Name: Heat in Texas, August 6, 2001
Start: 2001-08-06T17:30
End: 2001-08-06T17:30
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 6, 1:15 PM CST, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 6, 1:15 PM CST, 4 hours 15 minutes before

SOUTHEAST TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
215 PM CDT MON AUG 6 2001

SHRA/TSRA FINALLY DEVELOPING AS CONVECTIVE TEMPERATURE IS REACHED.
EXPECT DECENT COVERAGE THIS EVENING AND ISOLATED CONVECTION WILL
PERSIST OVER THE EASTERN 2/3RDS OF THE REGION OVERNIGHT. THINK
TUESDAY WILL BE SIMILAR TO TODAY AS HIGH PW AIR REMAINS RESIDENT
OVER THE REGION AND 50H SHEAR ZONE IS JUST TO THE WEST OF SE TX.
LACK OF A LOW LEVEL TRIGGER AND MODEST UPPER LEVEL DIVERGENCE IS A
BIT UNSETTLING. STILL OF THE OPINION THAT DAYTIME HEATING WILL BE
SUFFICIENT TO SPAWN MANILY AFTERNOON CONVECTION WEDNESDAY. A BIT OF
A BREAK THURSDAY/FRIDAY AS UPPER LEVEL HIGH BUILDS ACROSS SE TX...
PWS DROP AND GRADIENT TIGHTENS REDUCING POSSIBLE SEA BREEZE
ACTIVITY. HEIGHTS FALL AGAIN SATURDAY/SUNDAY AND MSTR LEVELS RETURN
TO AROUND 1.9 INCHES SO WILL BRING A CHANCE OF TSRA BACK INTO THE
FORECAST.

MARINE: WEAK GRADIENT EQUALS LIGHT WINDS TONIGHT INTO WEDNESDAY.
GRADIENT TIGHTENS ON THURSDAY BUT EXPECT CONDITIONS TO REMAIN BELOW
SCA CRITERIA.

.KHGX...NONE.

43/45/48

PRELIMS...
CLL BE 074/096 073/097 074 342
IAH TT 073/093 074/094 073 352
GLS TT 080/090 081/090 081 352

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 6, 5:30 PM 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 car.

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	2001-08-06	81	Female	Vehicle/Towed Trailer	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: 5263590.