Thunderstorm Wind in Yuma County, Arizona

Power pole snapped and multiple power lines down along N Avenue 64 E in Dateland. Winds were estimated at between 75-85 mph. No injuries were reported.

A potent upper-level low pressure system situated across southern California transported a plume of deep subtropical moisture across the Desert Southwest, with PWAT values peaking as high as 1-1.2 across portions of southern Arizona. PWATs this high in late December is near the 99th percentile of climatology. The anonymously high moisture content in combination with the strong dynamics associated with the low pressure system itself resulted in the development of widespread rainfall activity across most of central and southern Arizona. Widespread rainfall amounts of between 0.5-2 with locally higher amounts were observed, resulting in areas of localized flooding. Embedded within the widespread rainfall activity were a couple of linear segments of strong thunderstorms that materialized mainly across portions of southwestern Arizona between Yuma through western Maricopa Counties due to some instability with MLCAPE values between 100-500 J/KG. Localized damaging winds were observed with a linear segment that moved from west to east from eastern Yuma through southwestern Maricopa Counties.