A cold front moved across South Central Texas on Sunday, November 3. In its wake an area of widespread cold rain and showers developed along and east of the I-35 corridor.
Every event with a place to put it; 13 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS EWX wrote it up.
A cold front moved across South Central Texas on Sunday, November 3. In its wake an area of widespread cold rain and showers developed along and east of the I-35 corridor. Although rain amounts in the following 24 hours were not excessive, the maximum bing near 4 inches, the deeply saturated nature of the area soils due to previous rains produced far more severe than usual flash flooding problems. As little as 1 to 2 inches of rain in 3 hour periods were often enough to fill creeks and streams and begin flash flooding over low water crossings. The rain area was concentrated from Georgetown to Lexington to LaGrange and Hallettsville to Floresville, New Braunfels, San Marcos, Austin and back to Georgetown. General rain amounts were near 1 inch with widespread 2 inch totals and isolated maxima near 4 inches. Flash flooding developed in the afternoon and had generally ended by evening.
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 Austin/San Antonio, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 4, 10:28 AM CST, 2 hours 17 minutes earlier.
SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 1028 AM CST MON NOV 4 2002 ONLY CHANGES MADE TO UPDATE WERE TO TEMPERATURE HIGHS FOR THIS AFTERNOON AS COLD ADVECTION AT SURFACE AND CONTINUED WARM ADVECTION ALOFT/ISENTROPIC UPGLIDE WILL RESULT IN CURRENT TEMPERATURES NOT MOVING MUCH IF AT ALL. WEATHER AND PROBABILITIES STILL LOOK GOOD. AT THIS TIME...STILL SEE FLASH FLOOD WATCH BEING EXTENDED INTO TONIGHT OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. 02/06 ONCE AGAIN AN APPROACHING UPR TROF TO WEST AND A GOOD TAP OF DEEP SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE ACRS CNTRL MEX WILL RESULT IN HIGH RAIN CHCS OVER THE NEXT 12-24 HOURS. TWO FEATURES WILL PROVIDE THE LIFT...THE FIRST BEING ONGOING STG EQ POT TEMP ADV/ISENTROPIC LIFT THIS MORNING JUST ABV THE COOL SFC AMS...THEN THE UPR TROF TO THE WEST PRODUCING SYNOPTIC SCALE LIFT ACRS TX THIS AFTN AND TONIGHT. ALREADY SEEING CONVECTION OVR WEST TX THAT WILL AFFECT THE WRN CWA BY THE MID TO LATE MORNING. COMBINATION OF VERY LOW FFG VALUES...PWS NEAR 2 INCHES...AND NEWD TRAINING OF CONVECTION WILL REQUIRE A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR THE EASTERN SXNS TDA...AND WILL LIKELY NEED TO BE EXTENDED INTO PART OF TONIGHT. MODELS IN GOOD AGREEMENT IN ENDING PCPN FROM THE WEST EARLY TUE AS A DEEP LAYER OF DRY AIR PUNCHES IN FROM THE WEST BEHIND THE TROF AND THIS VERIFIED IN THE WV IMAGERY NEAR BAJA. A RETURN TO MORE NORMAL NOV WX FOR WED THRU FRI WITH COOL/DRY CONDS PREVAILING...A STRONG UPR SHEAR AXIS OVERHEAD MAY MAKE FOR A FEW HIGH CLOUDS...BUT MOSTLY CLEAR SKIES SHOULD PREVAIL. NEXT TROF DIGGING INTO CA FRIDAY WILL BRING A RETURN FLOW TO S TX FRIDAY NIGHT/SATURDAY WITH A SLIGHT CHC FOR SOME DRZL. MOSTLY CLOUDY AND A CHC OF SHOWERS BY SATURDAY NIGHT/SUNDAY AS THE TROF ARRIVES IN WEST TX. PRELIMINARY NUMBERS... AUS 058/051 068/044 983- DRT 059/053 075/049 85-0 SAT 058/052 072/046 982- .EWX...FLASH FLOOD WATCH EASTERN THIRD OF CWA THRU TODAY.
TXZ171>173-183>194-202>209-217>225-228-051200- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 555 AM CST MON NOV 4 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAY ONE... THERE IS A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR IN EFFECT FOR TODAY FOR THE EASTERN HALF OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS...INCLUDING THE CITIES OF AUSTIN AND SAN ANTONIO. NUMEROUS THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO TRAIN ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS TODAY AND TONIGHT. WIDESPREAD ONE INCH RAINS CAN BE EXPECTED ACROSS THE REGION WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 2 TO 4 INCHES POSSIBLE OVER THE WATCH AREA. NO SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED TODAY OR TONIGHT. HOWEVER...SOME OF THESE THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE SMALL HAIL. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. HOWEVER SPOTTERS MAY BE CALLED UPON TO RELAY FLOOD INFORMATION IF A WARNING IS ISSUED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 39 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:47 UTC.
13 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
General 1 inch rainfall with isolated totals to 2.5 inches produced flash flooding from early afternoon into the evening hours. No damage was indicated.
General 1 to 2 inch rainfall with isolated totals to 3.5 inches near Dime Box produced flash flooding from early afternoon into the evening hours. No damage was indicated.
General 1 inch rainfall with isolated totals to 4 inches at Austin-Bergstrom Airport produced flash flooding through the mid afternoon into early evening. County roads had minor damage.
General 1 inch rainfall with isolated totals to 3.5 inches near Seguin and Kingsbury produced flash flooding from early afternoon into the evening hours. Only minor damage to county roads was reported.
General 1 to 2 inch rainfall with isolated totals to 3.5 inches near Elgin and Smithville produced flash flooding from early afternoon into the evening hours. Only minor road damage was indicated.
General 1 inch rainfall with isolated totals to 3.5 inches near Dime Box produced flash flooding from early afternoon into the late evening hours. Minor damage was reported to county roads.
General 1 to 2 inch rainfall with isolated totals to 3.5 inches at LaGrange and nearly 4 inches at Flatonia produced flash flooding from early afternoon through the late evening hours. Spotty damage was reported to area roads and bridges.
General 1 inch rainfall with isolated totals to 3 inches produced flash flooding from mid afternoon into the evening hours. No significant damage was indicated.
General 1 to 2 inch rainfall with isolated totals to near 4 inches between Gonzales and Flatonia produced flash flooding from mid afternoon through late evening. Minor damage occurred to roads.
General 1 inch rainfall with isolated totals to near 3 inches north of Stockdale produced flash flooding from early afternoon into the evening hours. No significant damage was indicated.
General 1 inch rainfall with isolated totals to near 3 inches between Taylor and Elgin produced flash flooding from late afternoon into the early evening hours. No significant damage was indicated.
General 1 inch rainfall with isolated totals to 3 inches west of Yoakum produced flash flooding from evening until near midnight. Minor damage to area roads was reported.
General 1 inch rainfall with isolated totals to 3 inches between Hallettsville and Flatonia produced flash flooding from evening until near midnight. Only minor damage was reported to area roads.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, November 2002
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: 5323260, 5323262, 5323261, 5323263, 5323264, 5323265, 5323266, 5323267, 5323268, 5323332, 5323331, 5323333, 5323334.