SPC Reports right now for 6/3 Waddell, AZ Tornado?

[Jason Bolt]

Not sure if SPC has been hacked or what. Two reports, both 0400z 2 NNW Waddell, Maricopa, AZ one for hail 6.00" and one for "Large... F5 tornado just blew through Waddell. 20 homes destroyed, 15 fatalities and counting."

Not sure what is up. I've never seen hail larger than 425 listed in the reports, nor seen quite that kind of description. Also, not seeing anything on radar within 500 miles of there.

 

[Joey Ketcham]

I wonder if they removed it since you posted, I just took a look myself and all but one tornado reports for today was in Arkansas, the other was in North Dakota.

 

[jeremy wilson]

Just saw that. Super wierd. I tried looking for more info elsewhere and even thought it could be a mis-type and was maybe supposed to be alabama instead of Arizona. Nope. My guess is they were hacked. I think thats a first for the reports page.

 

[John Wetter]

Looks like it was only supposed to be a test...

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...CORRECTED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PHOENIX AZ
921 PM MST SUN JUN 03 2012

TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST TEST
NO TORNADO WAS REPORTED...NO TORNADO WAS REPORTED.
THE PREVIOUS REPORT WENT OUT IN ERROR.
THE LSR WAS GENERATED IN PRACTICE MODE AND SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN DISSEMINATED OUTSIDE OF THE LOCAL OFFICE.

 

[Jason Bolt]

Screen grabs from earlier on the SPC page.

 

[Zach Young]

I've never seen hail larger than 425 listed in the reports.

450 is pretty common on big hail days. Hail bigger than that is pretty rare, but if there's a reliable report it will end up in the LSRs. For example, this one from the other day (5/29):

0115 500 6 NNW PIEDMONT CANADIAN OK 3572 9779 (OUN)

 

[Olivier Staiger]

yeah I saw that too and saved a screen grab , too, and when I checked a few minutes later it was gone already. I thought it must have been a mistake or test ... besides it said F5 , not E-F5 so somehow I thought it would be fake. Besides, a killer tornado in Phoenix ? somehow I had hard time believing it. and the map did not show the red triangle, it was only in the text.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/550536_4163882863867_1546277316_n.jpg

 

[jaredleighton]

The local offices can put their work stations in "Practice Mode" and supposedly anything generated on those work stations will not be externally disseminated. A lot of times offices utilize the "Practice Mode" feature for demonstrations on how to generate certain products without worry of anything being broadcast. Evidently in this case something did not work properly. The Phoenix office was quick to notice the error and issued a follow-up LSR explaining the error.

 

[David Wolfson]

Arizona can have killer tornadoes, but generally not with a dew point depression of 80F or so and no upper dynamics within 500 miles .

 

[Terrence Cook]

That is some harsh wording, regardless of practice mode: Blew through Waddell, 15 and counting, F-5 terminology from NWS?

 

[Mike Johnston]

That is some harsh wording, regardless of practice mode: Blew through Waddell, 15 and counting, F-5 terminology from NWS?

Agree. Practice mode or not, it reveals a lack of professionalism. An NWS employee would write a storm report in that manner?

 

[Rob H]

Agree. Practice mode or not, it reveals a lack of professionalism. An NWS employee would write a storm report in that manner?

An no one in this thread has ever made a mistake at work, or acted unprofessional at times? It's unfortunate it went out, someone will get their hand slapped, and we were entertained - that will be the extent of the fallout.

 

[Marcus Diaz]

An no one in this thread has ever made a mistake at work, or acted unprofessional at times? It's unfortunate it went out, someone will get their hand slapped, and we were entertained - that will be the extent of the fallout.

Agreed. But there's nothing else to ramble and complain about right now. So my money is on the idea that this thread will get 2 more weeks of attention and 3 more pages before we forget about it.

 

[joel ewing]

What's really sad, is that I read the report and then flew out of my house to chase it. Waddell is just up the road a bit from Tucson. I was surprised that we'd get that violent a storm with only a 7 degree dewpoint, but hey...it was worth a shot. I'll have a full report and pics up shortly.
On a more truthful note...whoever wrote the post that Arizona does get "killer" tornadoes is right. We have had fatalities from naders on two occasions here around Tucson...once in the 60's and once in the 70's. On both occasions, the tornadoes almost took out our "White Dove of the Desert"...the 400yr. old San Xavier (pron. San uh-veer) Mission that Padre Kino built for the Yaqui Indian Tribe southwest of town. The first tornado was witnessed by a guy who used to work for me that lived next to the mission. He said that "two tornadoes came-together to make one tornado" and narrowly missed the Mission. I talked to another guy who was buying stuff at my store. He said that he was up on his roof when he saw the tornado....and he literally fell off of the roof by being so freaked out about it. He broke some bones from his fall. Then about 10 years later, another tornado took an almost identical path by the Mission...and killed a person or two.
These tornadoes in Az. aren't really chaseable. They're really not predictable like they are in the alley, either. But just like elsewhere...there seem to be "mini-alleys" where they seem to frequent when the do happen.

 

[Jeff Duda]

I think many of those posting in this thread need to lighten up and embrace a (albeit possibly morbid) sense of humor. This is coming from an NWS office that probably issues less than 5 tornado warnings per year. Mistakes happen, but I see no reason to lose faith in them for this particular one.