Name: Heat in Texas, August 14, 2001
Start: 2001-08-14T08:30
End: 2001-08-14T08:30
Location: Texas

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 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: 1
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 14, 2:15 AM CST, 6 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 14, 2:15 AM CST, 6 hours 15 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
315 AM CDT TUE AUG 14 2001

SHORT TERM...ONE SFC BOUNDARY ALONG THE COAST AND ANOTHER...THE COLD
FRONT...JUST TO THE NORTH OF THE CWA. DRIER MID LEVEL AIR MAKING ITS
WAY THROUGH NORTHERN PORTION TODAY. WITH WEAK MID LEVEL CIRCULATION
OFFSHORE BELIEVE DRIER AIR NOT REACHING COASTAL SECTIONS. LESS CLOUD
COVER SO DAYTIME HEATING AND WEAK BOUNDARY SHOULD BE SUFFICIENT FOR
SCATTERED/WIDELY SCATTERED AFTERNOON CONVECTION HOUSTON METRO AREA
TO THE COAST. NORTH AND NORTHWEST SUNNY AND HOT. DRIER AIR MIXING
OUT LOWER DEW POINTS IN AFTERNOON WITH LIGHT NORTHEAST WINDS.

MODELS SHOW SFC-850MB BOUNDARY BACKING UP ACROSS CWA WEDNESDAY WHILE
WEAK TROUGH IN MID LEVELS SETS UP OVER AREA. BIG QUESTION IS
AVAILABLE DEEP MOISTURE. MODELS VARY.  WILL KEEP POPS LOW WITH
MOISTURE UNCERTAINTY AND RELATIVELY WARM MID LEVELS.

EXTENDED...AMPLIFYING TROUGH OVER GREAT LAKES SETS UP NORTHWEST TO
WESTERLY FLOW ALL THE WAY TO THE NORTHERN GULF BY THE WEEKEND. ONE
FRONT FORECAST TO STALL JUST NORTH OF AREA LATE THURSDAY THEN
ANOTHER ONE TEASES SUNDAY TO MONDAY.  LOW CONFIDENCE IN MRF
MOISTURE/FRONT/SMALL SCALE FEATURES SOLUTIONS SO WILL KEEP THE
CHANCE POPS THRU THE PERIOD.

.HGX...NONE.

30/45/TF

CLL UB 100/075 100/075 100 001
IAH BB 097/075 096/075 097 212
GLS BB 091/079 090/080 089 313

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heat. Local standard time, as filed.

Heat, Harris

When: August 14, 8:30 AM CST
Where: Harris forecast zone
Deaths: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: GOVT OFFICIAL
Coordinates: 29.857, -95.392 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Female died of heat exposure in her home.

The people who died

As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.

Event	Date	Age	Sex	Where	Kind
Heat, Harris	2001-08-14	79	Female	Permanent Home	Direct

What these are

Heat: Heat below excessive heat criteria that still caused deaths, injuries or significant impacts.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

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: 5263588.