Drought in Texas, January 1 to 31, 2002

Name: Drought in Texas, January 1 to 31, 2002
Start: 2002-01-01T00:00
End: 2002-01-31T23:59
Location: Texas

January 1 to 31, 2002 · 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 Dec 31, 8:00 PM CST, 4 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 31, 8:00 PM CST, 4 hours before

DEEP SOUTH TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
800 PM CST MON DEC 31 2001

.DISCUSSION...SHALLOW COLD LAYER TO 900 MB...WHILE SOUTH WIND ABOVE
RETARDED COOL DOWN IN 900 TO 750 MB LAYER.  ROUGHLY 4 DEG C
INVERSION AT 750 MB.  MOISTURE BEING PICKED UP OVER THE WARMER GULF
SUBJECT TO WEAK ISENTROPIC UPGLIDE.  QUICK SATURATION IN STABLE
LAYER RESULTING IN LOW OVC CLOUD DECK WITH LIGHT RAIN/DRIZZLE
OFFSHORE AND ALONG THE COAST.  DRIER AIR INLAND RESULTING IN HIGHER
CLOUD DECKS.  CURRENT ZONES LOOK REASONABLE...BUT WILL TOUCH UP
PRECIP WORDING.  ISENTROPIC UPGLIDE TO CONTINUE THROUGH TOMORROW...
HENCE CONTINUED CLOUDY WITH DRIZZLE/LIGHT RAIN...ESPECIALLY NEAR THE
COAST.

SHORT WAVE TROUGH MOVING OVER SOUTH ARIZONA TO SOUTH NEW MEXICO
EVIDENT IN WV AND WILL LIFT ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS
TOMORROW...AFTER WHICH NORTHERN HIGH PLAINS CP HIGH PRESSURE WILL
BEGIN MOVING SOUTH TOWARD TEXAS.  ISENTROPIC UPGLIDE ZONE WILL PUSH
OFFSHORE...AND DEEPER NORTH TO NORTHWEST LOWER LEVEL FLOW WILL
RESULT IN SOME CLEARING BY LATE WEDNESDAY.  FRESH COLD AIR...
EXPERIENCING LESS MODIFICATION OVER POTENTIAL SNOW PACK TO THE
NORTH...COMBINED WITH SOME RADIATIONAL COOLING...SUPPORTS
SUBFREEZING TEMPERATURES FOR THE VALLEY WEDNESDAY NIGHT.  SEE
SATSPSBRO FOR MORE DETAILS.

.MARINE...SURGE OF LOW LEVEL COLD AIR PEAKED AT 1500Z WITH A 27G33KT
READING AT BUOY 020...WITH 11 FEET SEAS SHORTLY AFTERWARD.  WINDS
NOW ARE SLOWLY DECREASING.  AIR TEMPS OFFSHORE AROUND 55 DEG
F...OVER WATER TEMPS OF 70 DEG F.  SURF WATER AND BAY TEMPS MUCH
COLDER AT AROUND 60 DEG F.  CONTINUED COLDER AIR WILL KEEP COOLING
TREND FOR BAY AND NEARSHORE WATERS.  WITH WINDS ON THE BAY LESS THAN
20 KNOTS...WILL DROP SCA THERE.  WINDS COULD PICK UP SLIGHTLY OVER
THE BAY AGAIN TOMORROW...REQUIRING SCEC OR SCA AGAIN.  THE GRADIENT
OFFSHORE WILL REMAIN TIGHT THROUGH TOMORROW WITH HIGH PRESSURE TO
THE NORTH AND WEAK LOW PRESSURE OVER WARMER WATERS TO THE SOUTH.
THEN REINFORCING HIGH PRESSURE LATE TUESDAY WILL KEEP SCA NORTH
WINDS GOING.  IN SHORT...SCA OFFSHORE TO STAY UP.

MILLER/VEGA

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

.BRO...SCA FOR GMZ150-155-170-175.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Dec 31, 10:00 PM CST, 2 hours before

TXZ248>257-011300-

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX
1000 PM CST MON DEC 31 2001

...FREEZING TEMPERATURES POSSIBLE FOR DEEP SOUTH TEXAS...

CANADIAN COLD AIR CONTINUES TO HOLD SWAY OVER SOUTH TEXAS TONIGHT.
A STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE...NOW OVER NEW MEXICO...WILL MOVE
ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS ON TUESDAY...BRINGING A MIX OF ICE AND
SNOW TO PORTIONS OF CENTRAL AND SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS.  THIS
DISTURBANCE WILL ALLOW OCCASIONAL LIGHT RAIN AND DRIZZLE TO CONTINUE
OVER DEEP SOUTH TEXAS THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY.  AS THE
DISTURBANCE MOVES OUT OF THE STATE TUESDAY NIGHT...THE COLDEST AIR
OF THIS WINTER SEASON WILL MOVE IN BEHIND IT.

NORTH AND WEST AREAS OF DEEP SOUTH TEXAS MAY SEE TEMPERATURES
DROP TO NEAR FREEZING AS EARLY AS WEDNESDAY MORNING...WHILE MOST OF
THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY WILL SEE READINGS IN THE MID TO UPPER 30S.
HIGH TEMPERATURES ON WEDNESDAY WILL BE HIGHLY DEPENDENT ON CLOUD
COVER...BUT SKIES ARE FORECAST TO BEGIN CLEARING BY LATE IN THE
DAY...AND TEMPERATURES COULD WARM INTO THE 40S.

WIDESPREAD FREEZING TEMPERATURES APPEAR POSSIBLE BY THURSDAY
MORNING.  THE CENTER OF THE CANADIAN AIRMASS WILL MOVE OVER SOUTH
AND SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND EARLY THURSDAY
MORNING...SETTING UP IDEAL RADIATIONAL COOLING...AND ALLOWING
TEMPERATURES TO DROP INTO THE UPPER 20S AND LOWER 30S.  AREAS TO THE
NORTH AND WEST COULD SEE TEMPERATURES DROP INTO THE MID 20S.  A
STEADY WIND NEAR THE COAST WILL KEEP MOST COASTAL AREAS ABOVE
FREEZING.

THE HIGH PRESSURE AREA WILL SHIFT EAST ON THURSDAY AND
FRIDAY...ALLOWING FOR A GRADUAL WARMUP.

RESIDENTS ARE URGED TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS FROM THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BROWNSVILLE. LISTEN TO NOAA WEATHER
RADIO FOR FURTHER UPDATES ON THIS POTENTIAL FREEZE EVENT.

YURA/MILLER

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, Brooks

When: January 1, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM 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, Cameron

When: January 1, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM 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, Hidalgo

When: January 1, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM 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, Jim Hogg

When: January 1, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM 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, Kenedy

When: January 1, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM 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: January 1, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Starr forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 26.562, -98.738 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Willacy

When: January 1, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM 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, Zapata

When: January 1, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Zapata forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 27.001, -99.169 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Very dry conditions prevailed across all of Deep South Texas again during the month of January, as moderate drought conditions persisted. Rainfall totals from around a tenth of an inch to a quarter of an inch were reported, with several locations receiving no rainfall during the month of January 2002. Unseasonably warm temperatures combined with high winds contributed to numerous grass fires. The average monthly temperature in Brownsville was 4.3 degrees above normal. Storage levels continue to fall at both Falcon and Amistad reservoirs with combined storage near 32 percent. Combined storage at this time last year was 44 percent.

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 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Texas, January 2002

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: 5279627, 5279628, 5279629, 5279630, 5279631, 5279632, 5279681, 5279682.