Thunderstorm Wind — Maricopa, Arizona

2024-08-22 · near Tortilla Flat, Maricopa, Arizona

Event narrative

An adult male was found deceased due to drowning at Canyon Lake. The man was paddle boarding at the time the thunderstorm was approaching and fell off the paddleboard likely due to the strong winds and higher waves. A surface observing site located at Canyon Lake measured a peak gust of 40 mph.

Wider weather episode

Thunderstorm activity developed across much of eastern AZ, along the higher terrain features, during the early afternoon hours. Outflow boundaries emanating from the activity over the higher terrain areas sparked a complex of robust thunderstorms over Pinal County. A northwestward moving outflow boundary that developed from the Pinal County storms produced wind gusts in excess of 50 mph as well as areas of dense blowing dust across the Phoenix East Valley. Additional thunderstorm activity then developed over central Phoenix during the late afternoon, likely instigated by a convergence zone that set up right over the area with little convective inhibition in place and thus it did not take much of a triggering mechanism to get convective initiation. With MLCAPE values of 1000-1500 J/KG along with DCAPE of around 1500 J/KG, conditions were favorable for the generation of strong to severe downburst winds.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.5414, -111.4398)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1206319. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.