Widespread flooding was reported along and south of a northward moving warm front across the lower Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn country of Deep East Texas into the piney woods of northeast Texas. These storms trained across the same area for most of the pre-dawn hours of the 30th as well as during the day.
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 SHV wrote it up.
Widespread flooding was reported along and south of a northward moving warm front across the lower Toledo Bend and Sam Rayburn country of Deep East Texas into the piney woods of northeast Texas. These storms trained across the same area for most of the pre-dawn hours of the 30th as well as during the day. Large hail and damaging thunderstorm wind gusts were reported across portions of the region as well with isolated tornadoes reported across portions of Deep East Texas and west central Louisiana during the afternoon hours of March 30th.
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 Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 30, 3:39 AM CST, 3 hours 51 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 439 AM CDT SUN MAR 30 2008 .SHORT TERM /TODAY THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/... OVERALL...AN ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN IS SLATED TO CONTINUE FOR THIS FORECAST PACKAGE. HAIL-PRODUCING THUNDERSTORMS FIRED SATURDAY EVENING IN A REGION OF STEEP LAPSE RATES IN VICINITY OF A MEANDERING WARM FRONT. MY EARLY MORNING SURFACE ANALYSIS HAD THE FRONT EXTENDING FROM WACO TEXAS TO STARKVILLE MISSISSIPPI... ESSENTIALLY BISECTING OUR REGION FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST. BIG QUESTION IN THE NEAR TERM REVOLVES AROUND CONVECTIVE POSSIBILITIES FOR TODAY. THE SHORT-RANGE MODELS ARE CONSISTENT IN MIGRATING THE FRONT A LITTLE FURTHER NORTH TODAY BEFORE COMPLETELY WASHING IT OUT. OTHER THAN THE OCCASIONAL PERTURBATION EMBEDDED IN THE SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT...I JUST DONT SEE A WHOLE LOT TO HANG MY HAT ON WITH REGARD TO A FOCUSING MECHANISM TODAY. SOME ADDITIONAL SHOWERS/STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA. ITS JUST DIFFICULT TO PINPOINT THE AREA OF GREATEST COVERAGE. MY GUT FEELING IS TO HAVE THE GREATEST PROBABILITIES OVER MY EASTERN AREAS DURING THE AFTERNOON...TAPERING TO LOWER VALUES IN THE WEST. GUIDANCE POPS WILL LARGELY BE UNDERCUT. FOR THE MORNING HOURS THOUGH...SHOWER/THUNDERSTORM PROBABILITIES WILL LARGELY BE BASED UPON ONGOING RADAR TRENDS. I EXPECT THE GREATEST COVERAGE TO BE OVER ROUGHLY THE WESTERN HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA. WE WILL PROBABLY SEE A ROUGHLY 24-HOUR BREAK IN THE ACTION FROM TONIGHT TO AT LEAST SOMETIME MONDAY AFTERNOON. THE NEXT REALLY ACTIVE PERIOD OF STRONG OR POSSIBLY SEVERE STORMS WILL LIKELY COME MONDAY NIGHT AS A MUCH-ADVERTISED STORM SYSTEM HEADS OUR WAY. THE DRIVING FORCE WITH THIS SYSTEM IS A SHORTWAVE TROUGH THATS NOW MOVING ONSHORE ACROSS WESTERN WASHINGTON. THE SYSTEM IS FORECAST TO HEAD INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS MONDAY AND PUSH A COLD FRONT TOWARD THE IH-30 CORRIDOR MONDAY NIGHT. UPPER-LEVEL DIFFLUENCE SHOULD INCREASE OVER THE REGION MONDAY NIGHT AS THE NOSE OF A 115 KNOT UPPER JET HEADS INTO THE REGION. BOUNDARY LAYER KINEMATIC FIELDS APPEAR TO BE IMPRESSIVE...WITH A 50 KNOT LOW-LEVEL JUST EXPECTED TO USHER 335K THETA-E VALUES INTO EAST TEXAS. WE MIGHT SEE SOME ISOLATED STORMS INITIALLY...BUT SHEAR PROFILES SHOULD BECOME MORE LINEAR. THIS WILL LIKELY ORGANIZE CONVECTION INTO A SQUALL LINE THAT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE REGION. FROM THE LOOK OF THINGS...I BELIEVE THE GREATEST RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER WILL BE OVER MY NORTHERN TIER OF COUNTIES...BUT CANNOT RULE OUT THIS POSSIBILITY ANYWHERE ELSE. THE FRONT SHOULD MOVE THROUGH OUR AREA TUESDAY...PUSHING MOST OF THE ACTION EAST OF THE OUACHITA RIVER BY AFTERNOON. A SLIGHTLY DRIER AIRMASS SHOULD INFILTRATE OUR REGION BEHIND THE FRONT AS A SURFACE HIGH SLIDES TOWARD THE GREAT LAKES. .LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY/... THE DRY WEATHER MAY BE SHORT-LIVED. GULF MOISTURE WILL LIKELY START OVERSPREADING THE FORECAST AREA FROM THE WEST SOMETIME WEDNESDAY AS THE SURFACE HIGH MOVES INTO QUEBEC. ANOTHER SHORTWAVE TROUGH IS FORECAST TO DIVE INTO THE HIGH PLAINS LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND PUSH A COLD FRONT TOWARD OUR CORNER OF THE WORLD BY THURSDAY NIGHT. SIMILAR TO THE SYSTEM EARLY THIS WEEK...MOST OF THE SYNOPTIC SCALE FORCING LOOKS LIKE IT SHOULD AFFECT NORTHERN PARTS OF THE REGION. THERE APPEARS TO BE ENOUGH SHEAR TO GENERATE A SQUALL LINE OF STORMS AS THE FRONT TRAVERSES THE AREA. HOWEVER...THE STRENGTH OF THE KINEMATIC FIELDS DOESNT APPEAR TO BE QUITE AS FAVORABLE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF STRONG OR SEVERE STORMS. ITS A LITTLE EARLY TO DISCUSS ANY SPECIFICS SINCE THIS EVENT IS STILL MANY DAYS OUT AND MODELS WILL LIKELY CHANGE. THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT A DRIER AIRMASS AND HIGH PRESSURE SHOULD WORK ITS WAY INTO THE REGION FOR FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. THANKS TO WFO JACKSON FOR COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS WAY TOO EARLY THIS MORNING. /21/ && .AVIATION... COMPLICATED TAF PACKAGE THIS FORECAST PERIOD...AS LOW CIGS/REDUCED VSBYS WILL HINGE ON THE PLACEMENT OF A WARM FRONT...WHICH EXTENDS FROM A GYI...TO OSA...TO THE AR/LA STATE LINE AS OF 8Z...IN ADDITION TO SUBTLE SHORTWAVE ENERGY TRAVERSING THE REGION TODAY IN A DIRTY W TO E FLOW ALOFT. STRONGEST CONVECTION WILL REMAIN ALONG/N OF THE WARM FRONT ACROSS EXTREME NE TX/SE OK/SW AR N OF THE TXK/ELD TERMINALS...WITH THIS CONVECTION SHIFTING FARTHER N WITH TIME THIS MORNING AS THE FRONT BUILDS FARTHER N. WILL CONTINUE TO SEE LOW MVFR CIGS BUILD N ACROSS E TX/N LA S OF THE FRONT THIS MORNING...WITH A RANGE OF MVFR/VFR CIGS EXPECTED IN VC OF THE CONVECTION FARTHER N OF THE FRONT. WILL ALSO HAVE TO CONTEND WITH SCATTERED CONVECTION DEVELOPING ACROSS E TX S OF THE FRONT THIS MORNING...WHICH WILL SPREAD E INTO N LA AS WELL. HOWEVER...THIS CONVECTION MAY WEAKEN WITH TIME THIS MORNING AS THEY MOVE AWAY FROM THE SRLY LLJ AXIS IN PLACE ACROSS CNTRL/E TX. THUS...RADAR TRENDS WILL BE USED IN DETERMINING WHERE CONVECTION IS/MIGHT AFFECT FOR THE 12Z TAF ISSUANCE. MVFR CIGS SHOULD GRADUALLY BECOME VFR UNDER A BKN CU FIELD /FL040/ BY MIDDAY/EARLY AFTERNOON...WITH REDUCTIONS TO CIGS/VSBYS POSSIBLE IN/NEAR CONVECTION. HOWEVER...SCT CONVECTION SHOULD DIMINISH BY LATE AFTERNOON OVER SCNTRL AR/NCNTRL LA...BEFORE 40-50 KT SRLY LLJ DEVELOPS THIS EVENING AND ALLOWS LOW MVFR CIGS TO RAPIDLY FORM/SPREAD N ACROSS THE REGION AROUND 6Z OR AFTER. TIGHTENING PRESSURE GRADIENT AHEAD OF THE NEXT RAPID MOVING SHORTWAVE WILL YIELD INCREASING SRLY WINDS OF 10-15 KTS...WITH GUSTS TO 25KTS AROUND MIDMORNING MONDAY. WHILE CIGS LIFT AGAIN BY MIDDAY...EXPECT DETERIORATING FLIGHT CONDITIONS DURING THE AFTERNOON/EVENING AS A BKN LINE OF STRONG/SVR CONVECTION SPREADS INTO THE AREA. /15/ && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... SHV 79 62 79 63 / 70 20 60 70 MLU 81 61 81 64 / 50 20 40 80 DEQ 78 65 73 56 / 90 20 70 70 TXK 79 64 76 60 / 80 20 70 70 ELD 82 61 78 61 / 70 20 60 70 TYR 78 66 76 62 / 70 20 70 70 GGG 78 65 77 61 / 70 20 70 70 LFK 78 65 79 63 / 50 20 50 70 && .SHV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AR...NONE. LA...NONE. OK...NONE. TX...NONE. && PUBLIC FORECASTER...BUTTS AVIATION/FIRE WEATHER FORECASTER...15
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 604 AM CDT SUN MAR 30 2008 ARZ050-051-059>061-070>073-LAZ001>006-010>014-017>022-OKZ077- TXZ096-097-108>112-124>126-136>138-149>153-165>167-311115- SEVIER-HOWARD-LITTLE RIVER-HEMPSTEAD-NEVADA-MILLER-LAFAYETTE- COLUMBIA-UNION AR-CADDO-BOSSIER-WEBSTER-CLAIBORNE-LINCOLN- UNION LA-DE SOTO-RED RIVER-BIENVILLE-JACKSON-OUACHITA-SABINE LA- NATCHITOCHES-WINN-GRANT-CALDWELL-LA SALLE-MCCURTAIN-BOWIE- FRANKLIN-TITUS-CAMP-MORRIS-CASS-WOOD-UPSHUR-MARION-SMITH-GREGG- HARRISON-CHEROKEE-RUSK-PANOLA-NACOGDOCHES-SHELBY-ANGELINA- SAN AUGUSTINE-SABINE TX- 604 AM CDT SUN MAR 30 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL ARKANSAS...SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA... NORTHWEST LOUISIANA...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...EAST TEXAS AND NORTHEAST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE ENTIRE FOUR STATE REGION TODAY. A FEW SEVERE STORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THIS MORNING...MAINLY WEST OF A LUFKIN TEXAS TO PRESCOTT ARKANSAS LINE. THE MAIN SEVERE WEATHER RISK IS HAIL GREATER THAN THREE QUARTERS OF AN INCH IN DIAMETER. IN ADDITION...THE STRONGER STORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING HEAVY RAINFALL WITHIN A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME. THIS COULD RESULT IN THE PONDING OF WATER ON AREA ROADWAYS AND OTHER LOW LYING AREAS. THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP THIS MORNING ACROSS EAST TEXAS NEAR A MEANDERING WARM FRONT. WITH COLD TEMPERATURES ALOFT...SEVERE STORMS COULD DEVELOP AND PRODUCE LARGE HAIL. THE WARM FRONT IS EXPECTED TO DISSIPATE AS IT MOVES NORTHWARD TODAY... RESULTING IN A GRADUAL WEAKENING OF THIS MORNINGS THUNDERSTORMS. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS COULD DEVELOP ACROSS THE FOUR STATE REGION THIS AFTERNOON...AS DAYTIME HEATING INTERACTS WITH A WARM AND MOIST AIRMASS. ANY OF THESE STORMS WILL LIKELY DIMINISH A FEW HOURS AFTER SUNSET. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY... UNSETTLED WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGH MUCH OF THE UPCOMING WORK WEEK. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE FROM LATE MONDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING. A SQUALL LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS...AHEAD OF AN APPROACHING COLD FRONT...MAY BRING THE RISK OF LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS...AND ISOLATED TORNADOES TO THE REGION. AT THIS TIME...THE GREATEST RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER APPEARS TO BE ALONG AND NORTH OF INTERSTATE 30. STRONG THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE AGAIN THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT IN ADVANCE OF ANOTHER STORM SYSTEM. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... THE ACTIVATION OF STORM SPOTTER GROUPS...HAM RADIO OPERATORS...AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL...IN SUPPORT OF SEVERE WEATHER OPERATIONS...IS NOT EXPECTED THROUGH TONIGHT. BUTTS
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
241 AM CDT SUN MAR 30 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0140 AM HAIL MOUNT VERNON 33.17N 95.22W
03/30/2008 E0.88 INCH FRANKLIN TX LAW ENFORCEMENT
NICKEL SIZED HAIL IN MOUNT VERNON
&&
15PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
740 AM CDT SUN MAR 30 2008
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0730 AM HAIL LONGVIEW 32.52N 94.76W
03/30/2008 E1.00 INCH GREGG TX LAW ENFORCEMENT
&&
D. BUTTSThe Shreveport radar (KSHV), 50 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 13:27 UTC.
7 hail, 5 flash flood, 2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
One large tree and several large tree limbs were downed along Highway 59 just north of Carthage, Texas.
Widespread flooding reported across the northern portion of the county. Flooding was severe on County Road 21 in town and at the circle and along County Road 103. Homes were also flooded around the city. Three foot of water was also reported over Highway 3079. Evacuations had to be made by boat from homes in the northern part of the county. Several roads were washed out and or closed. Over 30 homes in the county were completely flooded along with several businesses. Water was as high as five feet in some homes. One fatality was reported when two people were driving east on State Highway 21 and ran into a ditch and became caught in swift-moving water. One man was rescued in time but the other occupant was swept away in the vehicle. Flooding was so bad near San Augustine that one business was completely knocked from its foundation and carried across a street by the current, drifting into a grocery store's gas pumps.
Three foot of water was encroaching a residence of Farm to Market Road 263. Water up the the truck doors and swift flowing water was reported at Farm to Market Road 1794 and 267.
Water was covering the roads across much of the western half of Harrison County including eastern Gregg County. Roads were also flooded around the Page Creek area.
River Road and High Street in Longview were both closed. In addition...17 other roads in and around Longview, Texas were closed due to excessive heavy rainfall. The downtown area had several businesses flooded with as many as two feet of water in them.
Highway 87 was flooded north of Hemphill, Texas. Many roads across the northern part of the county were flooded. Many roads and bridges also washed out. Numerous homes and businesses were flooded throughout the county as well.
Power lines were downed in town.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flash Flood, San Augustine | 2008-03-30 | 43 | Male | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Direct |
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, March 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: 87543, 87528, 87542, 87529, 87534, 87544, 87545, 87550, 87551, 87553, 87554, 87555, 87557, 87556.