Heavy thunderstorms resulted in flash flooding in the Alpine vicinity on the 27th.
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 episode as NWS MAF wrote it up.
Heavy thunderstorms resulted in flash flooding in the Alpine vicinity on the 27th.
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 Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 27, 12:57 PM CST, 1 hour 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 157 PM CDT TUE MAY 27 2003 UPPER LOW OVER SOUTHERN CHIHUAHUA MEXICO AT 27/18Z...AND ACCORDING TO WATER VAPOR IMAGERY...IS SPINNING SOUTH/SOUTHWEST. SHORTWAVE TROUGH EXTENDING NORTHEAST OF UPPER LOW INTO WEST CENTRAL TEXAS IS SHEARING/WEAKENING AS IT STRETCHES SOUTHWESTWARD. CONVECTION CONTINUES TO DEVELOP ALONG AND NORTH OF BEST LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE AXIS...I.E. THE COLD FRONT...WHICH IS ORIENTED ALONG THE RIO GRANDE RIVER VALLEY. DESPITE SIZEABLE AREA OF SHRA/TSRA THAT MOVED SOUTHWEST FROM THE STOCKTON PLATEAU/LOWER TRANS PECOS THROUGH THE BIG BEND REGION EARLIER TODAY...CONVECTION CONTINUES TO DEVELOP OVER THESE AREAS AIDED BY LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE...UPSLOPE FLOW...AND MID LEVEL LIFT FROM SHEAR AXIS. ANOTHER LARGER AREA OF SHRA/TSRA BETWEEN BIG BEND REGION AND DEL RIO SPINNING WEST/NORTHWESTWARD IS OF MORE CONCERN. THINK THE NORTHERN THIRD OF THIS COMPLEX WILL PROBABLY AFFECT TERRELL...BREWSTER...AND PRESIDIO COUNTIES LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING WHERE WIDESPREAD QUARTER TO HALF INCH RAINFALL AMOUNTS OCCURRED EARLIER TODAY. COLD CLOUD TOPS APPEAR TO BE PERSISTING WITH THIS MCS...NOT TO MENTION ADDITIONAL NEW TSRA DEVELOPMENT EXTENDING EASTWARD THROUGH CROCKETT AND SUTTON COUNTIES. WILL GO AHEAD AND ISSUE A FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR TERRELL...BREWSTER...AND PRESIDIO COUNTIES FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. OVER THE REST OF THE AREA...LACK OF LIFT ALOFT AND RELATIVELY STABLE ATMOSPHERE SHOULD ALLOW SKIES TO CLEAR OVER AT LEAST THE NORTHERN THIRD OF THE CWA THIS EVENING...ESPECIALLY SINCE SURFACE RIDGE BUILDING IN FROM THE NORTHEAST AND UPPER LOW DEPARTING. PIREP JUST NORTHWEST OF MIDLAND AT 27/1807Z INDICATED LOW CLOUD LAYER OVER 1000 THICK...SO DONT WANT TO GO TOO FAR WITH FOG MENTION IN CASE CLOUDS MORE STUBBORN TO DISSIPATE THAN CURRENTLY THINKING. SINCE WEVE HAD COOL TEMPERATURES AND LITTLE SUN TO AID EVAPORATION OF COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF RAINFALL MOST LOCATIONS IN THE LAST FEW DAYS...THINK WELL SEE WIDESPREAD DENSE FOG DEVELOP WHERE CLOUDS DISSIPATE AFTER SUNSET. WILL INCLUDE SUCH WORDING IN THE ZONES...BUT WILL DEFER ISSUANCE OF NPW TO EVENING OR MID SHIFT WHEN AREAL OUTLINE MORE CERTAIN. DEFINITE WARMING AND DRYING TREND IN STORE FOR THE CWA WEDNESDAY AND BEYOND AS UPPER RIDGE STRENGTHENS OVER THE FOUR CORNERS AND NOSES INTO THE AREA FROM THE NORTHWEST. CURRENT ZONES HAVE A GOOD HANDLE ON THIS...IN ADDITION TO ISOLATED POPS IN THE MOUNTAINS DUE TO RESIDUAL LOW LEVEL MOISTURE IN UPSLOPE FLOW. IN THE EXTENDED...MEDIUM RANGE MODELS ARE IN BETTER AGREEMENT WITH BREAKING DOWN UPPER RIDGE SATURDAY AND SUNDAY...WHICH ALLOWS FOR ANOTHER COLD FRONT TO DROP INTO THE AREA SATURDAY AFTERNOON. DUE TO THIS AGREEMENT...HAVE WARMED TEMPERATURES UP ON SATURDAY AS H85 THERMAL RIDGE INCREASES/ENHANCES OVER THE AREA AHEAD OF THE FRONT IN ADDITION TO ADDING A SLIGHT CHANCE OF TSRA TO THE NORTHERN TWO TIERS OF COUNTIES. PREVIOUS SHIFT ALREADY PUSHED FRONT THROUGH THE AREA...WHICH STILL LOOKS GOOD...BUT ADDED SLIGHT CHANCE OF TSRA TO SATURDAY NIGHT TO GO WITH SLIGHT CHANCES ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND SUNDAY. LEFT SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY DRY FOR NOW...COOLED TEMPS A LITTLE BOTH DAYS...THEN WARMED THEM BACK UP TUESDAY. PRELIMINARY NUMBERS: MAF BB 56/87 59/95 64 0-00 CNM BB 55/88 57/97 63 0-00 MRF BB 52/77 50/86 56 31-1 FST BB 59/87 60/96 65 3--0 .MAF... TX...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT FOR TXZ079-082. NM...NONE. AKL
NMZ027>029-033-034-TXZ045>048-050>053-057>063-067>070-074-075- 079>082-258-280800- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 245 PM CDT TUE MAY 27 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT TONIGHT FOR BREWSTER...PRESIDIO AND TERRELL COUNTIES IN SOUTHWEST TEXAS. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL FROM SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS SOUTHWEST TEXAS TONIGHT WILL INCREASE THE POSSIBILITY FOR FLOODING OF LOW LYING AREAS...ARROYOS...CANYONS AND OTHER AREAS SUSCEPTIBLE TO HIGH WATER. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... EMERGENCY MANAGERS AND STORM SPOTTERS ARE REQUESTED TO MONITOR AREAS OF HEAVY RAINFALL TONIGHT FOR POSSIBLE FLASH FLOODING.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Local law enforcement officials reported one foot of water flowing over Highway 90 near the Altuda community.
Local law officials reported one foot of water flowing over Post Road south of Alpine.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2003Every state in 2003This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, May 2003
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: 5355267, 5355268.