July 8, 2014 - Damaging Winds and Flooding (Quartzsite and Sun Lakes)

Updated: 10pm 16 July 2014

Flooding in Quartzsite vicinity. Source: Quartzsite Fire Twitter

Quite a long night of Monsoon thunderstorm activity from West to East across Western Arizona (some parts of far Southeast California as well) to South-Central Arizona swept through the nighttime hours of Tuesday July 9, 2014. Upper level high pressure positioned across the four-corners area early in the week allowed for prevailing southeasterly winds to draw in the moisture across the lower deserts.

Thunderstorms across far Western Arizona, in the Quartzsite and Parker area produced some very strong, damaging winds which in turn caused quite a bit of flooding and overturned mobile homes.

A few hours later, storms progressed eastward impacting areas south of the Phoenix Metro, along and near Interstate 8 and locations north towards Maricopa and into the Southeast Valley locations of Sun Lakes and Chandler. These late night storms, occurring between 10pm and 12am, ended up causing a bit of damage and put down a few microbursts.

 

Click each image for a larger view and/or a loop

	A loop of the velocity from the KIWA radar in the Southeast Valley can be seen to the left. This will loop through to show several downward "bursts" of microbursts between Maricopa and Chandler on the map. One area that saw heavy damage was Sun Lakes, which is located directly south of Chandler, on the east side of I-10 in this map.
[Click to see GIF loop] Velocity loop for KIWA radar from 0612z - 0644z (1112pm MST - 1144pm MST)
	A loop of the reflectivity from the KIWA radar during the same time period to reveal another perspective of those microbursts in the east Valley.
[Click to see GIF loop] Reflectivity loop for KIWA radar from 0612z - 0644z (1112pm MST - 1144pm MST)

Various damage photos of the weather events that unfolded across Central Arizona.
Downed Power Poles in Arizona City, near Milligan Road and Sunland Gin Road. Source: 3TV Viewer via Facebook	Damage to a mobile/trailer home near Quartzsite, AZ as reported on Twitter from Quartzsite Fire Department.	Flooding reported near Quartzsite, AZ as reported on Twitter from Quartzsite Fire Department.	Flooding and RV/Mobile home damage, as well as a rainbow near Quartzsite, AZ as reported on Twitter from Quartzsite Fire Department.
Large tree that fell on a house in Sun Lakes, AZ. Submitted by Mindy Wiegel to ABC15.	Large tree that fell on a house in Sun Lakes, AZ. Submitted by Mindy Wiegel to ABC15.	House damage in Sun Lakes, AZ. Photo from 3TV broadcast media.	House damage in Sun Lakes, AZ. Photo from 3TV broadcast media.
Extensive roof damage to Family Advocacy Center in Eloy, AZ. Photo source: Pinal County Attorney's Office.	Extensive roof damage to Family Advocacy Center in Eloy, AZ. Photo source: Pinal County Attorney's Office.	Extensive roof damage to Family Advocacy Center in Eloy, AZ. Photo source: Pinal County Attorney's Office.

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Below is a list of preliminary storm reports received by our office during this event.

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0407 PM     HEAVY RAIN       1 S BOUSE               33.91N 114.00W
07/08/2014  M0.30 INCH       LA PAZ             AZ   TRAINED SPOTTER 

            0.3 IN. RAIN IN LESS THAN 20 MINUTES 

0510 PM     TSTM WND DMG     6 S QUARTZSITE          33.58N 114.22W
07/08/2014                   LA PAZ             AZ   FIRE DEPT/RESCUE

            REPORTS FROM QUARTZSITE FIRE AND PRINT MEDIA OF DAMAGED 
            AND OVERTURNED RV PROPERTIES IN LA PAZ VALLEY AND SOUTH 
            OF QUARTZSITE. WASHES ALSO FLOODING AREA ROADWAYS. 

0515 PM     TSTM WND GST     QUARTZSITE              33.67N 114.22W
07/08/2014  M61 MPH          LA PAZ             AZ   FIRE DEPT/RESCUE

0530 PM     HAIL             SAN CARLOS              33.35N 110.47W
07/08/2014  M1.00 INCH       GILA               AZ   LAW ENFORCEMENT 

            QUARTER SIZED HAIL 

0610 PM     TSTM WND DMG     PARKER                  34.13N 114.28W
07/08/2014                   LA PAZ             AZ   LAW ENFORCEMENT 

            DELAYED REPORT. 4 MOBILE HOMES FLIPPED OVER. POWER 
            POLES DOWN. ROOF DAMAGE. TIME ESTIMATED. 

0750 PM     DUST STORM       ARIZONA CITY            32.75N 111.67W
07/08/2014                   PINAL              AZ   AMATEUR RADIO   

            SPOTTER IN ARIZONA CITY REPORTING VSBYS DOWN 10 TO 50FT 
            IN DENSE BLOWING DUST. 

0800 PM     DUST STORM       1 WSW CASA GRANDE       32.89N 111.75W
07/08/2014                   PINAL              AZ   TRAINED SPOTTER 

            VSBY 0-50 FT. 

1130 PM     TSTM WND DMG     SUN LAKES               33.21N 111.87W
07/08/2014                   PINAL              AZ   BROADCAST MEDIA 

            CORRECTED REPORT...DELAYED REPORT. TIME ESTIMATED. 
            UPROOTED 35 FT TREE FELL ON HOUSE 


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EVENT NUMBER PSR1400073 PSR1400076 PSR1400074 PSR1400075 PSR1400077 
PSR1400078 PSR1400079 PSR1400080