Drought in Texas, January 27 to 31, 2009

Name: Drought in Texas, January 27 to 31, 2009
Start: 2009-01-27T00:00
End: 2009-01-31T23:59
Location: Texas

January 27 to 31, 2009 · NWS LUB · 8 events in 8 counties and zones

Despite a wet summer and early fall of 2008, precipitation was scarce over the west Texas South Plains region from late October 2008 through January 2009. Severe (D2) drought developed over the Rolling Plains during late January, where measurable precipitation had totalled less than three-tenths of an inch on average during the previous three months.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 8 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 8

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS LUB wrote it up.

Soils and grasses across the Rolling Plains became very dry by the last week of January, and planting of some cool season crops was delayed. The increasing drought situation presented a high fire danger, but no major wildfire activity was observed during the month of January. Local agricultural experts believe that heavy rainfall last fall has resulted in sufficient soil moisture to benefit the upcoming warm season|growing season, but only if precipitation increases in the coming months.

What forecasters said that day

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 Lubbock, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 26, 11:30 PM CST, 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 26, 11:30 PM CST, 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
1130 PM CST MON JAN 26 2009

.AVIATION...
IFR OR LIFR CONDITIONS TO PERSIST INTO MID-MORNING AS
STRATUS...FOG AND SOME FREEZING DRIZZLE WILL CONTINUE IN COLD AIR
BEING OVERRUN BY WARM AIR. LIFT FROM UPPER DISTURBANCE TO THE WEST
HAS INCREASED RECENTLY AND COULD SEE A PERIOD OF WINTRY MIX /SLEET...
FREEZING RAIN AND LIGHT SNOW/ THROUGH 08Z OR 09Z BUT HAVE NOT
MENTIONED IN TAFS. CLEARING TO BEGIN IN THE AFTERNOON.

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 325 PM CST MON JAN 26 2009/

SHORT TERM...
SURFACE COLD FRONT HAS STALLED OUT JUST WEST OF THE TX/NM STATE LINE
AND THEN CURVES DOWN TO HOBBS NM BACK TO ABILENE AND INTO NORTH
TEXAS.  AIRMASS IS VERY SHALLOW WITH A WEST TEXAS MESONET SOUNDING
AT REESE INDICATING A COLD-LAYER DEPTH OF ONLY 40MB/OR APPROX 1200
FEET.  STARTING TO SEE SOME CLEARING ALONG THE SOUTHWESTERN EDGE OF
THE COLD DOME SINCE IT IS SO SHALLOW AND THIS IS ALLOWING TEMPS TO
CREEP UP TO JUST ABOVE FREEZING.  THE REST OF THE FCST AREA REMAINS
SOCKED IN UNDER LOW CLOUDS AND TEMPS HAVE ALSO BEEN SLOWLY WARMING
BUT ARE STILL WELL BELOW FREEZING.  COULD SEE A FEW LOCATIONS IN THE
WRN AND SWRN COUNTIES BRIEFLY GET ABOVE FREEZING BEFORE TEMPS DROP
AFTER SUNSET.

BIGGEST ISSUE HAS BEEN PRECIP TYPE AS MODEL AND BUFKIT SOUNDINGS ARE
INDICATIVE OF AN AIRMASS THAT WOULD FAVOR FREEZING FOG AND
OCCASIONAL FREEZING RAIN BUT NOT SNIZZLE...SNOW AND FREEZING DRIZZLE
MIX.  VISIBILITIES AT TIMES HAS DROPPED DOWN TO 1 MILE WITH VERY
LIGHT SNOW AND GRASSY SURFACES ON THE WEST SIDE OF KLBB ARE STARTING
TO SHOW A COATING OF WHITE BASED ON VIEWS FROM TXDOT WEBCAMS.  AS
THE MAIN DISTURBANCE MOVES TOWARDS THE REGION TOMORROW...FCST
SOUNDINGS DO INDICATE THAT THE WARM LAYER ALOFT WILL SHRINK WHICH
SHOULD HELP CHANGE ANY PRECIP TYPE OVER TO SLEET WITH CONTINUED
FREEZING FOG AND FREEZING DRIZZLE AT THE SURFACE.  WILL ALSO HAVE TO
DEAL WITH TRICKY MAX TEMPS FOR TOMORROW AFTERNOON.  BELIEVE THAT
MUCH OF THE AREA WILL STAY BELOW FREEZING THROUGHOUT THE DAY BUT THE
WESTERN ZONES COULD CLIMB A BIT ABOVE FREEZING DEPENDING ON HOW FAR
WEST THE STRATUS DECK WILL DEVELOP TONIGHT.  WEAK WESTERLY WINDS
ACROSS THE WESTERN COUNTIES MIGHT BE JUST ENOUGH TO ERODE THE CLOUD
DECK LATE IN THE DAY AND BUMP UP TEMPS ABOVE FREEZING.

OPTED TO CARRY THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY THROUGH TUESDAY EVENING
TO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT EXTENDED PERIOD BELOW FREEZING AND THE VARIOUS
TYPES OF PRECIPITATION WE HAVE SEEN SO FAR TODAY.  ACCUMULATIONS ARE
STILL EXPECTED TO BE BELOW WARNING CRITERIA BUT ENOUGH TO POSSIBLY
RESULT IN SOME TRAVEL PROBLEMS...ESPECIALLY ON ELEVATED SURFACES.
ADVISORY MAY BE TRIMMED EARLIER SHOULD THE MAIN WAVE KICK OUT FASTER
THAN CURRENTLY INDICATED IN THE MODELS.

JORDAN

LONG TERM...
UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM CAUSING THE WINTRY MIX WILL BECOME A POSITIVELY
TILTED TROUGH BY WEDNESDAY. THE WINTRY PRECIPITATION FOCUS WILL
SHIFT TO THE SOUTHEAST SOUTH PLAINS...WITH THE SYSTEM EJECTING TO
THE NORTHEAST U.S. LATE WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY. THEREAFTER...THE UPPER
LEVEL PATTERN WILL BE A SLIGHTLY AMPLIFIED RIDGE ACROSS THE PACIFIC
NORTHWEST...AND TROUGH ACROSS THE NORTHEAST. THIS WILL INDUCE A
SERIES OF DRY WEAK FRONTS MOVING THROUGH THE CWA...WITH DRY UPPER
NORTHWESTERLY FLOW. THE RIDGE BRIEFLY FLATTENS AS AN UPPER LEVEL
SHORTWAVE/LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM PROPAGATES ACROSS THE AREA SUNDAY.
THUS PRECIPITATION IS NON-MENTIONABLE.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
FRIONA        15  34  18  52  22 /  20  10  10   0  10
TULIA         13  31  18  50  23 /  20  10  10  10  10
PLAINVIEW     14  30  18  51  24 /  20  20  10  10   0
LEVELLAND     17  32  23  53  25 /  20  20  10  10   0
LUBBOCK       16  30  23  52  26 /  20  20  10  10   0
DENVER CITY   23  34  26  55  29 /  20  20  10  10   0
BROWNFIELD    21  31  24  54  27 /  20  20  10  10   0
CHILDRESS     18  29  20  49  25 /  30  20  10  10  10
SPUR          20  30  23  51  26 /  20  20  20  10   0
ASPERMONT     21  28  23  51  28 /  20  30  30  10   0

&&

.LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM CST TUESDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING
ZONES: TXZ022>026-028>032-034>038-040>044.

&&

07

Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 26, 11:38 AM CST, 12 hours 22 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
1138 AM CST MON JAN 26 2009

TXZ021>044-271745-
PARMER-CASTRO-SWISHER-BRISCOE-HALL-CHILDRESS-BAILEY-LAMB-HALE-
FLOYD-MOTLEY-COTTLE-COCHRAN-HOCKLEY-LUBBOCK-CROSBY-DICKENS-KING-
YOAKUM-TERRY-LYNN-GARZA-KENT-STONEWALL-
1138 AM CST MON JAN 26 2009

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE EXTREME SOUTHERN TEXAS
PANHANDLE...SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS.

.DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT

WINTER WEATHER

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR ALL BUT THE FAR WESTERN
COUNTIES OF THE SOUTH PLAINS THROUGH 6 PM TUESDAY. WIDESPREAD
FREEZING FOG AND FREEZING DRIZZLE WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TUESDAY
AFTERNOON. IN ADDITION...PERIODS OF LIGHT FREEZING RAIN AND VERY
LIGHT SNOW WILL OCCUR THROUGH TONIGHT AS A STORM SYSTEM APPROACHES
THE REGION. ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BE VERY LIGHT...BUT
ENOUGH TO RESULT IN SOME ACCUMULATIONS ON AREA ROADWAYS. IN
ADDITION...THE FREEZING FOG WILL REDUCE VISIBILITIES AT TIMES.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

THE POTENTIAL FOR LIGHT ICE ACCUMULATIONS FROM FREEZING DRIZZLE...
FREEZING FOG...AND LIGHT FREEZING RAIN WILL PERSIST THROUGH
TUESDAY EVENING.

OTHERWISE...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED WEDNESDAY THROUGH
SUNDAY.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

8 drought. Local standard time, as filed.

Drought, Childress

When: January 27, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Childress forecast zone
Reported by: Other Federal Agency
Coordinates: 34.529, -100.208 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Cottle

When: January 27, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Cottle forecast zone
Reported by: Other Federal Agency
Coordinates: 34.078, -100.279 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Motley

When: January 27, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Motley forecast zone
Reported by: Other Federal Agency
Coordinates: 34.074, -100.780 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, King

When: January 27, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: King forecast zone
Reported by: Other Federal Agency
Coordinates: 33.617, -100.256 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Dickens

When: January 27, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Dickens forecast zone
Reported by: Other Federal Agency
Coordinates: 33.617, -100.779 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Stonewall

When: January 27, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Stonewall forecast zone
Reported by: Other Federal Agency
Coordinates: 33.179, -100.253 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Kent

When: January 27, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Kent forecast zone
Reported by: Other Federal Agency
Coordinates: 33.181, -100.778 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Drought, Garza

When: January 27, 12:00 AM CST to January 31, 11:59 PM CST
Where: Garza forecast zone
Reported by: Other Federal Agency
Coordinates: 33.180, -101.298 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Drought: A drought reaching severe (D2) or worse on the US Drought Monitor, or with notable impacts.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Texas in 2009 Every state in 2009 This day in weather history Warnings in Texas, January 2009

Sources

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: 145092, 145093, 145094, 145095, 145097, 145098, 145099, 145100.