which is often the case.