A squall line moved out of South-Central Texas and into the Coastal Bend and Rio Grande Plains during the early morning hours of the 12th. A rear inflow jet descended across eastern San Patricio and Nueces counties producing a bow echo right at the coastline and resulting in damaging surface winds around Ingleside and Port Aransas.
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 CRP wrote it up.
A squall line moved out of South-Central Texas and into the Coastal Bend and Rio Grande Plains during the early morning hours of the 12th. A rear inflow jet descended across eastern San Patricio and Nueces counties producing a bow echo right at the coastline and resulting in damaging surface winds around Ingleside and Port Aransas. In addition very heavy rainfall fell across San Patricio and Nueces counties. 4.69 inches of rain fell at the Corpus Christi International Airport during the morning, setting a new record for daily rainfall on that date. The squall line continued into the Gulf of Mexico producing wind gusts up to 77 mph at the RTNS platform.
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 Corpus Christi, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 12, 3:00 AM CST, 12 minutes earlier.
SOUTH TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX 400 AM CDT FRI SEP 12 2003 SHORT-TERM (TODAY THRU 00Z SUN)...LINE OF STRONG STORMS MOVING THRU CWFA AT THIS TIME. STILL SHOULD BE SOME CONVECTION AROUND BY SUNRISE ESPECIALLY OVER THE EAST SO WILL GO FAIRLY HIGH ON POPS THIS MORNING THEN TAPER THEM OFF DURING THE DAY. STILL SOME ENERGY OUT TO THE WEST WHICH WILL HELP TO KEEP STORMS GOING THROUGH AT LEAST THE MORNING HOURS IF NOT DURING THE FIRST PART OF THE AFTERNOON. WILL GO WITH THE MORE PROGRESSIVE GFS BRINGING THE SYSTEM/700MB TROUGH AXIS THROUGH BY EARLY EVENING. WILL KEEP A SLIGHT CHANCE OF PRECIP IN FOR THE EASTERN COUNTIES FOR EARLY TONIGHT. WITH DRIER AIR MOVING IN DO NOT EXPECT PRECIP ON SATURDAY. TEMPS BELOW NORMAL TODAY DUE TO CLOUDS AND RAIN...BUT TRICKY TO THE WEST WHERE SOME CLEARING LATE MAY BRING THE TEMPS UP SOME. EXPECT WET GROUNDS ON SATURDAY TO KEEP TEMPS BELOW 90 OVER THE COASTAL COUNTIES AND GENERALLY LOWER 90S OVER THE WESTERN INLAND COUNTIES. CLEARING SKIES AND LESS MOISTURE WITH WET GROUND SHOULD CALL FOR FOG INLAND SECTIONS. LONG-TERM (00Z SUN THRU THU)...UPR LVL LOW WILL CONTINUE MOVING NE AWAY FM TX SAT NIGHT AND PHASE INTO TROF OVER NRN PLAINS. MAY SEE ANOTHER NIGHT OF PATCHY FOG AGAIN GIVEN WET GROUNDS AND LIGHT EAST WINDS. SFC HIGH SLIDES DOWN ROCKIES INTO PANHANDLE ON SUNDAY USHERING IN DRIER AIR. MODERATE NORTHEAST FLOW WILL RESULT IN SCEC CONDITIONS LATE SUNDAY AND MONDAY OVER WATERS. MORNING LOWS MONDAY AND TUESDAY WILL BE RELATIVELY COOL WITH MID 60S INLAND. HIGHS SHIFTS EAST TUE NIGHT INTO WED WITH SLOW RETURN OF MOISTURE ON THURSDAY. GFS PROGS NEXT FRONT MOVING INTO REGION ON FRIDAY. CRP TB 085/071 089/071 087 91-0- VCT TB 084/068 089/070 087 +1-0- LRD TB 092/071 094/072 089 71000 .CRP...FLASH FLOOD WATCH TXZ229>234-239>247 THROUGH 4 PM TODAY 86/GW...SHORT TERM 76/JR...LONG TERM
GMZ230-235-250-255-270-275-TXZ229>234-239>247-121100- HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX 545 AM CDT THU SEP 11 2003 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TODAY OF THE COASTAL BEND AND VICTORIA AREA...WITH ISOLATED ACTIVITY OVER THE RIO GRANDE PLAINS. ALSO...SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED OVERNIGHT MAINLY OVER THE NORTHERN COASTAL BEND AND VICTORIA AREAS...AS AN UPPER LEVEL LOW APPROACHES SOUTH TEXAS. THE MAIN CONCERN WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL... WITH ISOLATED AMOUNTS AROUND 3 INCHES POSSIBLE BY SUNRISE ON FRIDAY. HOWEVER...MOST LOCATIONS WILL AVERAGE AROUND 1/2 INCH. A FEW STRONG THUNDERSTORMS...PRODUCING WIND GUSTS OF 50 MPH AND PEA TO MARBLE SIZED HAIL...ARE ALSO POSSIBLE MAINLY THIS AFTERNOON. FINALLY... AFTERNOON HEAT INDICES ARE EXPECTED TO RISE TO BETWEEN 105 AND 109 DEGREES OVER INLAND SECTIONS OF THE COASTAL BEND...VICTORIA AREA AND RIO GRANDE PLAINS. OTHERWISE...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE AND ASSOCIATED COLD FRONT WILL APPROACH SOUTH TEXAS AND THE ADJACENT WATERS ON FRIDAY. AS A RESULT...SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL INCREASE IN COVERAGE LATE THURSDAY NIGHT INTO FRIDAY MORNING ACROSS SOUTH TEXAS AND SPREAD EAST THROUGHOUT THE DAY. VERY HEAVY RAIN...FREQUENT LIGHTNING AND GUSTY WINDS WILL ACCOMPANY THESE SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. WIDESPREAD RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 2 TO 3 INCHES...WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS...WILL BE POSSIBLE LATE THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...WITH THE HEAVIEST RAIN OCCURRING ACROSS THE NORTHERN COASTAL BEND AND VICTORIA CROSSROADS REGION. THE WEAK COLD FRONT WILL PUSH OFFSHORE ON SATURDAY WITH RAIN CHANCES DECREASING FROM WEST TO EAST SATURDAY MORNING. A STRONGER SURGE OF DRIER AIR WILL PUSH THROUGH THE AREA LATE SUNDAY. MODERATE TO OCCASIONALLY STRONG NORTH WINDS ARE EXPECTED BEHIND THIS SECOND FRONT. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES MAY BE NEEDED AS A RESULT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. GW/JR
TXZ229>234-239>244-246-120730- SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX 1217 AM CDT FRI SEP 12 2003 ...LINE OF SHOWERS AND STRONG THUNDERSTORMS HEADING FOR THE COASTAL BEND... AT 1215 AM...WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A LINE OF SHOWERS AND STRONG THUNDERSTORMS FROM PEARSALL TO FALLS CITY TO CUERO. THIS LINE WAS MOVING TO THE SOUTH AT 20 MPH. AT THIS PRESENT MOVEMENT...THIS LINE WILL REACH THE NORTHERN SECTIONS OF THE VICTORIA AREA AND COASTAL BEND AROUND 1 AM...THEN CONTINUE TO MOVE SOUTH...REACHING THE CORPUS CHRISTI AND LAREDO AREAS AROUND 6 AM. THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL PRODUCE WIND GUSTS TO 50 MPH...VERY HEAVY RAINFALL...CAUSING LOCALIZED FLOODING...AND POSSIBLY SMALL HAIL. ONE OR TWO THUNDERSTORMS COULD PRODUCE WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 55 MPH. THE MAIN CONCERN WITH THESE SHOWERS AND STORMS HOWEVER...WILL BE VERY HEAVY RAINFALL. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 2 TO 3 INCHES WILL BE COMMON...WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS. RESIDENTS SHOULD CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE WEATHER AND LATEST FORECASTS. REMAIN INDOORS AND STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS AS THESE THUNDERSTORMS APPROACH. IF FLOODING IS OBSERVED OR IF A FLOOD WARNING IS ISSUED...MOVE TO HIGHER GROUND. DO NOT DRIVE INTO AREAS WHERE WATER OF UNKNOWN DEPTH COVERS THE ROAD...ESPECIALLY AT NIGHT. STAY TUNED TO NOAA WEATHER RADIO FOR FURTHER STATEMENTS OR POSSIBLE WARNINGS. ALSO...CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE AT WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/CRP GW
The Corpus Christi radar (KCRP), 31 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 09:12 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Damage was done to a crane on a barge along the Intracoastal Waterway. See Gulf of Mexico Marine Zone 230 above for more information.
Water over the road along S.R. 188 off of I-37. In addition San Patricio Sheriff's office reported 26 in Mathis had water over the road. Several other roads through the county were reported as having minor flooding, but passable.
A small security building to a condominium complex received major damage. Minor roof damage also occurred at an apartment complex, several homes and a nightclub. Power lines were also blown down.
Corpus Christi Police Depatment reported water covering I-37, 1 mile west of Highway 358. In addition several city streets had water covering portions of the roadway.
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, September 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: 5371533, 5371535, 5371534, 5371536.