S. Drought Monitor.
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 FWD wrote it up.
Severe to extreme drought continued in Bell and Milam Counties as defined by the U.S. Drought Monitor. January was the second consecutive month with precipitation totals of less than an inch for both counties. Most cold season crops were stressed and yielded much less than normal. Fire danger was also on the rise...with 38 out of 46 counties in north Texas under burn bans.
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 Dec 31, 11:10 PM CST, 50 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 1110 PM CST WED DEC 31 2008 .AVIATION... NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO PREVIOUS TAF PACKAGE WITH VFR PREVAILING AND BREEZY SOUTHERLY WINDS EXPECTED ON THURSDAY. SURFACE HIGH IS NOW LOCATED EAST OF NORTH TEXAS AND LIGHT WINDS HAVE COME AROUND TO THE SOUTHEAST. WINDS WILL BECOME SOUTHERLY AND INCREASE TO AROUND 15KTS BY THE LATE MORNING HOURS...THEN DECREASE AROUND SUNSET. SCATTERED TO BROKEN LOW LEVEL CLOUDS WITH BASES AROUND 040 KFT WILL RETURN TO NORTH TEXAS DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. MODELS ARE INDICATING THAT VISIBILITIES MAY BE REDUCED TO 3-6 SM AFTER 02/06Z BUT WILL NOT MENTION IN TAF AND CONTINUE TO MONITOR. 82/JLD && .UPDATE... 912 PM THE WIND HAS BECOME LIGHT AND VARIABLE THIS EVENING AS SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS TOWARD THE EAST COAST. THE LIGHT WIND AND MOSTLY CLEAR SKY HAS ALLOWED FOR QUICK RADIATIONAL COOLING WITH SOME TEMPERATURES ALREADY IN THE LOWER 30S ACROSS THE NORTHERN HALF OF NORTH TEXAS. WILL HAVE TO LOWER OVERNIGHT LOWS A FEW DEGREES IN MANY LOCATIONS TO ACCOUNT FOR THIS RAPID COOL DOWN. ONLY OTHER CHANGES NECESSARY WILL BE SOME MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO CLOUD COVER AND DEW POINTS. 79 && .AVIATION... VFR IS EXPECTED TO PREVAIL THE NEXT 24-30 HOURS. MAIN CONCERN DURING THIS TAF PACKAGE WILL BE RETURN OF STRONG SOUTHERLY WINDS ON THURSDAY. TO BEGIN...CURRENT NORTHEASTERLY WINDS WILL TURN TO A SOUTHEASTERLY DIRECTION OVERNIGHT BUT SPEEDS WILL REMAIN LESS THAN 10 KTS. BY LATE THURSDAY MORNING...WINDS WILL INCREASE FROM THE SOUTH-SOUTHWEST AT SPEEDS AROUND 15 KTS AND THEN DECREASE AGAIN NEAR SUNSET. HIGH CIRRUS CLOUDS WILL CONTINUE THORUGH THE PERIOD AND THEN SCT TO BKN CIGS AROUND 030-040 WILL MOVE INTO WACO LATE THURSDAY MORNING. 82/JLD && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 310 PM CST WED DEC 31 2008/ NOT MUCH CHANGE TO THE PREVIOUS FORECAST. NICE WEATHER TO CONTINUE THROUGH THE END OF THE WEEK WITH A GRADUAL WARMUP. FORECAST FOR TONIGHTS ACTIVITIES WILL BE CLEAR AND COOL WITH TEMPS DROPPING INTO THE UPPER 30S BY MIDNIGHT. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE WILL SLIDE EAST BY TOMORROW WITH LIGHT SOUTHERLY FLOW RESUMING ACROSS NORTH TEXAS. WILL SEE A SLIGHT INCREASE IN CLOUD COVER INTO THE WEEKEND. A WEAK DISTURBANCE SWINGS THROUGH THE AREA BY SATURDAY AND COULD SEE A FEW SHOWERS AND STORMS PRIMARILY ACROSS THE EASTERN COUNTIES BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON. BIGGER CHANGES COME FOR SUNDAY AND MONDAY. STRONG S/W MOVES THROUGH THE UPPER PLAINS ON SUNDAY SENDING A STRONG COLD FRONT THROUGH NORTH TEXAS. GFS IN PARTICULAR HAS CONTINUED TO TREND COLDER WITH THIS SYSTEM. MEANWHILE...MORE UPSTREAM ENERGY DIGS INTO THE SOUTHWEST US THROUGH THE BASE OF THE MEAN TROF BY SUNDAY EVENING. THIS SCENARIO IS BECOMING MORE FAVORABLE FOR WINTRY PRECIPITATION ACROSS NORTH TEXAS BY MONDAY AS COLD AIR WILL HAVE TIME TO BECOME ESTABLISHED. 12Z GFS BUFR SOUNDINGS FOR DFW/MWL AND SURROUNDING AREAS ON 18Z MONDAY INDICATE A COLD THERMAL PROFILE SUPPORTING SNOW WITH SATURATED LAYER UP TO 500MB. THE PROBLEM WITH THE GFS SOLUTION NOW IS ITS HANDLING OF THE LEAD S/W INTO THE UPPER PLAINS. THERE ARE STILL SOME INCONSISTENCIES FROM THE OTHER GLOBAL MODELS WHICH HAVE TRENDED ITS OVERALL SOLUTION COLDER THAN THE OTHER GUIDANCE. IN ADDITION...THERE ARE STILL SOME UNCERTAINTIES WITH REGARD TO THE STRENGTH OF THE COASTAL TROF/SURFACE LOW IN THE WESTERN GULF WHICH COULD HAVE SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS ON MOISTURE RETURN INTO NORTH TEXAS. FOR NOW...WILL KEEP THE POPS AT 50 PERCENT ACROSS THE AREA AND HAVE LOWERED TEMPS ON MONDAY TO NEAR 40 DEGREES...KEEPING THE PRECIP ALL RAIN MORE IN LINE WITH THE 12Z ECMWF. WILL HAVE TO WATCH THIS SYSTEM CLOSELY THOUGH OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS AS IT CAN QUICKLY BECOME MORE FAVORABLE FOR FROZEN PRECIP. PRECIP SHOULD END RAPIDLY FROM WEST TO EAST BY TUESDAY WITH A SLOW WARMUP THROUGH MIDWEEK. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... DALLAS-FT. WORTH, TX 34 62 48 74 58 / 0 0 0 5 10 WACO, TX 34 63 51 77 60 / 0 0 5 5 10 PARIS, TX 29 56 41 66 54 / 0 0 0 5 10 DENTON, TX 30 62 43 71 54 / 0 0 0 0 5 MCKINNEY, TX 30 60 43 70 55 / 0 0 0 5 10 DALLAS, TX 33 62 47 74 57 / 0 0 0 5 10 TERRELL, TX 31 61 48 72 57 / 0 0 5 5 10 CORSICANA, TX 31 62 50 74 59 / 0 0 5 5 10 TEMPLE, TX 38 63 51 76 60 / 0 5 5 5 10 && .FWD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 82/79
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 658 PM CST WED DEC 31 2008 TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-011200- MONTAGUE-COOKE-GRAYSON-FANNIN-LAMAR-YOUNG-JACK-WISE-DENTON-COLLIN- HUNT-DELTA-HOPKINS-STEPHENS-PALO PINTO-PARKER-TARRANT-DALLAS- ROCKWALL-KAUFMAN-VAN ZANDT-RAINS-EASTLAND-ERATH-HOOD-SOMERVELL- JOHNSON-ELLIS-HENDERSON-COMANCHE-MILLS-HAMILTON-BOSQUE-HILL-NAVARRO- FREESTONE-ANDERSON-LAMPASAS-CORYELL-BELL-MCLENNAN-FALLS-LIMESTONE- LEON-MILAM-ROBERTSON- 658 PM CST WED DEC 31 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ALONG AND EAST OF A LINE FROM TEMPLE...TO HILLSBORO...TO PARIS ON SATURDAY. SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ARE NOT EXPECTED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
About two-thirds of the county was considered to be in severe to extreme drought according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
About two-thirds of the county was considered to be in severe to extreme drought according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.
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, January 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: 146069, 146070.