Adding insult to injury, extremely dry and near record to record hot temperatures surged across the southern tip of Texas Labor Day weekend behind Tropical Storm Lee along the Louisiana coast, adding further stress to plants and drying out soil. Another wave of hot and dry weather would appear well to the north of Tropical Storm Nate (in the Bay of Campeche) just prior to mid month, ensuring an…
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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 BRO wrote it up.
Adding insult to injury, extremely dry and near record to record hot temperatures surged across the southern tip of Texas Labor Day weekend behind Tropical Storm Lee along the Louisiana coast, adding further stress to plants and drying out soil. Another wave of hot and dry weather would appear well to the north of Tropical Storm Nate (in the Bay of Campeche) just prior to mid month, ensuring an increase in the agricultural and hydrologic drought across the entire region. Livestock loss/production dollar amounts were unavailable as of this writing.
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 Brownsville, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 12, 11:29 PM CST, 31 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX 1229 AM CDT TUE SEP 13 2011 .DISCUSSION...SEE AVIATION DISCUSSION BELOW FOR 06Z TAF FORECAST. && .AVIATION...SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWING A SWATH OF CLOUDINESS AROUND 2500 FEET MOVING ONSHORE FROM THE ADJACENT GULF OF MEXICO. WINDS WILL SIMULTANEOUSLY REMAIN AT LIGHT LEVELS...WITH VFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. SCATTERED CLOUDINESS WILL REMAIN THROUGH TOMORROW...WITH WINDS BECOMING MODERATE WITH FREQUENT HIGHER GUSTS. DIMINISHING WINDS AND CLEARING SKIES WILL OCCUR TOMORROW NIGHT. VFR WILL REIGN THROUGH THE NEXT 24 HOURS. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 139 PM CDT MON SEP 12 2011/ SHORT TERM /TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT/... HIGH PRESSURE IN THE MID AND UPPER LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE WILL CONTINUE TO BRING A RELATIVELY DRY AND STABLE AIRMASS TO DEEP SOUTH TEXAS THROUGH THE SHORT TERM PERIOD. TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE TO BE NEAR TO SLIGHTLY ABOVE NORMAL FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS DUE TO AMPLE AMOUNT OF SUNSHINE. WINDS WILL BE LIGHT OCCASIONALLY MODERATE DURING THE DAYTIME HOURS FROM THE SOUTHEAST THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. /65/ LONG TERM /WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY/... WITH THE MEDIUM RANGE MODELS APPEARING TO BE IN DECENT AGREEMENT... WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN QUIET DURING THE LONG TERM PORTION OF THE FORECAST. A SHORTWAVE TROUGH...PASSING ACROSS THE NORTHERN PLAINS...IS EXPECTED TO HAVE ENOUGH AMPLITUDE TO PUSH A WEAK COLD FRONT SOUTH THROUGH THE LONE STAR STATE. THERE MAY BE ENOUGH MOMENTUM TO PUSH THE FRONT SOUTH OF THE IH-10 CORRIDOR IN THE FRIDAY/SATURDAY TIME FRAME. BUT IF YOU ARE WAITING FOR THE FRONT TO MOVE SOUTH OF THE RIO GRANDE...DO NOT HOLD YOUR BREATH. RIDGING IN THE MIDDLE AND UPPER ATMOSPHERE IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE DOMINATING WEATHER CONDITIONS ACROSS DEEP SOUTH TEXAS. THE FRONT IS BASICALLY EXPECTED TO SLOWLY DISSIPATE AS IT MOVES SOUTH OF THE COASTAL BEND. AS SUCH...NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGE IN AIRMASS IS EXPECTED ACROSS OUR AREA. TEMPERATURES THROUGH THE LONG TERM WILL LIKELY REMAIN ABOVE SEASONAL AVERAGES. THERE MAY BE A GLIMMER /REPEAT...GLIMMER/ OF HOPE IN THE RAINFALL DEPARTMENT. A PERSISTENT EAST TO SOUTHEAST WIND FLOW IS EXPECTED TO DEEPEN LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE ACROSS THE REGION. PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES MAY APPROACH 2 INCHES BY THE WEEKEND...WHICH COULD ASSIST IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SOME SEABREEZE CONVECTION. WITH THIS FORECAST PACKAGE...I HAVE KEPT PRECIPITATION PROBABILITIES BELOW GUIDANCE VALUES AS MID-LEVEL TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED TO REMAIN ON THE WARM SIDE. /53/ MARINE... TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT...BUOY 42020 REPORTED SOUTH- SOUTHEAST WINDS 2 TO 4 KNOTS WITH SEAS OF 3.9 FEET WITH A PERIOD OF 8 SECONDS. WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO BE LIGHT FROM THE SOUTHEAST THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. SEAS WILL BE MODERATE TODAY BECOMING LOW TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. A RELATIVELY DRY AND STABLE AIRMASS WILL PREVAIL OVER THE MARINE AREA THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. /65/ WEDNESDAY THROUGH SATURDAY...RIDGING...BOTH AT THE SURFACE AND ALOFT...WILL CONTINUE EAST TO SOUTHEAST WINDS OVER THE MARINE AREA INTO THE WEEKEND. A LONG EASTERLY FETCH IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP TOWARD THE END OF THE WEEK...WITH AN INCREASE IN SWELL POSSIBLE TOWARD THE WEEKEND. OVERALL THOUGH...IT LOOKS LIKE WINDS AND SEAS SHOULD REMAIN BELOW SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY OR EXERCISE CAUTION CRITERIA. /53/ && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... BAYVIEW/PORT ISABEL 95 77 93 78 / 0 0 10 10 BROWNSVILLE 95 76 95 77 / 0 0 10 10 HARLINGEN 97 75 96 76 / 0 0 10 10 MCALLEN 99 77 99 78 / 0 0 10 10 RIO GRANDE CITY 100 75 100 76 / 0 0 10 10 SOUTH PADRE ISLAND 90 80 91 80 / 0 0 10 10 && .BRO WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE. && THIS PRODUCT IS ALSO AVAILABLE ON THE WEB AT: HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/BROWNSVILLE AVIATION...TOMASELLI-66
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BROWNSVILLE TX 319 AM CDT MON SEP 12 2011 TXZ248>257-131100- ZAPATA-JIM HOGG-BROOKS-KENEDY-STARR-HIDALGO-INLAND WILLACY- INLAND CAMERON-COASTAL WILLACY-COASTAL CAMERON- 319 AM CDT MON SEP 12 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR DEEP SOUTH TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS AT THE BEACHES OF SOUTH PADRE ISLAND AND BOCA CHICA. HEAT INDEX READINGS OF UP TO 105 DEGREES WILL OCCUR DURING THE LATE MORNING THROUGH EARLY EVENING HOURS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. A MODERATE RISK OF RIP CURRENTS IS POSSIBLE AT THE LOCAL BEACHES THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD. HEAT INDEX READINGS OF UP TO 107 DEGREES WILL OCCUR DURING THE LATE MORNING THROUGH EARLY EVENING HOURS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. GMZ130-132-135-150-155-170-175-131100- LAGUNA MADRE FROM THE PORT OF BROWNSVILLE TO THE ARROYO COLORADO- LAGUNA MADRE FROM THE ARROYO COLORADO TO 5 NM NORTH OF PORT MANSFIELD TX- LAGUNA MADRE FROM 5 NM NORTH OF PORT MANSFIELD TO BAFFIN BAY TX- COASTAL WATERS FROM PORT MANSFIELD TO THE RIO GRANDE OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM BAFFIN BAY TO PORT MANSFIELD OUT 20 NM- WATERS FROM PORT MANSFIELD TO THE RIO GRANDE EXTENDING FROM 20 TO 60 NM- WATERS FROM BAFFIN BAY TO PORT MANSFIELD EXTENDING FROM 20 TO 60 NM- 319 AM CDT MON SEP 12 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE GULF OF MEXICO AND THE LAGUNA MADRE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SKYWARN SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
10 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Exceptional (D4) Drought conditions spread across all of Zapata County the middle of the month of September with no rainfall occurring across the county.
Exceptional (D4) Drought conditions spread across all of Jim Hogg County the middle of the month of September with no rainfall occurring across the county.
Exceptional (D4) Drought conditions spread across all of Starr County the middle of the month of September with no rainfall occurring across the county. Pockets of thunderstorms with locally heavy rainfall, perhaps more than 4 inches in spots on September 17th in northwest Starr dipped the drought intensity in this sliver of the county to D3 (Extreme) from the 20th through the 30th.
Exceptional (D4) Drought conditions spread across all of Brooks County the middle of the month of September with no rainfall occurring across the county.
Exceptional (D4) Drought conditions spread across the western, central and northern sections of Hidalgo County the middle of the month of September with no rainfall occurring across these areas of Hidalgo County. Extreme (D3) Drought conditions prevailed across the central two tenths of the county oriented in a southwest to northeast line. Severe (D2) Drought conditions prevailed across the east central one tenth of the county also oriented in a southwest to northeast line through the final week of the month, with moderate conditions in the southeast corner (Weslaco-Mercedes).
During the final week of the month, Severe (D2) conditions would stretch into the Mercedes/Weslaco area as rainfall was significantly lower than average - which peaks at this time of year. No changes to the Extreme to Exceptional drought were noted to close the month elsewhere.
Exceptional (D4) Drought conditions spread southward across Kenedy County encompassing the north and central three quarters of the county the middle of September. Extreme (D3) Drought conditions prevailed across the south central one quarter of Kenedy County the middle of the month of September, but would be swallowed into Exceptional (D4) by the last week of the month due to paltry rainfall in a time when average precipitation peaks for the month, and the year.
Extreme (D3) drought conditions developed across the northern, southwestern and eastern one half of Willacy County the middle of September. Severe (D2) Drought conditions developed across south central one half of Willacy County the middle of the month of September as rainfall continued scarce across the county.
Extreme (D3) Drought conditions developed across the eastern one quarter of Cameron County the middle of the month of September. Severe (D2) Drought conditions developed across the central one half of Cameron County the middle of the month of September as rainfall continued scarce across the Cameron County.
Extreme (D3) Drought conditions developed across all of Coastal Cameron County the middle of the month of September.
Extreme (D3) Drought conditions developed across all of Coastal Willacy County the middle of the month of September.
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, September 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: 336646, 336647, 336648, 336649, 336650, 336651, 336652, 336653, 336654, 336655.