A week long period of unsettled weather across Deep South Texas and the Lower Rio Grande Valley between May 11th and May 17th not only brought scattered severe thunderstorms to the region, but also periods of light to moderate rain which put a brief, but notable, dent into the drought in some areas. Unfortunately, a return to dry and hot weather toward the end of the month would largely erase…
Every event with a place to put it; 6 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.
A week long period of unsettled weather across Deep South Texas and the Lower Rio Grande Valley between May 11th and May 17th not only brought scattered severe thunderstorms to the region, but also periods of light to moderate rain which put a brief, but notable, dent into the drought in some areas. Unfortunately, a return to dry and hot weather toward the end of the month would largely erase the relief brought by the unsettled conditions.
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 May 19, 7:45 PM CST, 4 hours 15 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX 845 PM CDT MON MAY 19 2008 .DISCUSSION...RADAR IMAGES INDICATE CONVECTION ACROSS NORTHEAST MEXICO CONTINUES TO WEAKEN THIS EVENING AS THE THUNDERSTORMS MOVE AWAY FROM THE MEXICAN PLATEAU INTO A MORE STABLE AIRMASS. HIGH CLOUDS FROM THE STORMS HAVE MOVED ACROSS DEEP SOUTH TEXAS WITH THE SOUTHWEST FLOW AT 200MB. WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES AT 1.23 INCHES THIS EVENING AND WITH THE WEST FLOW BETWEEN 850MB AND 500MB...SUBSIDENCE SHOULD CONTINUE TO PREVAIL TONIGHT WITH THE 500MB TROUGH ACROSS THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. NO CHANGES EXPECTED TO THE CURRENT FORECAST GRIDS. && .AVIATION...THE DYING CONV JUST SOUTH OF THE RIO GRANDE RIVER IS RESULTING IN DEBRIS HIGH LEVEL CLDS ADVECTING OVER THE BRO CWA. EXPECT VFR CONDITIONS TO PREVAIL TONIGHT AS THE 00Z BRO SOUNDING SHOWS A FAIRLY DRY AND STABLE SOUNDING THIS EVENING AS DRY WESTERLY WINDS ARE PRESENT AT AND ABOVE THE 850 MB LEVEL. THE PGF WILL TIGHTEN SOME TOMORROW RESULTING IN A STRONGER S-SE LOW LEVEL FLOW. && .MARINE...MTRPIL AND BUOY020 BOTH REPORT A S-SE MARINE SURFACE FLOW FROM 15 TO 20 KTS WITH OFFSHORE SWELLS AROUND 3 FT. THESE WINDS WILL PERSIST THROUGHOUT THE OVERNIGHT PERIOD AS A FAIRLY DECENT PGF WILL PREVAIL ALONG THE LOWER TX COASTLINE. WILL MAINTAIN THE MENTION OF SCEC CONDITIONS THROUGH THE FIRST PERIOD. NO MAJOR CHANGES NEEDED IN THE UPCOMING CWF ISSUANCE. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 106 PM CDT MON MAY 19 2008/ SURFACE ANALYSIS SHOWS AN OLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY EXTENDING ACROSS THE GULF OF MEXICO FROM THE BAY OF CAMPECHE TO FLORIDA. A JET STREAM IS LOCATED NORTH OF THIS BOUNDARY SOUTH OF DEEP SOUTH TEXAS OVER TAMAULIPAS. DEEP SOUTH TEXAS CONTINUES TO BE JUST NORTH OF THE DEEP MOISTURE OVER EASTERN MEXICO. A SLOW AND STEADY INCREASE IN MOISTURE IS FORECAST FOR THIS WEEK WITH THE GFS INDICATING A PRECIPITABLE WATER NEAR 2 INCHES BY THIS COMING WEEKEND. THE 12Z MODELS DELAY A BIT THE TROF OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN US. LARGE UNCERTAINTIES CONTINUE TO BE FORECAST AFTER THE 120 HOUR FORECAST. THIS IS CONSISTENT WITH THE PRIOR MODEL RUNS. BASED ON THIS GUIDANCE THE 10 PERCENT CHANCE IN POP HAS BEEN POSTPONED FOR SUNDAY. THE TEMPERATURES FOR THE FIRST TWO DAYS WERE REFRESHED WITH THE WITH THE 12Z GFS ADJMAV. THE NEW DATA SHOWS SLIGHTLY COOLER HIGHS NEAR THE OCEAN THAN THE PREVIOUS DATA. NO OTHER CHANGES WERE DONE TO THE FORECAST PACKAGE. MARINE...BUOY 42020 REPORTED SOUTH WINDS AROUND 10 KNOTS WITH SEAS AT 2 FEET WITH A PERIOD OF 4 SECONDS AT NOON. WEAK SURFACE RIDGING OVER THE LWR TX GULF WATERS HAS KEPT WINDS LOW AND VARIABLE IN DIRECTION. LIGHT TO MODERATE SOUTHEAST WINDS AND LOW SEAS ALONG THE LOWER TEXAS COAST TODAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING. WINDS AND SEAS WILL BE ENTRENCHED BY LATER TONIGHT AND CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY AS HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE GULF OF MEXICO BEGINS TO INTERACTS WITH LOWER PRESSURE OVER NORTH TEXAS. AVIATION...VFR CONDITIONS WITH LIGHT TO MODERATE WINDS AND CLEAR TO PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES WILL PREVAIL OVER DEEP SOUTH TEXAS THROUGH THE NEXT 24 HOURS. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... BAYVIEW/PORT ISABEL 75 92 78 91 / 0 0 0 0 BROWNSVILLE 75 94 78 93 / 0 0 0 0 HARLINGEN 73 95 76 95 / 0 0 0 0 MCALLEN 74 100 77 97 / 0 0 0 0 RIO GRANDE CITY 74 101 77 99 / 0 0 0 0 SOUTH PADRE ISLAND 76 90 79 89 / 0 0 0 0 && .BRO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...NONE. GM...NONE. && THIS PRODUCT IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON THE WEB AT: HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/BROWNSVILLE PUBLIC/GRIDS...61 AVIATION/MARINE/MESO...60
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX 922 AM CDT MON MAY 19 2008 GMZ130-132-135-150-155-170-175-TXZ248>257-201100- LAGUNA MADRE FROM THE PORT OF BROWNSVILLE TO THE ARROYO COLORADO- LAGUNA MADRE FROM THE ARROYO COLORADO TO 5 NM NORTH OF PORT MANSFIELD TX- LAGUNA MADRE FROM 5 NM NORTH OF PORT MANSFIELD TO BAFFIN BAY TX- COASTAL WATERS FROM PORT MANSFIELD TO THE RIO GRANDE OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM BAFFIN BAY TO PORT MANSFIELD OUT 20 NM- WATERS FROM PORT MANSFIELD TO THE RIO GRANDE EXTENDING FROM 20 TO 60 NM- WATERS FROM BAFFIN BAY TO PORT MANSFIELD EXTENDING FROM 20 TO 60 NM-ZAPATA-JIM HOGG-BROOKS-KENEDY-STARR-HIDALGO-INLAND WILLACY- INLAND CAMERON-COASTAL WILLACY-COASTAL CAMERON- 922 AM CDT MON MAY 19 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR DEEP SOUTH TEXAS...THE GULF OF MEXICO AND THE LAGUNA MADRE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. WINDS AND SEAS WILL INCREASE ALONG THE LOWER TEXAS COAST WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH SATURDAY AS LOW PRESSURE DEVELOPS NEAR THE REGION. A MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS AT THE BEACHES OF SOUTH PADRE ISLAND AND BOCA CHICA CAN BE EXPECTED DURING THIS PERIOD. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. PHILO
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Extreme (D3) drought conditions continued over northern Zapata County during the third week of May. These conditions would improve by the last week of the month after rainfall from the 14th through 17th was fully incorporated into the Drought Monitor.
Drought conditions improved from Extreme(D3) to Severe(D2)across southern Zapata County the middle of May, helped by some effects of heavy rains in the middle of the month. Additional improvement would be noted to end the month as these rains were incorporated into the Drought Monitor.
Scattered thunderstorms, some with torrential rains, falling between May 14th and 17th, helped temporarily alleviate the drought conditions, dropping extreme (D3) back to severe (D2) across all of Jim Hogg County toward the last week of May. Unfortunately, hot and dry weather would return extreme conditions to portions of the county to close out the month.
Courtesy of scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms, some with locally heavy rainfall, between May 14th and 17th, drought conditions eased to severe(D2) across all of Starr County during the latter third of May. Extreme(D3) conditions would return, however, to the northern tip of the county by the end of the month.
Scattered showers and thunderstorms pushing across western Brooks County between May 14th and 17th would relieve drought conditions a shade, with values dropping to Severe (D2) across the entire county by the 20th. Unfortunately, dry and hot weather returning to close the month would bring conditions back to extreme in western portions of the county.
Severe (D2) drought conditions would continue across western and central Hidalgo County through the end of the month. However, effects from additional rains between the 14th and 17th would filter into southeastern portions of the county, dropping the index back to moderate(D1) from May 27th through the 31st.
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, May 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: 96913, 96915, 96918, 96921, 96922, 96923.