3 hail, 1 funnel cloud, 1 flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 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 Oct 20, 1:50 PM CST, 2 hours 27 minutes earlier.
DEEP SOUTH TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX 250 PM CDT SUN OCT 20 2002 .SHORT TERM...THE UPPER LEVEL LOW HAS CONTINUED ON ITS EASTWARD PROGRESSION AND IS CURRENTLY OVER ARKANSAS. AT THE SURFACE...A COLD FRONT EXTENDS FROM AR THROUGH THE TX HILL COUNTRY...WHILE A SURFACE TROUGH EXTENDS FROM LA THROUGH THE WEST GULF OF MEX WATERS AND BACK ON SHORE NEAR BRO. THIS BOUNDARY IS EXPECTED TO WEAKEN TODAY... ALLOWING THE WINDS TO BECOME MORE UNIFORM AND SOUTHEASTERLY. THIS WEAKENING BOUNDARY AS WELL AS THE RRQ OF THE UPPER LEVEL JET WILL AID IN UVV TONIGHT. PLUS WITH PWATS APPROACHING 2 IN...ADEQUATE MOISTURE APPEARS TO BE IN PLACE FOR SHOWER/THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. AVN AND ETA BOTH HAVE PRECIP. TONIGHT FOR THE AREA...HOWEVER...BY MONDAY THE ETA KEEPS MOST OF THE PRECIP TO THE NORTH. THE AVN HAS STRONGER OVERRUNNING/ISENTROPIC LIFT TO THE NORTH AS WELL AS MORE PRECIP. BELIEVE BEST CHANCE WILL BE IN THE MORNING AS GREATEST UVV SHIFTS FROM DEPSOTX TO LA BY MON. NIGHT. MODELS TRENDING DRIER FOR TUES...WILL ADJUST ZONES TO REFLECT THIS CHANGE. .EXTENDED...AN UPPER LEVEL LOW WILL TRAVERSE THE SOUTHERN U.S. IN THE WEST-SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW REACHING TEXAS BY FRIDAY. AT THE SURFACE...ONSHORE FLOW WILL CONTINUE UNTIL LATE FRIDAY WHEN THE ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT IS EXPECTED TO MAKE IT INTO SOUTH TEXAS...WHETHER OR NOT IT WILL REACH DEPSOTX IS STILL IN QUESTION. OTHERWISE...MOST OF THE WEEK SEEMS RELATIVELY DRY. .MARINE DISCUSSION...THE POTENTIAL FOR ISOLATED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE OVER THE COASTAL WATERS THROUGH MID WEEK...AS MOIST GULF AIR IS DESTABILIZED BY CONDITIONS ALOFT. THE AVN IS MORE AGGRESSIVE WITH RAINFALL AREAL COVERAGE AND AMOUNT. WINDS WILL REMAIN LIGHT TO MODERATE FROM THE SOUTHEAST...WITH SEAS MODERATE AS WELL. NO FLAGS ARE EXPECTED IN THE SHORT TERM. BY MID WEEK A COLD FRONT PUSHES SOUTH INTO CENTRAL AND EAST TEXAS...AND THE AVN THEN DEVELOPS DEEPENING SURFACE LOW PRESSURE IN EAST TEXAS LATE IN THE WEEK. IF THIS VERIFIES...WINDS WILL INCREASE OVER THE LOWER TEXAS COASTAL WATERS TOWARD THE END OF THE WEEK...THOUGH SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES STILL APPEAR MARGINAL AT THIS POINT. PRELIMINARY NUMBERS... BRO EE 072/085 072/086 072 50/30/20/20/00 HRL EE 070/085 070/086 071 50/30/20/20/00 MFE EE 070/086 070/087 070 50/30/20/20/00 RGC EE 069/086 068/088 068 50/30/20/20/00 SPI EE 076/081 074/080 075 30/20/20/20/00 SYNOPTIC...63 AVIATION-MARINE-MESO...54 INTERNET ADDRESS...WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/BRO .BRO...NONE.
TXZ248>257-211100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX 441 PM CDT SUN OCT 20 2002 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR DEEP SOUTH TEXAS. .DAY ONE... SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS HAVE DEVELOPED ALONG A SURFACE TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE. SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE REGION LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. SOME STORMS COULD BE SEVERE. .SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT NEEDED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED.
The Brownsville radar (KBRO), 65 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:26 UTC.
3 hail, 1 funnel cloud, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Funnel cloud was observed by the Harbormaster just southwest of Port Mansfield.
The Harbormaster in Port Mansfield reported 1.75 inch hail.
A weather spotter reported 3/4 inch hail.
The Elsa Police Department reported 3/4 inch hail on Highway 88 just south of town.
Street flooding was reported in Edinburg by the Hidalgo County Emergency Manager.
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, October 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: 5319997, 5319998, 5319999, 5320000, 5320001.