A series of showers and thunderstorms moving onshore from the Gulf of Mexico produced several structural fires due to lightning strikes.
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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 HGX wrote it up.
A series of showers and thunderstorms moving onshore from the Gulf of Mexico produced several structural fires due to lightning strikes.
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 Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jul 26, 3:01 AM CST, 1 hour 44 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 401 AM CDT MON JUL 26 2010 .DISCUSSION... PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS ARE SETTING UP TO RECEIVE SOME POSSIBLE HEAVY RAINFALL OVER THE NEXT THREE DAYS AS ABUNDANT TROPICAL MOISTURE PERSISTS ACROSS THE AREA. PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN ABOVE 2 INCHES THROUGH WEDNESDAY AS THE INFLOW OFF THE GULF BRINGS A SERIES OF DISTURBANCES NORTHWARD ACROSS THE AREA. WILL CONTINUE WITH LIKELY POPS FOR THE NEXT 3 DAYS...AND RAINFALL TOTALS FOR THE PERIOD COULD END UP TOTALLY SEVERAL INCHES OR MORE. UPPER LEVEL RIDGING BUILDS INTO THE AREA AFTER WEDNESDAY AND BRINGS AN END TO THIS EVENT. BEGINNING ON THURSDAY AND ON THROUGH NEXT WEEKEND...WILL ONLY CARRY SLIGHT CHANCE POPS FOR THE LATE AFTERNOON HOURS. IF THE RIDGING IS STRONG ENOUGH AND ITS POSITIONING IS RIGHT...THE AREA MIGHT END UP GETTING NO RAIN. AFTER SOME COOLER TEMPERATURES OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS UNDER THE CLOUDS AND RAIN...THE ENTIRE AREA WILL SEE A BIG WARMUP AS THE RIDGE BUILDS IN AND SURFACE WINDS COME AROUND TO THE SOUTHWEST AND WEST. HIGHS OVER THE WEEKEND WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO REACH THE UPPER 90S TO LOWER 100S. 42 && .MARINE... WINDS AND SEAS WILL REMAIN ON THE LOW SIDE THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON. THE PRESSURE GRADIENT BETWEEN AN EXPANDING EASTERN HIGH AND LOWER BAY OF CAMPECHE PRESSURES WILL INCREASE SUSTAINED MID-WEEK WINDS BY ANOTHER 5 TO 10 KNOTS...WILL FLIRT WITH SCEC CRITERIA OVER THE OFFSHORE WATERS EARLY WEDNESDAY. SEA STATE WILL REMAIN UNCHANGED THROUGH TUESDAY...WITH AN INCREASE OF A COUPLE OF FEET AT MID-WEEK...AS A MORE ENTRENCHED MODERATE SE'ERN FETCH DRAGS IN SOUTHERN GULF SWELL. 31 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... COLLEGE STATION (CLL) 92 75 90 75 90 / 60 30 60 40 60 HOUSTON (IAH) 91 76 88 76 88 / 60 30 70 40 60 GALVESTON (GLS) 88 80 87 80 87 / 60 40 70 60 60 && .HGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...NONE. GM...NONE. && DISCUSSION...42 AVIATION/MARINE...31
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 437 AM CDT MON JUL 26 2010 GMZ330-335-350-355-370-375-TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226- 227-235>238-271200- AUSTIN-BRAZORIA-BRAZOS-BURLESON-CHAMBERS-COLORADO-FORT BEND- GALVESTON-GALVESTON BAY-GRIMES-HARRIS-HOUSTON-JACKSON-LIBERTY- MADISON-MATAGORDA-MATAGORDA BAY-MONTGOMERY-POLK-SAN JACINTO- TRINITY-WALKER-WALLER-WASHINGTON- WATERS FROM FREEPORT TO THE MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL 20 NM TO 60 NM- WATERS FROM FREEPORT TO THE MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL OUT 20 NM- WATERS FROM HIGH ISLAND TO FREEPORT 20 TO 60 NM- WATERS FROM HIGH ISLAND TO FREEPORT OUT 20 NM-WHARTON- 437 AM CDT MON JUL 26 2010 ...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL POSSIBLE ACROSS PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS THROUGH WEDNESDAY... THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT DEEPENING TROPICAL MOISTURE WILL ALLOW FOR SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...TOTALLY 1 TO 2 INCHES OR MORE...WILL BE POSSIBLE. LOCATIONS RECEIVING HEAVIER RAINFALL COULD SEE SOME FLOODING. .DAYS TWO AND THREE...TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY DEEP TROPICAL MOISTURE WILL PERSIST AND WILL ALLOW FOR SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...TOTALLY 1 TO 2 INCHES OR MORE...WILL BE POSSIBLE. LOCATIONS RECEIVING HEAVIER RAINFALL COULD SEE SOME FLOODING. .DAYS FOUR THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH SUNDAY HIGH PRESSURE BUILDING INTO THE AREA WILL DRY MUCH OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS OUT AND WARM UP TEMPERATURES. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT HIGHS BY THE WEEKEND COULD REACH THE UPPER 90S TO LOWER 100S. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MIGHT BE NEEDED OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS.
The Houston radar (KHGX), 32 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 10:43 UTC.
4 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Eight apartments were damaged by fire due to a lightning strike in Galveston. The apartment complex had been abandoned since Hurricane Ike in 2008.
Lightning caused a small attic fire in a home on the west end of Galveston Island. Damage to the home was minimal.
Lightning struck a house in the 7000 block of Avenue R. The strike produced minor damage to the brick exterior of the home but no fire was reported.
Oil tank fire due to lightning strike. Two houses evacuated due to heavy smoke. Shelter in place warning issued for Burton.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, July 2010
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: 238520, 238521, 238522, 252293.