Ample moisture interacted with an elevated frontal zone to create numerous showers and thunderstorms.
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 FWD wrote it up.
Ample moisture interacted with an elevated frontal zone to create numerous showers and thunderstorms.
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 Fort Worth, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 5, 4:53 AM CST, 7 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 553 AM CDT MON MAY 5 2008 .AVIATION... 553 AM CDT. AN AREA OF FRONTOGENESIS IN THE KACT AREA AND EASTWARD TODAY WITH STRONG SOUTHERLY FETCH WILL RESULT IN AN INCREASING AREA OF SHRA AND TSRA GENERALLY SOUTH OF I-20 TODAY. SOME CONVECTION WILL SPREAD INTO THE KDFW TRACON THIS AFTERNOON. EXPECT THE PRECIPITATION TO DIMINISH LATER TONIGHT...BUT STILL PRESENT HERE AND THERE. BY TONIGHT...EXPECT CIGS TO TURN IFR AT KACT WITH VIS IN THE MVFR RANGE. KDFW TRACON SHOULD FAIR SLIGHTLY BETTER WITH CIGS REMAIN MVFR ON THE LOW SIDE...HOWEVER ISOLATED IFR CIGS COULD DEVELOP WITHIN THE KDFW TRACON AFTER 06Z PER MODEL TIME-HEIGHT SECTIONS AND MOS PRODUCTS. WE WILL RE-EVALUATE THIS FOR THE 18Z TAF RELEASE. 75 && .PREV DISCUSSION... 343 AM CDT. SEVERAL SIGNALS IN BOTH MODEL OUTPUT AND TRENDS IN OBSERVED DATA POINT TO HEAVY RAIN EVENT IN PARTS OF SOUTHERN CWA TODAY. RAPIDLY INCREASING AND DEEPENING MOISTURE...AS OBSERVED ON INTEGRATED PRECIPITABLE WATER OBSERVATIONS AT PALESTINE AND COLLEGE STATION...WILL INTERACT WITH ELEVATED FRONTAL ZONE TO PRODUCE NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TODAY. CONVECTION BEGINNING TO INCREASE IN COVERAGE IN SOUTHERN ZONES THIS MORNING...AND EXPECT THIS TREND TO CONTINUE INTO THE AFTERNOON. WILL NOT ISSUE FLASH FLOOD WATCH AT THIS TIME GIVEN RELATIVELY WEAK LOW LEVEL JET (25 KTS) AND HIGH FLASH FLOOD GUIDANCE VALUES. WILL MENTION HEAVY RAIN IN SOME OF THE SOUTHERN ZONES TO GO ALONG WITH THE CATEGORICAL POPS. ELSEWHERE...WILL KEEP FORECAST OF LIKELY POPS IN MOST AREAS TODAY AS INCREASING MOISTURE AND WARM ADVECTION LIFT AID DEVELOPMENT. ELEVATED LIFT ALONG THE FRONTAL ZONE CONTINUES TONIGHT...BUT COVERAGE OF CONVECTION SHOULD DIMINISH AS A SHORTWAVE MOVES EAST OF AREA AND BETTER WARM ADVECTION LIFT GRADUALLY SHIFTS INTO OKLA. MOST POPS ACROSS FORECAST AREA WILL BE 30-40 PERCENT AFTER THE EVENING MCS CLEARS SOUTHEAST ZONES. RAIN CHANCES CONTINUE TUESDAY...ESPECIALLY IN EASTERN ZONES AS DEEP MOISTURE REMAINS OVER AREA AND BAJA LOW BEGINS APPROACHING. CONVECTION WILL INCREASE ACROSS WESTERN ZONES TUESDAY NIGHT AS UPPER SYSTEM MOVES INTO FAR WEST TEXAS. EXPECT WIDESPREAD CONVECTION...POSSIBLY IN THE FORM OF AN INTENSE SQUALL LINE...TO MOVE INTO WESTERN ZONES WEDNESDAY MORNING AND MOVE ACROSS THE REST OF NORTH TEXAS BY MID AFTERNOON. GIVEN MODERATE INSTABILITY AND STRENGTH OF WIND FIELDS...SEVERE WEATHER APPEARS LIKELY WITH SOME OF THE STORMS ALTHOUGH TIME OF DAY MAY LIMIT SEVERITY UNTIL THE ACTIVITY GETS INTO EAST TEXAS. WILL CONTINUE TRENDS OF PREVIOUS FORECAST IN SHIFTING THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS AREA ON WEDNESDAY...WITH CHANCES ENDING QUICKLY FROM WEST TO EAST DURING THE AFTERNOON. DRY WEATHER EXPECTED THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. WILL HAVE TO MONITOR THE TIMING OF THE FRONT OVER THE WEEKEND. A LATER FRONTAL PASSAGE COULD LEAD TO BETTER LOW LEVEL MOISTURE RETURN AND A CHANCE OF RAIN SATURDAY NIGHT OR SUNDAY. /09 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... DALLAS-FT. WORTH, TX 77 65 80 66 83 / 70 40 30 40 60 WACO, TX 75 67 83 67 81 / 90 50 20 30 60 PARIS, TX 79 61 76 65 79 / 30 40 50 30 60 DENTON, TX 76 65 80 66 82 / 60 40 30 40 60 MCKINNEY, TX 75 64 78 65 82 / 60 40 40 30 60 DALLAS, TX 77 66 80 67 82 / 70 40 30 30 60 TERRELL, TX 77 65 79 68 82 / 60 50 30 30 60 CORSICANA, TX 76 66 81 67 82 / 80 60 20 30 60 TEMPLE, TX 76 67 83 67 84 / 90 50 10 30 50 && .FWD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH TEXAS NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 351 AM CDT MON MAY 5 2008 TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-061000- ANDERSON-BELL-BOSQUE-COLLIN-COMANCHE-COOKE-CORYELL-DALLAS-DELTA- DENTON-EASTLAND-ELLIS-ERATH-FALLS-FANNIN-FREESTONE-GRAYSON-HAMILTON- HENDERSON-HILL-HOOD-HOPKINS-HUNT-JACK-JOHNSON-KAUFMAN-LAMAR-LAMPASAS- LEON-LIMESTONE-MCLENNAN-MILAM-MILLS-MONTAGUE-NAVARRO-PALO PINTO- PARKER-RAINS-ROBERTSON-ROCKWALL-SOMERVELL-STEPHENS-TARRANT-VAN ZANDT- WISE-YOUNG- 351 AM CDT MON MAY 5 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH TEXAS. .DAY ONE... THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS ALL OF NORTH TEXAS TODAY AND TONIGHT. ALTHOUGH SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED...VERY HEAVY RAINFALL TODAY COULD LEAD TO ISOLATED FLASH FLOODING SOUTHEAST OF A KILLEEN...WACO...ATHENS LINE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE TO AFFECT ALL OF NORTH TEXAS TUESDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ON WEDNESDAY AS A DRYLINE PUSHES EAST ACROSS NORTH TEXAS. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS ARE THE MAIN THREAT. LATE THIS WEEKEND...THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS SUNDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ISOLATED SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUESTED FOR THE POTENTIAL OF FLASH FLOODING BY MIDDAY AND DURING THE AFTERNOON.
The Ft Hood radar (KGRK), 41 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 10:59 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Floodwaters rose to 16 inches deep at the intersection of Main Street and South Jefferson Avenue. Several other streets as well as parking lots and yards were flooded as well.
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: 99660.