Alert archive / Texas

Weather alerts in Texas, 2008

7,381 weather alerts in 2008, from the National Weather Service and the Storm Prediction Center. An alert counts here when it covered any part of the state, so the counties below add up to more than the state.

Weather alerts by county

Each county as a circle sized by its count in 2008. Tap one for its archive.

Alerts
7,381
Warnings
3,875
Watches
640
Advisories
1,539
Busiest month
May1,184 alerts
Busiest day
March 18, 2008214 alerts

Over time

By month

Warning verification

How often warnings here had a storm report inside them, and how much warning the reports had.

54 of 306 tornado warnings covering Texas in 2008 had a tornado report inside them; 63 of 108 tornado reports fell inside a warning, on average 18 minutes after it went out.

Texas, 2008

WarningsWith a reportFalse alarm ratioReportsInside a warningMean lead time
Tornado warnings3065482%10858%18 min
Severe thunderstorm warnings2,16879763%1,79278%26 min
Flash flood warnings38811670%21781%65 min

Each office's whole area, 2008

WarningsWith a reportFalse alarm ratioReportsInside a warningMean lead time
NWS Fort Worth, TX: tornado warnings621281%1989%22 min
NWS Fort Worth, TX: severe thunderstorm warnings41117158%37876%24 min
NWS Fort Worth, TX: flash flood warnings933365%6389%69 min
NWS Lake Charles, LA: tornado warnings1502683%6170%12 min
NWS Lake Charles, LA: severe thunderstorm warnings1665666%13967%22 min
NWS Lake Charles, LA: flash flood warnings471274%2685%86 min
NWS Norman, OK: tornado warnings861385%1974%14 min
NWS Norman, OK: severe thunderstorm warnings87129366%71982%24 min
NWS Norman, OK: flash flood warnings461567%3174%80 min
NWS Shreveport, LA: tornado warnings772864%6166%15 min
NWS Shreveport, LA: severe thunderstorm warnings46120156%48474%23 min
NWS Shreveport, LA: flash flood warnings644234%11489%69 min
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX: tornado warnings18194%333%4 min
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX: severe thunderstorm warnings1594174%8568%20 min
NWS Houston/Galveston, TX: flash flood warnings17571%1070%80 min
NWS Brownsville, TX: tornado warnings5180%333%0 min
NWS Brownsville, TX: severe thunderstorm warnings34682%2065%23 min
NWS Brownsville, TX: flash flood warnings30487%944%62 min
NWS Corpus Christi, TX: tornado warnings18478%1233%12 min
NWS Corpus Christi, TX: severe thunderstorm warnings43588%2726%25 min
NWS Corpus Christi, TX: flash flood warnings331167%1782%56 min
NWS Amarillo, TX: tornado warnings29679%978%11 min
NWS Amarillo, TX: severe thunderstorm warnings22614237%45791%31 min
NWS Amarillo, TX: flash flood warnings16756%2085%107 min
NWS San Angelo, TX: tornado warnings711579%2176%19 min
NWS San Angelo, TX: severe thunderstorm warnings2475976%13072%26 min
NWS San Angelo, TX: flash flood warnings17194%813%88 min
NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX: tornado warnings310100%70%
NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX: severe thunderstorm warnings1525266%14866%26 min
NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX: flash flood warnings22577%1669%103 min
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX: tornado warnings32681%1070%18 min
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX: severe thunderstorm warnings2837673%15477%22 min
NWS Midland/Odessa, TX: flash flood warnings1011387%1984%26 min
NWS El Paso, TX: severe thunderstorm warnings551082%1675%22 min
NWS El Paso, TX: flash flood warnings381268%2264%55 min
NWS Lubbock, TX: tornado warnings11282%333%33 min
NWS Lubbock, TX: severe thunderstorm warnings25410459%23777%26 min
NWS Lubbock, TX: flash flood warnings2150%1100%21 min

An office's figures cover every county it serves, including across state lines.

Verified by the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's Cow, which matches each storm-based warning with the local storm reports inside its polygon while it was in force, within 15 km of its edge: a tornado warning counts as verified on a tornado report, a severe thunderstorm warning on hail of 1 inch or more, a gust of 58 mph or more, or wind damage, a flash flood warning on a flash flood report. The false alarm ratio is the share of warnings with no such report; "inside a warning" is the probability of detection, the share of reports that fell inside one; lead time runs from the warning's issue to each report inside it, counting zero for a report that came first. A warning with no report is not proof nothing happened: reports come from spotters, the public and damage surveys, and are thin where few people live.

The alerts

7,381 alerts are too many to list on one page. Narrow it to a product above, to a month in the chart, or to a county.

By product

Every kind of product issued here, grouped by hazard. Each opens the same place narrowed to that product.

ProductAlerts
Severe storms
Severe Thunderstorm Warning2,165
Tornado Warning307
Severe Thunderstorm Watch92
Tornado Watch78
Mesoscale Discussion430
Special Weather Statement788
Flooding
Areal Flood Warning47
Flash Flood Warning388
River Flood Warning262
Flash Flood Watch68
Flood Watch12
Areal Flood Advisory771
Winter
Winter Storm Warning10
Winter Storm Watch8
Freezing Rain Advisory12
Snow Advisory7
Snow and Blowing Snow Advisory7
Winter Weather Advisory33
Heat
Excessive Heat Warning2
Excessive Heat Watch1
Heat Advisory13
Cold
Freeze Warning48
Hard Freeze Warning3
Freeze Watch10
Frost Advisory12
Wind Chill Advisory4
Wind and dust
High Wind Warning94
High Wind Watch59
Blowing Dust Advisory6
Lake Wind Advisory114
Wind Advisory285
Fire
Red Flag Warning359
Fire Weather Watch267
Fog and smoke
Dense Fog Advisory123
Dense Smoke Advisory1
Freezing Fog Advisory1
Tropical
Hurricane Warning11
Inland Hurricane Warning7
Inland Tropical Storm Warning15
Tropical Storm Warning17
Hurricane Watch16
Inland Hurricane Watch5
Inland Tropical Storm Watch8
Tropical Storm Watch7
Hurricane Local Statement5
Coast and beach
Coastal Flood Warning4
Coastal Flood Watch5
Coastal Flood Advisory18
High Surf Advisory6
Coastal Flood Statement13
Marine
Gale Warning5
Special Marine Warning131
Gale Watch4
Marine Dense Fog Advisory15
Small Craft Advisory91
Small Craft Advisory for Hazardous Seas8
Small Craft Advisory for Winds12
Marine Weather Statement91

By county

Every county with at least one alert. A county page lists each alert that covered it.

214 more counties

The busiest days

Days with the most alerts issued, by UTC date.

  1. March 18, 2008214alerts
  2. May 14, 2008196alerts
  3. April 10, 2008166alerts
  4. April 9, 2008135alerts
  5. April 4, 2008121alerts
  6. May 7, 2008121alerts
  7. May 27, 2008118alerts
  8. June 19, 2008118alerts
  9. May 15, 2008114alerts
  10. March 3, 2008106alerts
  11. February 16, 2008104alerts
  12. March 30, 200898alerts

Nearby

Alerts in force nowTornadoes on recordThe radar archive20072009

Sources

National Weather Service watches, warnings, advisories and statements from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's VTEC archive, which reconstructs tornado, severe thunderstorm, flash flood and marine warnings back to 1986 from the NWS text archive. Storm Prediction Center watches and mesoscale discussions from SPC's archive through the Mesonet. County centers from the US Census Bureau. Warning verification from the Mesonet's Cow. Rebuilt daily.