Flash Flood — La Paz, Arizona

2022-08-24 · near Bouse, La Paz, Arizona

Event narrative

Report from La Paz County Emergency Management of water rushing into houses. Washes in the area were running full. Timing estimated from radar. No injuries were reported.

Wider weather episode

A very moist (PWATs 2.0+ inches) and unstable (MLCAPE 2000-3000 J/KG) air mass led to be a very conducive environment for vigorous thunderstorm activity across portions of southwest Arizona. A cluster of thunderstorms developed near Yuma during the mid-afternoon hours leading to flash flooding and damaging winds across the Fortuna Hills area. Thereafter, additional storm complexes developed during the late afternoon and evening hours across portions of Yuma and La Paz Counties, likely due to the combination of terrain lift as well as colliding outflows from the storms that developed earlier in the afternoon across portions of Imperial and Riverside Counties.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.9338, -114.0260)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1054046. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.