A swimmer drowned when captured by a rip current off Galveston Island.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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 HGX wrote it up.
A swimmer drowned when captured by a rip current off Galveston Island.
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 May 23, 5:22 PM CST, 53 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX
622 PM CDT MON MAY 23 2011
.AVIATION...
FCST OF PERSISTENCE AGAIN. EXPECT PERIODS OF MVFR CIGS
OVERNIGHT...BREAKING/LIFTING BY MID MORNING AS GUSTY SRLY WINDS
START BACK UP. 47
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
COLLEGE STATION (CLL) 74 94 74 94 69 / 10 10 10 20 20
HOUSTON (IAH) 75 93 76 93 74 / 10 10 10 10 20
GALVESTON (GLS) 77 87 78 87 76 / 10 10 10 10 10
&&
.HGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
TX...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 7 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR THE FOLLOWING
ZONES: AUSTIN...BRAZORIA...BRAZOS...BURLESON...COLORADO...
FORT BEND...JACKSON...MATAGORDA...WALLER...WASHINGTON...
WHARTON.
GM...SMALL CRAFT SHOULD EXERCISE CAUTION THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON
FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: GALVESTON BAY...MATAGORDA BAY...
WATERS FROM FREEPORT TO THE MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL OUT 20
NM...WATERS FROM HIGH ISLAND TO FREEPORT OUT 20 NM.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY UNTIL 6 PM CDT TUESDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING
ZONES: WATERS FROM FREEPORT TO THE MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL
20 NM TO 60 NM...WATERS FROM HIGH ISLAND TO FREEPORT 20 TO
60 NM.
&&
DISCUSSION...30HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HOUSTON/GALVESTON TX 531 AM CDT MON MAY 23 2011 TXZ163-164-176>179-195>200-210>214-226-227-235>238-240315- AUSTIN-BRAZORIA-BRAZOS-BURLESON-CHAMBERS-COLORADO-FORT BEND- GALVESTON-GRIMES-HARRIS-HOUSTON-JACKSON-LIBERTY-MADISON-MATAGORDA- MONTGOMERY-POLK-SAN JACINTO-TRINITY-WALKER-WALLER-WASHINGTON- WHARTON- 531 AM CDT MON MAY 23 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FROM 10 AM THROUGH 7 PM FOR THE WESTERN THIRD OF SOUTHEAST TEXAS...GENERALLY WEST OF A COLLEGE STATION TO LAKE JACKSON. SUSTAINED SOUTH TO SOUTHEAST WINDS WILL AVERAGE BETWEEN 20 AND 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 35 MPH. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.
A man drowned when he was taken under by a rip current off of Galveston. A woman swimming with the man was thrown onto a jetty and was injured but survived.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rip Current, Galveston | 2011-05-23 | 23 | Male | In Water | Direct |
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, May 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: 303904.