Afternoon thunderstorms that developed around the Galveston Bay area produced lightning strikes and damaging downburst winds.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 HGX wrote it up.
Afternoon thunderstorms that developed around the Galveston Bay area produced lightning strikes and damaging downburst winds.
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 Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 26, 11:15 AM CST, 2 hours 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED FOR AVIATION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 1215 PM CDT TUE AUG 26 2008 .AVIATION... VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS A SFC BOUNDARY IN PLACE FROM KAUS TO KHOU TO KGLS THIS HOUR. THIS BOUNDARY COULD BE THE FOCUS FOR ISOLATED -SHRA/-TSRA DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTN. OTHERWISE...DRIER AIR AND SUBSIDENCE WILL PRECLUDE CONVECTIVE DEVELOPMENT. SCATTERED 4KFT CU DECK WILL PERSIST UNTIL SUNSET. PATCHY MVFR FOG WILL AFFECT RURAL SITES LIKE KCXO/KLBX 08-14Z WEDNESDAY. WINDS WILL REMAIN VERY LIGHT. 35 && .DISCUSSION... NOT PLANNING ON ANY SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE GOING FCST ATTM. SO FAR THE TREND OF SLIGHTLY HIGHER POPS OVER THE FAR SWRN ZONES LOOK GOOD AS THIS DOES SEEM TO BE WHERE THE DEEPER MOISTURE IS PERSIST- ING. THE RELATIVELY CLOUD FREE SKIES SHOULD MAKE REACHING CONVECT- IVE TEMPS (UPPER 80/LOWER 90S) LATER THIS AFTN RELATIVELY EASY. 41 && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 414 AM CDT TUE AUG 26 2008/ REMNANTS OF FAY BEGINNING TO MAKE A PROGRESSIVELY NORTHEASTERN EXIT OVER THE CENTRAL OHIO VALLEY...OFFSHORE LINE OF SCT SHOWERS/ISO STORMS FOCUSED ALONG ITS TRAILING NORTHERN GOM SFC TROUGH. RIDGING TO FILL THE VOID LEFT BY FAY GOING INTO MID WEEK. TWO LARGE REGIONS OF SUBSIDENCE...ONE MOVING IN FROM THE WEST AND OTHER TAKING FORM OVER THE EASTERN AND NORTHERN GULF...WILL CONTINUE TO KEEP PRECIPITATION CHANCES ON THE VERY LOW SIDE THROUGH THE WEEK. HIGHER CHANCE OF RAIN WILL OCCUR ALONG THE AFTERNOON SEA BREEZE FRONT AND WHERE THE RELATIVELY HIGHER MOISTURE RESIDES...OR OVER PRIMARILY NEAR-COASTAL (MATAGORDA BAY VICINITY) COUNTIES. GUSTAV HAS NOW STRENGTHENED TO A CATEGORY ONE HURRICANE JUST SOUTH OF HAITI. A VERY IMPRESSIVE-LOOKING CYCLONE PER IR SAT AS GUSTAV CYCLES THROUGH ITS LATEST NORTHERN PERIPHERAL CONVECTIVE BURST. GUSTAV IS TRAVELING TOWARDS A REGION OF LESS WIND SHEAR AND COULD BE STEERED WEST-NORTHWESTWARD BY A MID WEEK DEVELOPING GULF RIDGE. NEEDLESS TO SAY...BUT THE FIRST COUPLE DAYS OF SEPTEMBER MAY BE AFFECTED...EITHER DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY...BY HURRICANE GUSTAV. PLEASE REFER TO ALL NHC PRODUCTS CONCERNING GUSTAVS FORECASTED TRACK AND INTENSITY. 31 MARINE... A FLAT PRESSURE GRADIENT WILL PERSIST RESULTING IN LIGHT WINDS AND LOW/FLAT SEAS FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. LANDBREEZE/SEABREEZE INTERACTIONS WILL RESULT IN SOME VARIABILITY IN THE WIND DIRECTION. WINDS SHOULD BECOME MORE EASTERLY TOWARD THE WEEKEND. WILL CONTINUE TO WATCH THE LATEST AND GREATEST REGARDING GUSTAV. DONT PARTICULARLY CARE FOR TONIGHTS GUSTAV MODEL RUNS WHICH MOSTLY SHOW A WWD TRACK SHIFT UNDER THE MID LEVEL RIDGE TO ITS NORTH. COULD START GETTING SOME SWELLS LATE IN THE WEEKEND IF SOME OF THE FASTER MODEL TRACKS VERIFY. CURRENT FCST ONLY GOES THRU SAT...BUT SOMETHING FUTURE SHIFTS WILL NEED TO LOOK AT FOR SUNDAY AND BEYOND. 47 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... COLLEGE STATION (CLL) 95 75 95 75 94 / 20 10 20 20 20 HOUSTON (IAH) 94 74 94 74 94 / 20 20 20 20 20 GALVESTON (GLS) 91 80 89 80 91 / 20 20 20 20 20 && .HGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...NONE. GM...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 639 AM CDT TUE AUG 26 2008 TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-235>238-271145- AUSTIN-BRAZORIA-BRAZOS-BURLESON-CHAMBERS-COLORADO-FORT BEND- GALVESTON-GRIMES-HARRIS-HOUSTON-JACKSON-LIBERTY-MADISON-MATAGORDA- MONTGOMERY-POLK-SAN JACINTO-TRINITY-WALKER-WALLER-WASHINGTON- WHARTON- 639 AM CDT TUE AUG 26 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH FIVE...WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS SIX AND SEVEN...SUNDAY AND MONDAY HURRICANE GUSTAV MAY POSE A THREAT TO OUR REGION. PLEASE REFER TO ALL NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER PRODUCTS CONCERNING THE FUTURE EVOLUTION OF GUSTAV. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.
The Houston radar (KHGX), 19 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 20:07 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Downburst winds caused roofing material to be blown off aircraft hanger at Ellington Field. Some of this material landed on 2 nearby parked vehicles with vehicles severely damaged.
A lightning strike caused a fire that was contained to the attic. There was fire, smoke and water damage to the home.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, August 2008
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: 132130, 132131.