A deep upper level trough carved its way across the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle during the afternoon of October 23rd. Ahead of this trough, strong winds were present in the lower and mid levels of the atmosphere.
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 SHV wrote it up.
A deep upper level trough carved its way across the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle during the afternoon of October 23rd. Ahead of this trough, strong winds were present in the lower and mid levels of the atmosphere. Low level wind shear was present during the late afternoon into the evening hours as severe thunderstorms developed rapidly across portions of north central Texas. The storms migrated into northeast Texas during the evening hours and encountered a moderately unstable airmass. These storms took on the characteristics of supercells and small bowing segments which produced large hail and damaging wind gusts across portions of northeast Texas.
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 Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 23, 4:36 PM CST, 34 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 536 PM CDT SAT OCT 23 2010 .DISCUSSION... ZONES UPDATED TO INCLUDE TORNADO WATCH 706 FOR MUCH OF EAST TEXAS UNTIL 10 PM CDT. NO OTHER CHANGES AT THIS TIME TO FORECAST. PREVIOUS DISCUSSION... SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS FOR THE MOST PART...HAVE REMAINED JUST WEST OF OUR WESTERN MOST ZONES TODAY AS THIS HAS BEEN WHERE THE IDEAL MOISTURE TRANSPORT HAS BEEN IN ADDITION TO THE UPPER LEVEL STORM TRACK. TORNADO WATCH #704 REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 8 PM FOR COUNTIES JUST TO OUR NORTHWEST ACROSS NE TX INTO SE OK. STILL WATCHING STRONG SHORTWAVE JUST NOW BEGINNING TO MOVE NORTH NORTHEAST FROM DEEP SOUTHWEST TEXAS IN THE BASE OF THE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH. THIS SHORTWAVE APPEARS TO BE FAR ENOUGH SOUTH AND EAST INITIALLY SUCH THAT OUR WESTERN ZONES SHOULD FEEL MORE OF AN EFFECT FROM THIS FEATURE LATER THIS EVENING TO NUDGE THE MOISTURE TRANSPORT A LITTLE FURTHER TO THE EAST INTO OUR WESTERN ZONES. WILL CONTINUE TO ADVERTISE LIKELY POPS ACROSS OUR NW ZONES OVERNIGHT BUT SHORT TERM PROGS SUGGEST THAT TSTM COVERAGE WILL WEAKEN IN COVERAGE AND INTENSITY AFTER MIDNIGHT. SEVERE STORMS WILL CONTINUE TO BE POSSIBLE ACROSS OUR EXTREME WEST AND NORTHWEST ZONES AS THIS REGION APPEARS TO BE WHERE THE BEST BULK SHEAR RESIDES NOT TO MENTION INSTABILITY. DAMAGING WIND GUSTS WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREAT THIS EVENING...WITH AN ISOLATED TORNADO/HAIL THREAT ALSO POSSIBLE ASSUMING THAT DEVELOPING CONVECTION DOES NOT OUTRUN THE UPPER LEVEL SUPPORT BEFORE WE BEGIN TO STABILIZE SOMEWHAT LATE TONIGHT. AFTER A WARM NIGHT...WE WILL CONTINUE TO LOOK UPSTREAM DURING THE DAY SUNDAY AS THE UPPER TROUGH AXIS ITSELF BEGINS TO FILL AND KICK OUT INTO THE SOUTHERN PLAINS/LOWER MISS VALLEY. WE MAY BE DEALING WITH SOME ELEVATED SCATTERED CONVECTION SUNDAY MORNING BUT FEEL LIKE THE BEST POTENTIAL FOR STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL OCCUR LATE IN THE AFTERNOON...INTO THE EVENING HOURS AND MAINLY ALONG AND NORTH OF THE I-20 CORRIDOR AS THE BEST DYNAMICS WILL BE ACROSS OUR NORTHERN HALF. DEEPER CONVECTION...ROOTED MORE TOWARDS THE SURFACE WILL LIKELY DEVELOP DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS ALONG A NORTH TO SOUTH ORIENTED DRY LINE ACROSS EASTERN OKLAHOMA INTO NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS. MUCH LIKE TODAY TO OUR WEST...THERE WILL BE SUFFICIENT BULK SHEAR FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF ORGANIZED SEVERE CONVECTION...MOSTLY IN THE FORM OF LEWP/BOWING SEGMENTS BUT IF ANY DISCRETE CONVECTION CAN DEVELOP EAST OF THE DRYLINE...A TORNADO CANNOT BE RULED OUT GIVEN THE SRH VALUES IN THE 0-1 AND 0-3 KM LAYERS. WE REMAIN IN STRONG WEST SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT THROUGH THE EARLY AND MIDDLE PART OF THE WORK WEEK AND WE CANNOT RULE OUT WIDELY SCATTERED CONVECTION JUST ABOUT ANY DAY THROUGH AT LEAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT. UPPER LEVEL PATTERN BECOMES WEST NORTHWEST DURING THE DAY THURSDAY WHICH WILL HELP TO DRIVE A FRONT INTO THE REGION AND RETURN OUR TEMPERATURES MORE TOWARDS CLIMATOLOGICAL LATE OCTOBER NORMALS FOR THE END OF THE WEEK INTO NEXT WEEKEND. PRELIMS TO FOLLOW...13. && .AVIATION... MOSTLY VFR CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH THE AFTERNOON/EARLY EVENING...WITH A BKN CU FIELD EXPECTED TO CONTINUE TO EXPAND N THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS E TX/N LA/EXTREME SRN AR. A LARGE AREA OF SHRA WITH EMBEDDED CONVECTION OVER SRN/ERN OK AND THROUGH MUCH OF N TX WILL CONTINUE TO SLOWLY SPREAD ENE INTO EXTREME SE OK/SW AR/E TX LATE THIS AFTERNOON/EVENING...AHEAD OF A SHORTWAVE EXPECTED TO EJECT NE ACROSS N TX/SE OK THIS EVENING. THIS CONVECTION MAY NOT AFFECT THE TYR TERMINAL UNTIL AFTER 21Z...AND THE TXK TERMINAL UNTIL AFTER 02Z SUNDAY. WILL MAINTAIN CB/S IN FOR GGG...ALTHOUGH AMENDMENTS WILL BE POSSIBLE HERE BY EARLY EVENING. THE CONVECTION MAY BEGIN TO DIMINISH AFTER 06Z AS THE PARENT SHORTWAVE LIFTS NE AWAY FROM THE AREA...ALTHOUGH WARM ADVECTION SHOWERS WILL REMAIN POSSIBLE ACROSS E TX/SW AR/NW LA OVERNIGHT. A 25-30KT SSWRLY LLJ WILL YIELD VARIOUS MVFR CIGS ACROSS MUCH OF THE REGION MAINLY AFTER 06Z...AND WILL NOT LIFT UNTIL MID/LATE MORNING SUNDAY. SCT CONVECTION WILL FIRE ACROSS SE OK/NE TX/SW AR AFTER 18Z...AHEAD OF THE NEXT SHORTWAVE THAT WILL TRANSLATE E ACROSS THE REGION. SSE WINDS AROUND 10KTS TODAY...WITH OCCASIONAL GUSTS UP TO 20KTS THIS AFTERNOON...WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HRS ACROSS E TX/NW LA/SW AR...BUT DIMINISH SLIGHTLY TO 5-10KTS ACROSS NCNTRL LA. /15/ && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... SHV 65 86 67 87 70 / 30 50 50 20 10 MLU 61 87 65 87 71 / 10 30 50 20 10 DEQ 64 82 61 85 61 / 70 50 60 20 20 TXK 66 84 66 86 65 / 50 50 60 20 20 ELD 62 85 65 85 68 / 20 50 60 20 10 TYR 68 86 68 87 68 / 60 50 50 20 10 GGG 67 86 67 87 68 / 50 50 50 20 10 LFK 67 88 67 88 72 / 20 30 30 20 10 && .SHV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AR...NONE. LA...NONE. OK...NONE. TX...NONE. && 14/05
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 1124 AM CDT SAT OCT 23 2010 ARZ050-051-059>061-070>073-LAZ001>006-010>014-017>022-OKZ077- TXZ096-097-108>112-124>126-136>138-149>153-165>167-241200- SEVIER-HOWARD-LITTLE RIVER-HEMPSTEAD-NEVADA-MILLER-LAFAYETTE- COLUMBIA-UNION AR-CADDO-BOSSIER-WEBSTER-CLAIBORNE-LINCOLN- UNION LA-DE SOTO-RED RIVER-BIENVILLE-JACKSON-OUACHITA-SABINE LA- NATCHITOCHES-WINN-GRANT-CALDWELL-LA SALLE-MCCURTAIN-BOWIE- FRANKLIN-TITUS-CAMP-MORRIS-CASS-WOOD-UPSHUR-MARION-SMITH-GREGG- HARRISON-CHEROKEE-RUSK-PANOLA-NACOGDOCHES-SHELBY-ANGELINA- SAN AUGUSTINE-SABINE TX- 1124 AM CDT SAT OCT 23 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL ARKANSAS...SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...NORTH CENTRAL LOUISIANA... NORTHWEST LOUISIANA...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...EAST TEXAS AND NORTHEAST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS SHOULD CONTINUE TO INCREASE IN COVERAGE AND INTENSITY THROUGHOUT THE AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT HOURS...ACROSS MAINLY NORTHEAST TEXAS...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA INTO EXTREME SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS. WINDS ARE STRONG IN THE LOWER AND MID LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE...AND AS A RESULT...THERE WILL BE AN ORGANIZED SEVERE WEATHER THREAT LATE THIS AFTERNOON... INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS...ACROSS MAINLY THE NORTHERN HALF OF NORTHEAST TEXAS...SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND EXTREME SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS. GIVEN THE WIND SHEAR IN PLACE AND THE COOLER TEMPERATURES ALOFT...LARGE HAIL AND STRONG...DAMAGING WIND GUSTS WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREATS. HOWEVER...ISOLATED TORNADOES CANNOT BE RULED OUT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY... THERE WILL BE A CONTINUED THREAT OF ORGANIZED SEVERE WEATHER ACROSS THE FOUR STATE REGION ON SUNDAY INTO SUNDAY NIGHT. A VIGOROUS UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM WILL FINALLY EJECT OUT OF THE TEXAS HILL COUNTRY AND INTO THE PLAINS. STRONG LIFT WILL ACCOMPANY THIS STORM SYSTEM WITH A LARGER PORTION OF THE FOUR STATE REGION LIKELY SEEING SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS SUNDAY INTO SUNDAY NIGHT. AGAIN...LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WIND GUSTS WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREAT WITH ANY SEVERE CONVECTION ON SUNDAY...BUT WIND SHEAR WILL BE SUFFICIENT ENOUGH TO PRODUCE ISOLATED TORNADOES AS WELL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON INTO THE EVENING... AS WELL AS DURING THE DAY SUNDAY...SO PLEASE MONITOR STATEMENTS OF IMPENDING SEVERE WEATHER THROUGHOUT THE WEEKEND. 13
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
325 PM CDT SAT OCT 23 2010
OKZ077-232100-
MCCURTAIN-
325 PM CDT SAT OCT 23 2010
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SHREVEPORT HAS ISSUED A SIGNIFICANT
WEATHER ADVISORY...EFFECTIVE UNTIL 400 PM CDT...FOR THE FOLLOWING
COUNTY...
IN SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...
MCCURTAIN...
INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
BATTIEST AND SMITHVILLE...
AT 325 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS WERE
DETECTING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 9 MILES SOUTHWEST OF OCTAVIA...OR 33
MILES WEST OF MENA...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35 MPH. THIS STORM WILL
REMAIN OVER THE RURAL MOUNTAINOUS AREAS OF NORTHERN MCCURTAIN COUNTY
DURING THE NEXT 10 TO 15 MINUTES...BEFORE IT ENTERS SOUTHERN LEFLORE
COUNTY.
WINDS 40 TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM.
15SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
431 PM CDT SAT OCT 23 2010
TXZ108-124-232230-
FRANKLIN-WOOD-
431 PM CDT SAT OCT 23 2010
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SHREVEPORT HAS ISSUED A SIGNIFICANT
WEATHER ADVISORY...EFFECTIVE UNTIL 530 PM CDT...FOR THE FOLLOWING
COUNTIES...
IN NORTHEAST TEXAS...
FRANKLIN AND WOOD...
INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
GOLDEN...MINEOLA...PLEASANT GROVE...PURLEY...QUITMAN AND
WINNSBORO...
AT 429 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS WERE
DETECTING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR QUITMAN...OR 10 MILES NORTH OF
MINEOLA...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 15 MPH. ANOTHER STORM INTENSIFYING
RAPIDLY WAS LOCATED NEAR GOLDEN. THIS STORM WAS ALSO MOVING TO THE
NORTHEAST NEAR 15 MPH.
DIME SIZE HAIL...AND WINDS 40 TO 50 MPH ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS STORM.
SOME WEAK ROTATION WAS ALSO NOTED WITH THESE STORMS.
13The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 139 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:09 UTC.
12 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Several pieces of an overhanging awning were blown off a pharmacy building just west of the Loop and Hwy. 64.
A tree was downed on a house in the Gresham community south of Tyler or east of Noonday, Texas.
Trees were downed in the Arp community.
Numerous trees were downed across the northern part of the county. Some accidents were caused by trees in the roadways.
Trees were downed south of the Kilgore Bypass on U.S. Hwy. 259.
Powerlines were blown down at Texas Highway 31 and the 281 Loop.
A roof was taken off a barn south of Troup, Texas.
Hail was reported on the 571 Loop.
Trees and powerlines were downed south of Kilgore, Texas.
Trees were downed on Lafayette Street in Marshall, Texas.
The estimated wind gust was reported 7 miles south of Texarkana, Texas.
Trees were downed on FM Road 829.
Lightning resulted in a house fire on County Road 4104 northeast of Lindale, Texas. The fire was contained to one bedroom. There were no reported injuries.
A metal roof was blown off a house in the community of Cove Springs along CR. 3406 northeast of Jacksonville, Texas.
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, October 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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 259189, 259190, 259191, 259193, 259192, 259194, 259195, 259196, 259197, 259201, 259198, 259199, 259200, 259202, 259203.