National Weather Service Forecast Office Tucson, Arizona

Cyclone: Hurricane Ignacio Date it affected AZ: August 25-27, 2003 Affected Arizona as...: Remnants (dissipated over southern Baja California, Mexico)

Slow-moving Ignacio struck the southern tip of Baja as a category 2 hurricane and dissipated over the mountains of southern Baja. However the remnant moisture was picked up by an upper level disturbance west of the Baja Peninsula and fed into Arizona. Hardest hit areas included Vamori Wash on the Tohono O'odham Nation, and Cañada del Oro Wash in Oro Valley and Catalina, AZ. About 40 homes were evacuated in Catalina after two inches of rain fell on the Aspen Fire Burn Area in the Catalina Mountains on the 25th. On the 27th, a particularly severe thunderstorm stranded dozens of Tucson motorists in their cars during evening rush hour, while straight line winds downed power poles and wires onto several stopped vehicles near Swan and River Rds. in Tucson.

Image courtesy of Hydrometeorological Prediction Center (http://www.hpc.ncep.noaa.gov)