Drought in Texas, August 1 to 31, 2001

Name: Drought in Texas, August 1 to 31, 2001
Start: 2001-08-01T00:00
End: 2001-08-31T00:00
Location: Texas

August 1 to 31, 2001 · NWS BRO · 8 events in 8 counties and zones

8 drought, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 8 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 8

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Brownsville, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 31, 6:55 PM CST, 5 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jul 31, 6:55 PM CST, 5 hours 5 minutes before

DEEP SOUTH TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
755 PM CDT TUE JUL 31 2001

SAME TEMPS AGAIN TDY...BRO 97...HRL 100 AND MFE 99. TRACE OF RAFL
ALONG COAST AS NOCTURNAL SHRAS HELD TOGETHER. THREE MAJOR WX
FEATURES ARE PLAYERS FOR RGV FOR THE NEXT 6 DAYS. PERSISTENT H5
RIDGE OVR OK CONTINUES TO HOLD ON THRU AT LEAST LATE THU. VIGOROUS
POS TILTED TROF ALONG EAST COAST DIGS TO FL AND CUTS OFF FM MAIN
FLOW. AND...OF MAJOR CONCERN...A TROPICAL WAVE IS GENERATING
CLOUDINESS...SCATTERED SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS FROM THE
CENTRAL CARIBBEAN SEA NORTHWARD ACROSS HISPANIOLA AND EASTERN CUBA.
THIS ACTIVITY IS MOVING TO THE WEST-NORTHWEST AT 15 TO 20 MPH AND
WILL LIKELY SPREAD ACROSS WESTERN CUBA AND SOUTHERN FLORIDA ON
WEDNESDAY. ATTM...THE WAVE IS CURRENTLY POORLY ORGANIZED...YET SOME
SLOW DEVELOPMENT IS POSSIBLE OVER THE NEXT DAY OR TWO. THE IMPACT
AND TIMING OF THIS TROPICAL WAVE ON DEEP S TX ARE STILL SKETCHY.
MDLS CONTINUE TO SHOW DEEP NORTHEAST FLOW PRODUCED BY THIS FEATURE
BEGINNING ON LATE WED OVR MUCH OF THE GULF OF MEX. THIS WILL
ASSUREDLY DRIVE SURF UP AND GENERATE SCA CONDITIONS SOMETIME THIS
WEEKEND. GOOD CONFIDENCE LEVEL THAT THE WAVE WL GENERATE BENEFICIAL
RAFL TO THE RGV THRU NEXT TUE. MRF HAS DELAYED ARRIVAL OF MSTR AND
DYNAMICS FM PREVIOUS RUN OF FRI...TO MON NOW. THE 01.0000Z RUN OF
BOTH AVN AND MRF WL BETTER DEFINE THIS SITUATION. AT THIS TIME...HVY
RAINS CUD COME AS SOON AS FRI...OR AS LATE AS MON. MY
BET...CONSIDERING THE CURRENT IMPLICATIONS OF THE MDLS...IS MORE
RAFL SOONER. DO NOT SEE ANY CHC EFFECTS OF DEEP NE FLOW WED AND
BEYOND WL NOT GENERATE RAFL IN VLY.

NO CHANGES TO CURRENT FCST...YET MUCH-AWAITED 00Z MDL RUN MAY CHANGE
EVERYTHING.

MARINE...WEAK SOUTHEAST FLOW HAS KEPT SEAS AT 3 FT DURING THE PAST
12H.  ISOLATED CONVECTION STILL OCCURRING OFFSHORE AND WILL
LIKELY INCREASE IN AREAL COVERAGE AGAIN OVERNIGHT.  CONVECTION
SHOULD BECOME MORE NUMEROUS OVER THE NEAR-SHORE AREAS AFTER
DAYBREAK.  SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN IN THE FORECAST
THROUGH THE WEEKEND...WITH MUCH UNCERTAINTY AT THIS TIME CONCERNING
THE TROPICAL WAVE.  REGARDLESS...WINDS...SEAS AND RIP CURRENTS
WILL BE INCREASING THROUGHOUT THE WEEKEND.

SYNOPTIC-AVIATION-MARINE...PHILO 58/MESO...VEGA

INTERNET ADDRESS...WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/BRO

.BRO...NONE.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

8 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, Hidalgo

When: August 1, 12:00 AM CST to August 31, 12:00 AM CST
Where: Hidalgo forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 26.397, -98.181 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Willacy

When: August 1, 12:00 AM CST to August 31, 12:00 AM CST
Where: Willacy forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 26.477, -97.592 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Cameron

When: August 1, 12:00 AM CST to August 31, 12:00 AM CST
Where: Cameron forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 26.152, -97.453 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Zapata

When: August 1, 12:00 AM CST to August 31, 12:00 AM CST
Where: Zapata forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 27.001, -99.169 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

A moderate to severe drought persisted for the first part of August 2001 across all of Deep South Texas. However, most of the region, with the exception of the far western valley, received beneficial rainfall amounts of 2 to 4 inches near the end of the month. However, subsoil moistures remain very dry. This rainfall did help storage in the Falcon reservoir to rise to 250 feet. Following are some rainfall departures through the end of August: Brownsville reported 5.37 inches below normal; Harlingen reported 3.84 inches below normal; McAllen reported 2.86 inches below normal; Mercedes reported 3.10 inches below normal; Raymondville reported 3.89 inches below normal; Sarita reported 4.11 inches below normal; and Zapata reported 7.77 inches below normal.

Drought, Jim Hogg

When: August 1, 12:00 AM CST to August 31, 12:00 AM CST
Where: Jim Hogg forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 27.043, -98.697 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Brooks

When: August 1, 12:00 AM CST to August 31, 12:00 AM CST
Where: Brooks forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 27.032, -98.219 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Kenedy

When: August 1, 12:00 AM CST to August 31, 12:00 AM CST
Where: Kenedy forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 26.928, -97.636 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Starr

When: August 1, 12:00 AM CST to August 31, 12:00 AM CST
Where: Starr forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 26.562, -98.738 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Drought: A drought reaching severe (D2) or worse on the US Drought Monitor, or with notable impacts.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Texas in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Texas, August 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5264353, 5264354, 5264355, 5265185, 5265186, 5265187, 5265188, 5265189.