Flash Flood in Texas, October 9, 2002

Name: Flash Flood in Texas, October 9, 2002
Start: 2002-10-09T10:00
End: 2002-10-09T11:30
Location: Texas

October 9, 2002 · NWS EWX · 1 event in 1 county or zone

1 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $20,000
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 Austin/San Antonio, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 9, 2:00 AM CST, 8 hours earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Oct 9, 2:00 AM CST, 8 hours before

SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
300 AM CDT WED OCT 9 2002

CURRENT WEATHER ANALYSIS...
THERE IS A SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE OVER THE EXTREME NORTHEAST
CONUS AND OFF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST COAST. WEAK SURFACE TROUGHS OVER
THE SOUTHWEST CONUS AND NORTHERN MEXICO INTO NEW MEXICO AND THE
CONTINUAL DIVIDE. 500MB HIGH EXISTS OVER THE CARIBBEAN WITH ZONAL
FLOW ACROSS THE NORTHERN CONUS AND A LOW CENTERED OVER NEW MEXICO. A
PACIFIC MID/UPPER LEVEL MOISTURE TAPS CAN BE SEEN BY IR/WV SATELLITE
AND LOW LEVEL MOISTURE TAP IS EVIDENT BY 88D VAD WINDS. 88D RADAR
SHOWS CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY SCATTERED OVER MUCH OF THE SOUTH CENTRAL
TEXAS AND HILL COUNTRY FORECAST WARNING AREA.

MODEL GUIDANCE ANALYSIS...
AVN PRECIPITABLE WATER KEEPS THE REGION RATHER WET THROUGH 48 HOURS
WITH A NOTICEABLE DRYING TREND AFTER THAT. THE MRF...AVN...ETA AND
NGM 500MB GUIDANCE MOVES THE LOW OVER NEW MEXICO NORTHEAST BY
48 HOURS...BUILDING THE CARIBBEAN HIGH OVER THE GULF AND MEXICO.
THE MRF...AVN...ETA AND NGM SURFACE GUIDANCE MOVES THE NORTHEAST
SURFACE RIDGE OFF TO THE  THE EAST...SWEEPS THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST
COASTAL HIGH ACROSS THE UPPER MIDWEST BY 48 HOURS...A MOVES A
SURFACE TROUGH ACROSS THE MIDWEST AHEAD OF THE RIDGE.

CURRENT WEATHER OUTLOOK...
LOOK FOR UPPER LEVEL LOW OVER NEW MEXICO TO MOVE SLOWLY NORTHEAST
THROUGH TODAY AND TONIGHT...DRAGGING A SURFACE TROUGH WITH IT. THIS
WILL GIVE THE REGION CLEARING SKIES FROM THE WEST WITH RAIN ENDING.
WILL CONTINUE WITH THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TODAY ( 4PM / 21Z )
THE CURRENT CONVECTIVE WEATHER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE DAY. THE
TIMING THE THE TROUGH AND THE LOW EJECTING THE THE NORTHEAST IS THE
KEY.

IN THE EXTENDED PERIODS...
A COLD FRONT IS PROGED TO SWEEP ACROSS THE REGION THIS WEEKEND WITH
ASSOCIATED SHOWERS.

PRELIMINARY NUMBERS...
AUS 80/65/80/60/84 64200
DRT 85/65/85/62/85 53200
SAT 81/65/82/61/85 64200

.EWX...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH 4 PM CDT WEDNESDAY FOR ALL OF
       SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS AND MOST OF THE HILL COUNTRY.

Hazardous weather outlook, Oct 9, 5:00 AM CST, 5 hours before

TXZ171>173-183>194-202>209-217>225-228-101200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
600 AM CDT WED OCT 9 2002

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS.

.DAY ONE...
A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT THROUGH TODAY FOR ALL OF SOUTH
CENTRAL TEXAS AND MOST OF THE TEXAS HILL COUNTRY.

THIS WATCH INCLUDES THE COUNTIES OF...
ATASCOSA...BANDERA...BASTROP...BEXAR...BLANCO...BURNET...CALDWELL...
COMAL...DIMMIT...EDWARDS...FRIO...GILLESPIE...GUADALUPE...HAYS...
KENDALL...KERR...KINNEY...LEE...LLANO...MAVERICK...MEDINA...REAL...
TRAVIS...UVALDE...WILLIAMSON...WILSON AND ZAVALA.

NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE CONTINUING OVER SOUTH CENTRAL
TEXAS AND THE HILL COUNTRY AS A STRONG UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM OVER
NEW MEXICO CONTINUES TO MOVE NORTHEAST. RAINFALL TOTALS THROUGH
TODAY COULD APPROACH 4 TO 8 INCHES. THE THREAT FOR HEAVY RAIN IS
EXPECTED TO CONTINUE INTO TONIGHT.

.SPOTTER CALL TO ACTION STATEMENT...
SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY LIKELY BE NEEDED.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...
SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL END THURSDAY MORNING WITH PARTLY
CLOUDY SKIES PREVAIL THROUGH TO THE WEEKEND. A APPROACHING COLD
FRONT MAY BRING A CHANCE FOR ADDITIONAL RAINS ON SUNDAY.

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Frio

When: October 9, 10:00 AM CST to 11:30 AM CST
Where: Frio County, Frio Town
Property damage: $20,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 28.868, -99.108 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Scattered showers and thunderstorms reformed by the mid morning in an area from LaPryor to Batesville to Frio Town. These slow-moving showers and storms were producing rainfall at rates of an inch an hour, and accumulations by mid morning were approaching 3 inches. Isolated totals near Frio Town eventually reached 5 inches. The rain continued until just before noon, then ended. With soils wet from recent rainfall, flash flooding began in the late morning and continued until near noon.

What these are

Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

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, October 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: 5319316.