Several large wildfires broke out between February 18 and February 21 because of the rich fuels and the very dry and windy conditions. Some of the wildfires flared up and continued through the end of the month as elevated fire danger or red flag warning conditions persisted.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 SJT wrote it up.
Several large wildfires broke out between February 18 and February 21 because of the rich fuels and the very dry and windy conditions. Some of the wildfires flared up and continued through the end of the month as elevated fire danger or red flag warning conditions persisted.
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 San Angelo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 18, 11:03 AM CST, 1 hour 57 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 1103 AM CST WED FEB 18 2009 .AVIATION... /18Z UPDATE/ VFR CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST OVER THE NORTHERN TERMINALS THROUGH THE NEXT 24 HOURS. IFR CEILINGS WILL RETURN TO THE SOUTHEASTERN TERMINALS FOR SEVERAL HOURS TOMORROW MORNING...WITH VFR CONDITIONS RETURNING BY MIDMORNING. WINDS THIS AFTERNOON WILL GUST TO 25 KNOTS FROM THE NORTHWEST OVER KABI THROUGH EARLY EVENING WITH WINDS AT THE REMAINING TERMINALS NORTHWESTERLY AT 10 TO 15 KNOTS THROUGH EARLY EVENING. WINDS WILL GENERALLY BE LIGHT THROUGH THE NIGHT. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 552 AM CST WED FEB 18 2009/ DISCUSSION... /SEE 06Z AVIATION DISCUSSION BELOW... AVIATION... WINDS SHIFTING TO THE WEST AND NORTHWEST IN WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. SHALLOW LOW LEVEL MOISTURE HOWEVER REMAINS TRAPPED OVER IN SOUTHERN SECTIONS...BRINGING IFR TO LIFR CIGS AND VISIBILITIES. THIS SHOULD CLEAR OUT QUICKLY THIS MORNING...MOST LIKELY BY 14Z. OTHERWISE VFR WITH OCCASIONALLY GUSTY WINDS TODAY. WINDS VEER TO NORTH AND NORTHEAST LATE EVENING/OVERNIGHT AS WEAK COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH. PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 404 AM CST WED FEB 18 2009/ SHORT TERM... FIRE DANGER REMAINS THE MAIN CONCERN. A DRY PACIFIC FRONT WILL PUSH SOUTHEAST ACROSS TEXAS TODAY AND BRING ANOTHER POOL OF VERY DRY AIR TO WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. WINDS WILL BE MAINLY FROM THE NORTHWEST TODAY IN THE 15 TO 25 MPH RANGE. ALTHOUGH WINDS WILL LIKELY BE JUST AT THE THRESHOLD...WE DECIDED TO REPLACE OUR FIRE WEATHER WATCH WITH A RED FLAG WARNING. ELSEWHERE ACROSS WEST CENTRAL TEXAS TODAY...FIRE DANGER WILL REMAIN NEAR CRITICAL. BEYOND TODAY...RAIN CHANCES REMAIN NEAR ZERO. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER TEXAS TONIGHT AND THURSDAY. COOLER AIR BEHIND THE FRONT WILL MOVE INTO WEST CENTRAL TEXAS TONIGHT. THUS...AFTERNOON HIGHS TOMORROW CLOSER TO SEASONAL NORMALS LOOK REASONABLE. A SURFACE TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE BEGINS TO DEVELOP ACROSS EASTERN NEW MEXICO TOMORROW NIGHT. AS THIS TROUGH CONTINUES TO DEVELOP ON FRIDAY...IT WILL PRODUCE MAINLY SOUTHWEST WINDS ACROSS WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. THIS GUSTY SOUTHWESTERLY LOW-LEVEL FLOW WILL ALSO HELP PUSH AFTERNOON HIGHS FRIDAY BACK INTO THE LOWER TO MID 70S. ANOTHER COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS WEST CENTRAL TEXAS FRIDAY NIGHT AND BRING COOLER TEMPERATURES TO WEST CENTRAL TEXAS FOR NEXT WEEKEND. LONG TERM... DRY PATTERN WILL CONTINUE FOR THE LONG TERM. MODELS CONTINUE TO MAINTAIN THIS DRY PATTERN CYCLE THROUGH NEXT WEEKEND AND INTO THE START OF NEXT WEEK. THE GFS 500 MB ENSEMBLE DATA SHOWS SURPRISINGLY GOOD AGREEMENT WITH ALL MEMBERS. INTO THE START OF NEXT WEEK...NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT DEVELOPS OVER WEST CENTRAL TEXAS AS THE 500 MB RIDGE ACROSS THE WESTERN CONUS WEAKENS. FIRE WEATHER... .RED FLAG WARNING FROM 10 AM TO 6 PM TODAY FOR THE BIG COUNTRY... NORTHERN CONCHO VALLEY AND NORTHERN HEARTLAND... A PACIFIC COLD FRONT WAS MOVING THROUGH WEST CENTRAL TEXAS THIS MORNING...BRINGING WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS BEHIND IT. THE AIRMASS WILL BECOME VERY DRY...WITH RELATIVE HUMIDITIES FALLING INTO THE TEENS BY NOON AND LIKELY INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS IN AREAS THIS AFTERNOON. VEGETATION IS ALSO VERY DRY. THE MAIN QUESTION IS WHETHER 20 FOOT WINDS WILL MAKE THE 20 MPH RED FLAG WARNING THRESHOLD. MODELS KEEP 20 FOOT WINDS JUST BELOW RED FLAG WARNING CRITERIA...IN THE 15 TO 20 MPH RANGE. GFS MODEL DOES HAVE 50 KT 700 MB WIND MAX OVER THE BIG COUNTRY AT NOON TODAY...SO THIS ALONG WITH MIXING OF THE LOW LEVEL INVERSION MAY HELP WINDS HIT 20 MPH. STARTED THE RED FLAG WARNING A COUPLE HOURS EARLIER AT 10 AM WHEN THE RH VALUES FALL TO 20 PERCENT IN THE BIG COUNTRY. 04 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... ABILENE 72 34 59 38 71 / 0 0 0 0 0 SAN ANGELO 74 32 64 34 72 / 0 0 0 0 0 JUNCTION 75 29 69 33 72 / 0 0 0 0 0 && .SJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... RED FLAG WARNING UNTIL 6 PM CST THIS AFTERNOON FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: BROWN...CALLAHAN...COKE...COLEMAN...FISHER...HASKELL... JONES...NOLAN...RUNNELS...SHACKELFORD...STERLING...TAYLOR... THROCKMORTON. && 99/99/15
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 439 AM CST WED FEB 18 2009 TXZ049-054-064>066-071>073-076>078-098-099-113-114-127-128-139- 140-154-155-168>170-191045- FISHER-NOLAN-STERLING-COKE-RUNNELS-IRION-TOM GREEN-CONCHO- CROCKETT-SCHLEICHER-SUTTON-HASKELL-THROCKMORTON-JONES-SHACKELFORD- TAYLOR-CALLAHAN-COLEMAN-BROWN-MCCULLOCH-SAN SABA-MENARD-KIMBLE- MASON- 439 AM CST WED FEB 18 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A RED FLAG WARNING FOR FIRE DANGER IS IN EFFECT LATE THIS MORNING AND AFTERNOON FOR AREAS ALONG AN NORTH OF A STERLING CITY...BALLINGER... BROWNWOOD LINE. DRY GUSTY WEST TO NORTHWEST WINDS TO CRITICAL LEVELS. AVOID OUTDOOR BURNING AND DISPOSE OF CIGARETTES PROPERLY. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
A 1000 acre grass fire broke out in Coleman County. The grass fire was east of FM 2132 and south of Highway 153 near Talpa. The fire was 60 percent contained at 7:40 p.m. The fire burned one outbuilding and one vehicle. The time the fire was fully contained is estimated.
A wildfire began in western Taylor County on February 21. As it became nearly contained on February 26, it flared up near FM Road 89 and U.S. Highway 277 located about 20 miles southwest of Abilene. The wildfire burned approximately 3000 acres before becoming fully contained on the first of March. The wildfire resulted in about 100 people being evacuated to the Coronado Store. Thanks to the hard work of fire fighters, the wildfire did not burn any structures.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, February 2009
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: 155380, 155375.