Moderate to severe drought conditions developed across Deep South Texas during February. S.
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.
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 BRO wrote it up.
Moderate to severe drought conditions developed across Deep South Texas during February. The U.S. Drought Monitor indicated that Zapata County was in a severe drought at the end of the month, with the remainder of Deep South Texas and the Lower Rio Grande Valley having deteriorated to moderate drought. Numerous grass, scrub, and brush fires, some reaching several thousand acres, occurred across many locations, particularly from Hidalgo and Brooks County west through Zapata, Starr, and Jim Hogg Counties, as the combination of short and long-term drought conditions worsened.
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 Feb 25, 8:14 PM CST, 3 hours 46 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX 814 PM CST MON FEB 25 2008 .DISCUSSION...COLD FRONT DRAPED ACROSS CENTRAL TEXAS POISED TO SWEEP THROUGH DEEP SOUTH TEXAS SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT UNTIL SHORTLY BEFORE SUNRISE TUESDAY MORNING. MAIN THREAT WITH FRONT WILL BE STRONG WINDS AND DRY AIR IN ITS WAKE...PRODUCING AN ENHANCED RISK OF WILDFIRE. FIRE WEATHER WATCH FOR ALL OF BRO CWFA TUESDAY AFTERNOON LIKELY TO BE UPGRADED TO RED FLAG WARNING BY INCOMING SHIFT. PLEASANT WEATHER EXPECTED IN THE WAKE OF THE FRONT...WITH NEXT SIGNIFICANT COLD FRONT POSSIBLY EXACTLY A WEEK AWAY. NO CHANGES MADE TO ZONE FORECAST AT THIS TIME. && .MARINE...FROPA XPCTD AT 6 AM TUESDAY...WITH 30 KTS OF NORTH WIND...FOLLOWED BY A DECREASE TO 20 TO 25 KTS BY 6 PM. CURRENTLY ...LOCAL GULF CONDITIONS ARE REPORTED BY AREA BUOYS PLACE SOUTH WINDS AT 20 TO 25 KNOTS WITH SEAS SLOW TO RESPOND...NOW ONLY 3.3 FT AT 4 SECONDS. A CONTINUED DEGENERATION OF MARINE CONDITIONS WILL CONTINUE WITH TIME...CULMINATING WITH FROPA AND NORTH WIND SHIFT WITH NEAR GALE FORCE GUSTS 7 AM TUESDAY. LITTLE CONVECTION IS ANTICIPATED WITH FROPA...AND HAVE POST SCA FOR ALL MARINE AREAS OF DEEP S TX NOW THRU 00Z WEDNESDAY. && .AVIATION...VFR CONDITIONS WITH MODERATE TO STRONG GUSTY SOUTHERLY WINDS AND CLEAR TO PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES ARE BEING REPORTED AT THE REGIONAL AIRPORTS. THESE WINDS SHOULD MAINTAIN THEIR MAGNITUDES THROUGH FROPA AT 6 AM...FOLLOWED BY NORTH WINDS AT 20 TO 30 KTS WITH GUSTS TO 35 KTS. VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL OVER THE REGIONAL AIRPORTS THRU THE NEXT 24H WITH STRONG WINDS BEING THE NUMBER ONE AVIATION CONCERN THRU TUESDAY EVENING. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... BAYVIEW/PORT ISABEL 60 70 47 70 / 0 0 0 10 BROWNSVILLE 61 74 47 73 / 0 0 0 10 HARLINGEN 61 71 41 74 / 0 0 0 10 MCALLEN 62 74 47 74 / 0 0 0 0 RIO GRANDE CITY 62 76 48 76 / 0 0 0 0 SOUTH PADRE ISLAND 61 71 50 69 / 0 0 0 10 && .BRO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FIRE WEATHER WATCH TXZ248>257 6 AM TO 6PM TUE. SCA GMZ130-132-135-150-155-170-175 UNTIL 6 PM TUE. && THIS PRODUCT IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON THE WEB AT: HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/BROWNSVILLE SYNOPTIC/GRIDS...TOMASELLI/66 MARINE/AVIATION/MESO...PHILO/58
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX 915 PM CST MON FEB 25 2008 TXZ251-254>257-261130- KENEDY-INLAND WILLACY-INLAND CAMERON-COASTAL WILLACY- COASTAL CAMERON- 915 PM CST MON FEB 25 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR DEEP SOUTH TEXAS AND THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY NEAR THE COAST. .DAY ONE...REMAINDER OF TONIGHT SOUTH WINDS HAVE INCREASED OVER COASTAL DEEP SOUTH TEXAS AND THE ADJACENT GULF WATERS. SMALL CRAFT ADVISORIES ARE POSTED FOR ALL MARINE AREAS OF DEEP SOUTH TEXAS THROUGH 6 PM TUESDAY. THE WINDS WILL ALSO INCREASE THE THREAT FOR THE SPREAD OF ANY WILD FIRES THAT START. BEACH GOERS CAN EXPECT A MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS AT THE BEACHES OF SOUTH PADRE ISLAND AND BOCA CHICA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY A COLD FRONT WILL SWEEP THROUGH THE AREA EARLY TUESDAY...FOLLOWED IMMEDIATELY BY STRONG AND GUSTY NORTHERLY WINDS. THE WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO GALE FORCE FROM MID MORNING TO LATE AFTERNOON BEFORE GRADUALLY DIMINISHING BY EVENING. HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES MAY BE AT SOME RISK...AS WILL UNFASTENED LIGHTWEIGHT YARD ITEMS. RESIDENTS SHOULD PLAN ON SECURING OR TAKING THESE ITEMS INDOORS TONIGHT. RIP CURRENT RISK WILL BE HIGH TUESDAY. THE THREAT FOR EXPLOSIVE WILD FIRE GROWTH CONTINUES ON TUESDAY. A FIRE WEATHER WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE EXPECTED WIND SURGE. BOATERS WILL EXPERIENCE ROUGH CONDITIONS BEGINNING BETWEEN 6 AND 7 AM...REACHING THEIR PEAK BY MID AFTERNOON. SEAS WILL LIKELY BUILD TO 10 FEET BY LATE AFTERNOON...DRIVEN BY STRONG NORTH WINDS WITH GUSTS TO NEAR GALE FORCE. CONDITIONS WILL QUIET TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT HOWEVER...GUSTY SOUTH TO SOUTHEAST WINDS IN EXCESS OF 25 MPH MAY ARRIVE AGAIN THURSDAY AFTERNOON. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. TXZ248>250-252-253-261130- ZAPATA-JIM HOGG-BROOKS-STARR-HIDALGO- 915 PM CST MON FEB 25 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR DEEP SOUTH TEXAS. .DAY ONE...REMAINDER OF TONIGHT HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED OVERNIGHT. BY EARLY TUESDAY MORNING ...A VIGOROUS COLD FRONT WILL SWEEP THROUGH JIM HOGG...BROOKS...AND ZAPATA COUNTY...WITH A NORTHERLY WIND SURGE OF 20 TO 30 MPH WITH A FEW GUSTS AT OR ABOVE 40 MPH AROUND DAWN. HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES MAY BE AT SOME RISK JUST BEFORE DAYBREAK TUESDAY...AS WILL UNFASTENED LIGHTWEIGHT YARD ITEMS. RESIDENTS SHOULD PLAN ON SECURING OR TAKING THESE ITEMS INDOORS THIS EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY STRONG AND GUSTY NORTHERLY WINDS OF 20 TO 30 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 40 MPH OR HIGHER WILL CONTINUE THROUGH MID AFTERNOON BEFORE GRADUALLY DIMINISHING DURING THE LATE AFTERNOON. HIGH PROFILE VEHICLES MAY BE AT SOME RISK...AS WILL UNFASTENED LIGHTWEIGHT YARD ITEMS. THE THREAT FOR EXPLOSIVE WILD FIRE GROWTH CONTINUES ON TUESDAY. A FIRE WEATHER WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR THE EXPECTED WIND SURGE. CONDITIONS WILL QUIET TUESDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. HOWEVER...GUSTY SOUTH TO SOUTHEAST WINDS IN EXCESS OF 25 MPH MAY ARRIVE AGAIN THURSDAY AFTERNOON...ESPECIALLY FROM HIDALGO THROUGH BROOKS COUNTY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. PHILO
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Severe drought conditions progressed into Zapata County by the end of February, exacerbating the threat for wild fire growth and posing a few difficulties to the local feed supply for livestock in the area.
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, February 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: 85293.