S. Drought Monitor issued through the National Drought Mitigation Center on September 25, depicts exceptional drought across Jones and Haskell Counties and shows extreme drought over the Big Country and Sutton County.
Every event with a place to put it; 23 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 U.S. Drought Monitor issued through the National Drought Mitigation Center on September 25, depicts exceptional drought across Jones and Haskell Counties and shows extreme drought over the Big Country and Sutton County. Meanwhile, the rest of the region was under an extreme drought. The lack of rainfall and very hot conditions have caused the drought to expand across West Central Texas.
According to the Texas Crop Weather Report issued September 25, by the Texas A&M Agriculture Program for the northern Big Country Region, pastures and rangeland of those counties with exceptional to extreme drought remained in poor condition and were in need of rain. Stock-water tanks remained low as did lake levels. Some of the dryland cotton was being claimed as a loss. The irrigated cotton will provide some yields.
Surface water supplies are still low across West Central Texas due to limited runoff from rainfall. The City of San Angelo has enacted drought level two water restriction because of a limited, 13 month water supply. Several other cities including Abilene, Ballinger and Brownwood have also enacted water restrictions because of the dwindling water supplies.
Over the rest of West Central Texas the hot, dry conditions continued. Soil-moisture levels continued to decline with high evaporation rates. Most row crops showed severe moisture stress. Stock-tank water levels dropping. Supplemental feeding of livestock continued.
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 Aug 31, 10:47 PM CST, 1 hour 13 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 1147 PM CDT FRI AUG 31 2012 .UPDATE... SEE 06Z AVIATION DISCUSSION BELOW. && .AVIATION... VFR CONDITIONS TO CONTINUE ACROSS WEST CENTRAL TEXAS TERMINALS. LIGHT WINDS WILL PREVAIL OVERNIGHT...WITH A LITTLE STRONGER SOUTH WINDS DEVELOPING BY MID MORNING AS A WEAK LOW LEVEL JET MIXES DOWN. AFTERNOON CU FIELD WILL DEVELOP...BUT SHOULD DISSIPATE BY SUNSET. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 918 PM CDT FRI AUG 31 2012/ UPDATE... NO CHANGES. DISCUSSION... WINDS WERE SHIFTING SE AROUND 5 MPH THIS EVENING ACROSS THE EASTERN HALF OF THE CWA...AND SHOULD BECOME SOUTH AROUND 10 MPH MID MORNING WITH THE SUNS HEATING/MIXING. NO CHANGES INDICATED IN FORECAST... WITH UPPER RIDGING SUPPRESSING RAINFALL. 04 PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 633 PM CDT FRI AUG 31 2012/ UPDATE... SEE 00Z AVIATION DISCUSSION BELOW. AVIATION... VFR CONDITIONS TO PREVAIL ACROSS WEST CENTRAL TEXAS TERMINALS TONIGHT. LIGHT WINDS OVERNIGHT WILL BECOME SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST BY MID MORNING AS A LOW LEVEL JET BEGINS TO MIX DOWN FROM JUST ABOVE THE SURFACE. PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 340 PM CDT FRI AUG 31 2012/ SHORT TERM... VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY IS SHOWING SOME DEVELOPMENT TO THE CU FIELD ALONG THE I-10 CORRIDOR...WITH MOSTLY SUNNY SKIES ELSEWHERE. IT WAS ANOTHER HOT AFTERNOON...WITH TEMPERATURES IN THE 90S...AND A FEW READINGS AROUND 101 ACROSS MASON AND SAN SABA COUNTIES. AN ISOLATED SHOWER OR TWO MAY BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE NORTHWEST HILL COUNTRY THROUGH 7 PM. HOWEVER...WILL KEEP A DRY FORECAST GOING FOR TONIGHT. LOWS WILL BE IN THE UPPER 60S TO LOWER 70S. FOR SATURDAY...HOT AND DRY CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED ACROSS WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. HIGHS WILL BE IN THE 90S...WITH A FEW PLACES AROUND 100 POSSIBLE. LONG TERM... LOOKING AT THE UPPER LEVEL FLOW PATTERN THROUGH NEXT WEEK...THE RIDGE WILL BUILD BACK OVER THE SOUTHERN PLAINS. AS A RESULT...HOT AND DRY WEATHER ARE EXPECTED NEXT WEEK WITH HIGHS IN THE 90S TO AROUND 100. THE HOTTEST DAYS WILL BE MONDAY AND TUESDAY WITH HIGHS OF 100 TO 102 ACROSS MUCH OF THE CWFA. A COOL FRONT WILL POSSIBLY MOVE SOUTH INTO THE BIG COUNTRY THURSDAY AND FRIDAY. GOING FOR COOLER TEMPERATURES NEXT FRIDAY...WITH HIGHS IN THE LOWER TO MID 90S. KEEPING THE FORECAST DRY LATE NEXT WEEK AS MOST OF THE CONVECTION/RAINFALL WILL REMAIN TO OUR NORTH. THE LATEST US DROUGHT MONITOR AS OF AUGUST 28 INDICATES MODERATE TO EXTREME DROUGHT CONDITIONS ACROSS MUCH OF WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... ABILENE 71 98 73 99 74 / 5 5 5 0 0 SAN ANGELO 69 98 72 99 73 / 0 5 5 0 0 JUNCTION 69 97 72 98 73 / 10 10 10 0 0 && .SJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 07
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 259 PM CDT FRI AUG 31 2012 TXZ049-054-064>066-071>073-076>078-098-099-113-114-127-128-139- 140-154-155-168>170-012000- 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- 259 PM CDT FRI AUG 31 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED. HUBER
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
23 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as severe for Brown County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as severe for Coleman County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as severe for Concho County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as severe for Crockett County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as severe for Irion County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as severe for Kimble County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as severe for Mason County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as severe for McCulloch County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as severe for Menard County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as severe for Runnels County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as severe for San Saba County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as severe for Schleicher County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as severe for Shackelford County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as severe for Tom Green County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as extreme for Callahan County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as extreme for Fisher County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as extreme for Nolan County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as extreme for Taylor County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as exceptional for Jones County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as exceptional for Haskell County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as extreme for Throckmorton County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as extreme for Sutton County.
The U.S. Drought Monitor classified the drought as extreme for Coke County.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, September 2012
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: 414305, 414306, 414307, 414309, 414310, 414311, 414313, 414314, 414316, 414317, 414318, 414319, 414320, 414321, 414322, 414323, 414324, 414326, 414327, 414328, 414329, 414330, 414331.