The historic drought continued across West Central Texas as a strong upper level high pressure ridge persisted across West Central Texas. S.
Every event with a place to put it; 24 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.
The historic drought continued across West Central Texas as a strong upper level high pressure ridge persisted across West Central Texas. The U.S. Drought Monitor, issued through the National Mitigation Drought Center depicted exceptional drought over much of West Central Texas. This was characterized by widespread crop and pasture losses, exceptional fire risk, shortages of water in reservoirs, streams and wells creating water emergencies. A small of area of the region from northern Tom Green County to Shackelford County received very heavy rainfall. This area was characterized as extreme drought.
According to the Texas Crop Weather Report prepared by the Texas A&M Agriculture Program, the following agricultural impacts were noted across West Central Texas as extremely hot, dry, and windy conditions continued. Normally producers would be preparing fields for fall planting but no work was being done because of the extremely dry soils. Rangeland and pasture conditions continued to deteriorate, and producers further decreased the size of their herds while increasing the amount of supplemental feed and water hauled. Hay was in very short supply. Most small livestock operators have already completely liquidated their herds. Some larger ranches were holding on to core herds, hoping for conditions to improve. With hay prices as high as they’ve ever been, producers were looking for feeding options. Wildlife was suffering from drought and moving into towns looking for food and water.
San Angelo had one hundred 100 degree days while Abilene had eighty-one 100 degree days. These shattered the old records. Both San Angelo and Abilene also shared the all time warmest monthly average temperatures of 90 degrees at both locations.
Lake Ivie, which supplies water to Abilene and several other cities in West Texas, has dropped to 23 percent of its capacity. If it does not receive adequate rainfall, the water supply could be depleted by December 2012.
From October 1 of 2010 through August 31 of 2011, the state climatologist stated that this was one of the driest periods on records for the entire state of Texas. The following precipitation amounts were recorded in Abilene, San Angelo and Junction for that period.
Abilene received 13.26 inches of rain. Normal rainfall for this period is about 20.87 inches
San Angelo received 8.08 inches of rain. Normal rainfall for this period is about 17.96 inches.
Junction received 4.40 inches of rain. Normal rainfall for this period is about 20.09 inches.
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 Jul 31, 10:56 PM CST, 1 hour 4 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 1156 PM CDT SUN JUL 31 2011 .DISCUSSION... SEE AVIATION SECTION. && .AVIATION... CLEAR SKIES AND VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL THROUGH THE NEXT 24 HOURS ACROSS WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. ANY PATCHY LOW CLOUD DEVELOPMENT EARLY MONDAY MORNING SHOULD STAY SOUTH OF OUR COUNTIES. WINDS HAVE DECREASED AND WILL VEER TO THE SOUTH OVERNIGHT. SOUTH-SOUTHWEST WINDS ON MONDAY MORNING WILL BACK SLIGHTLY TO SOUTH-SOUTHEAST BY LATE AFTERNOON. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 642 PM CDT SUN JUL 31 2011/ DISCUSSION... SEE AVIATION SECTION. AVIATION... CLEAR SKIES AND VFR CONDITIONS WILL PREVAIL THROUGH THE NEXT 24 HOURS ACROSS WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. ANY PATCHY LOW CLOUD DEVELOPMENT EARLY MONDAY MORNING SHOULD STAY SOUTH OF OUR COUNTIES. WIND SPEEDS WILL DECREASE LATER THIS EVENING AND DIRECTION WILL VEER TO THE SOUTH OVERNIGHT. SOUTH-SOUTHWEST WINDS ON MONDAY MORNING WILL BACK SLIGHTLY TO SOUTH- SOUTHEAST BY LATE AFTERNOON. PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 331 PM CDT SUN JUL 31 2011/ SHORT TERM... HEAT ADVISORY FOR HASKELL...THROCKMORTON...JONES AND SHACKELFORD COUNTIES CONTINUES THROUGH MONDAY EVENING. UPPER LEVEL HIGH WILL REMAIN CENTERED OVER OKLAHOMA THROUGH MONDAY...WITH HOT AND DRY WEATHER CONTINUING. THERMAL RIDGE STRENGTHENS A BIT MORE ON MONDAY WHICH WILL RESULT IN TEMPERATURES AT OR ABOVE THE CENTURY MARK ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA. HIGHS WILL RANGE FROM 100 ALONG THE I-10 CORRIDOR TO AROUND 107 OVER THE NORTHERN BIG COUNTRY. RECORD TEMPS POSSIBLE AT ABILENE TOMORROW GIVEN A FORECAST HIGH OF 104. THE CURRENT RECORD FOR ABILENE FOR AUGUST 1ST STANDS AT 103 DEGREES SET BACK IN 1998. THE RECORD FOR SAN ANGELO SHOULD BE SAFE GIVEN A FORECAST HIGH OF 104 AND THE CURRENT RECORD OF 107 SET BACK IN 2010. HEAT INDICES WILL REACH 105 TO 107 DEGREES OVER THE NORTHEAST BIG COUNTRY AGAIN ON MONDAY...WITH MINIMUM TEMPERATURES AROUND 80 DEGREES TONIGHT. WILL CONTINUE THE HEAT ADVISORY ACROSS THIS AREA THROUGH MONDAY EVENING. LONG TERM... AGAIN...LITTLE CHANGE TO THE ONGOING FORECAST. UPPER LEVEL HIGH IS CENTERED OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON WITH LITTLE MOVEMENT FORECASTED THROUGH THE EXTENDED. AFTERNOON HIGHS WILL REMAIN IN THE 100-105 DEGREE RANGE THROUGH THE PERIOD WITH NO RAINFALL IN THE FORECAST. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... ABILENE 78 104 79 104 80 / 0 0 0 0 0 SAN ANGELO 78 104 79 105 79 / 0 0 0 0 0 JUNCTION 75 100 76 103 77 / 0 0 0 0 0 && .SJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... HEAT ADVISORY UNTIL 10 PM CDT MONDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: HASKELL...JONES...SHACKELFORD...THROCKMORTON. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 349 PM CDT SUN JUL 31 2011 TXZ049-054-064>066-071>073-076>078-098-099-113-114-127-128-139- 140-154-155-168>170-012100- 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- 349 PM CDT SUN JUL 31 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT A HEAT ADVISORY CONTINUES TONIGHT FOR HASKELL...THROCKMORTON...JONES AND SHACKELFORD COUNTIES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY A HEAT ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT THROUGH MONDAY EVENING FOR HASKELL...THROCKMORTON...JONES AND SHACKELFORD COUNTIES. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
24 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Brown County in an extreme drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Coleman County in an extreme drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Runnels County in an extreme drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Callahan County in an extreme drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed the northern half of Tom Green County in an extreme drought category. The southern part of the county was rated as an exceptional drought.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Coke County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Concho County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Crockett County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Fisher County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Haskell County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Irion County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Jones County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Kimble County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Mason County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed McCulloch County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Menard County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Nolan County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed San Saba County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Schleicher County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Shackelford County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Sterling County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Sutton County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Taylor County in an exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Throckmorton County in an exceptional drought category.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, August 2011
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: 341935, 341936, 341937, 341938, 341939, 341940, 341941, 341942, 341943, 341944, 341946, 341947, 341948, 341949, 341950, 341951, 341953, 341954, 341955, 341956, 341957, 341958, 341959, 341960.