The month of March was an extremely dry month for South Texas. Significant rainfall was limited to the last day of the month when isolated severe hail storms moved across the Brush Country.
Every event with a place to put it; 11 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 CRP wrote it up.
The month of March was an extremely dry month for South Texas. Significant rainfall was limited to the last day of the month when isolated severe hail storms moved across the Brush Country. The storms produced hail from golf ball to softball size along with rainfall amounts of one to one and a half inches from Fowlerton to Freer to Benavides to Premont. Elsewhere, only the Victoria Crossroads region received rainfall amounts from a tenth to a quarter of an inch during the month. Most of South Texas saw no measurable rainfall during the month.
Exceptional drought expanded over the Coastal Bend and developed over western Webb County during the month. The severe to extreme drought persisted over southern portions of the Brush Country eastward into the northern Coastal Bend with severe drought developing over Calhoun County by the end of the month.
Mandatory water restrictions continued during the month for the city of Corpus Christi as the combined lake capacity levels remained below 40 percent. The city of Portland continued under mandatory water restrictions. The cities of Victoria and Laredo remained under voluntary water restrictions. Different stages of water restrictions continued for Beeville, Point Comfort, Alice, Taft, and Odem during the month.
Windy weather and dry conditions during the month depleted topsoil moisture across the Coastal Bend, western Brush Country, and the Victoria Crossroads. Ranchers were forced to continue supplemental feeding of livestock. Livestock producers continued to reduce their herd. The cattle sold in many cases were mature. Stock tank water levels declined during the month with some tanks becoming completely dry.
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 Corpus Christi, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 28, 10:59 PM CST, 1 hour 1 minute earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX 1059 PM CST THU FEB 28 2013 .DISCUSSION...UPDATE FOR 06Z AVIATION. && .AVIATION...VFR CONDITIONS THROUGH THE TAF PERIOD. SCT HIGH CLOUDS WILL GRADUALLY MOVE SOUTH AND EAST OF THE AREA OVERNIGHT. LGT W-NW WINDS 5 KTS OR LESS DEVELOPING OVERNIGHT ACROSS EASTERN TAF SITES OF VCT/ALI/CRP...AND S TO SW WINDS 5 KTS OR LESS DEVELOPING AT LRD OVERNIGHT. W TO NW WINDS 5-10 KTS DEVELOPING ACROSS THE AREA FRI AFTERNOON. A WEAK SEA-BREEZE LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON MAY DEVELOP AND BRIEFLY TURN WINDS AT NGP/CRP SE INTO THE EARLY EVENING. WEAK RE-ENFORCING SURGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL TURN WINDS N AND NE LATE FRIDAY EVENING. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 946 PM CST THU FEB 28 2013/ DISCUSSION...MADE ONLY MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO THE ONGOING FORECAST AS HIGH CLOUDS CONTINUE TO MOVE OVERHEAD. THUS...HAVE NUDGED TEMPERATURES UP A DEGREE OR TWO ACROSS ALL OF THE REGION. WIND SPEEDS WILL CONTINUE TO DIMINISH OVERNIGHT AS SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS INTO THE REGION. OTHERWISE...THE FORECAST LOOKS GOOD. UPDATED PRODUCTS HAVE BEEN SENT. PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 337 PM CST THU FEB 28 2013/ SHORT TERM (TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT)...THE MID AND HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS IN ADVANCE OF THE SHORT WAVE TROUGH FROM THE OZARKS SOUTHWEST TO NORTHERN MEXICO WILL MOVE TO THE EAST THIS EVENING AS THE TROUGH AXIS MOVES SOUTHEASTWARD THROUGH THE AREA. SURFACE HIGH WILL CONTINUE TO SETTLE INTO THE AREA. WILL SEE A COOL NIGHT WITH LOWS GENERALLY IN THE 30S...COULD EVEN SEE SOME FREEZING TEMPS IN DRAINAGE AREAS IN THE NORTHERN COUNTIES. ANOTHER SHORT WAVE TROUGH WILL DIVE SOUTH OUT OF THE TEXAS PANHANDLE FRIDAY INTO CENTRAL TEXAS. LIFT AHEAD OF THIS FEATURE WILL LEAD TO AN INCREASE IN MID LEVEL CLOUDS OVER THE VICTORIA CROSSROADS AND NORTHERN COASTAL BEND LATE FRIDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH FRIDAY EVENING. SKIES ARE EXPECTED TO CLEAR LATE FRIDAY NIGHT WITH ANOTHER REINFORCEMENT OF HIGH PRESSURE ARRIVING BEHIND ANOTHER COLD FRONT. 12Z GFS/15Z SREF STILL POINTING TOWARD THE POSSIBILITY OF LIGHT PRECIPITATION FRIDAY EVENING WITH THIS NEXT SHORT WAVE TROUGH BUT LOWER LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE REMAINS TOO DRY. LONG TERM (SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY)...BEHIND THE COLD FRONT THAT PASSES FRIDAY NIGHT WE/LL SEE ANOTHER COOL DAY ACROSS THE AREA WITH MODERATE NORTHERLY WINDS. EXPECT HIGHS IN THE 60S FOR A LOT OF THE AREA...WITH RIGHT AROUND 70 IN THE SOUTH AND WEST. THE SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE WILL SHIFT TO THE EAST OVERNIGHT SATURDAY BRINGING AN ONSHORE FLOW BACK FOR THE FIRST TIME IN SEVERAL DAYS. TEMPERATURES INCREASE AND LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WILL INCREASE PRETTY QUICKLY WITH DPTS BACK INTO THE 50S BY SUNDAY NIGHT IN THE EAST. FLOW OFF THE SURFACE WILL BE WEST AND SOUTHWEST NOT ALLOWING FOR ANY DEEP MOISTURE TO DEVELOP. THIS WILL KEEP OUR FORECAST DRY. ANOTHER COLD FRONT IS FORECAST TO MOVE THROUGH THE AREA EARLY TUESDAY. MODELS ARE NOT IN GREAT AGREEMENT WITH FRONTAL TIMING...WITH THE ECMWF HAVING BACKED OFF QUITE A BIT ON FRONTAL STRENGTH IN THE 12Z RUN. THE ONLY VARIABLE REALLY IS WIND STRENGTH THOUGH...AND BEING DAY 5 HAVE JUST BLENDED FOR NOW. WHICHEVER MODEL YOU LOOK AT...THE WINDS BEHIND IT ARE NOT TOO IMPRESSIVE RIGHT NOW. AS YOU/D EXPECT...WE/LL SEE TEMPS COOL SLIGHTLY AGAIN BEHIND THAT FRONT. NO PRECIP IS IN THE FORECAST THROUGHOUT THE LONG TERM PERIOD. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... CORPUS CHRISTI 41 68 39 68 45 / 0 0 10 0 0 VICTORIA 35 65 37 63 37 / 0 10 10 10 0 LAREDO 44 75 44 72 45 / 0 0 10 0 0 ALICE 38 72 39 69 41 / 0 0 10 0 0 ROCKPORT 44 66 42 65 48 / 0 10 10 10 0 COTULLA 36 72 39 70 40 / 0 0 10 0 0 KINGSVILLE 38 69 39 68 41 / 0 0 10 0 0 NAVY CORPUS 49 64 45 62 51 / 0 10 10 0 0 && .CRP WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...NONE. GM...NONE. && JR/76...AVIATION
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE CORPUS CHRISTI TX 521 AM CST THU FEB 28 2013 TXZ229>234-239>247-011130- LA SALLE-MCMULLEN-LIVE OAK-BEE-GOLIAD-VICTORIA-WEBB-DUVAL- JIM WELLS-KLEBERG-NUECES-SAN PATRICIO-ARANSAS-REFUGIO-CALHOUN- 521 AM CST THU FEB 28 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH TEXAS AND THE MIDDLE TEXAS COASTAL WATERS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A VERY DRY AIRMASS AND WEAK TO MODERATE NORTHERLY WINDS THIS AFTERNOON WILL BRIEFLY LEAD TO AN ELEVATED FIRE DANGER THREAT...MAINLY EAST OF INTERSTATE 37. OTHERWISE...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. GMZ230-235-250-255-270-275-011130- BAYS AND WATERWAYS FROM BAFFIN BAY TO PORT ARANSAS- BAYS AND WATERWAYS FROM PORT ARANSAS TO PORT O'CONNOR- COASTAL WATERS FROM BAFFIN BAY TO PORT ARANSAS OUT 20 NM- COASTAL WATERS FROM PORT ARANSAS TO MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL OUT 20 NM-WATERS FROM BAFFIN BAY TO PORT ARANSAS FROM 20 TO 60 NM- WATERS FROM PORT ARANSAS TO MATAGORDA SHIP CHANNEL FROM 20 TO 60 NM- 521 AM CST THU FEB 28 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH TEXAS AND THE MIDDLE TEXAS COASTAL WATERS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT A SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON ACROSS THE MIDDLE TEXAS COASTAL WATERS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY CONDITIONS MAY BRIEFLY OCCUR OVER THE OFFSHORE WATERS ON SATURDAY...WITH SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY CONDITIONS MORE LIKELY SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. TE/GW
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
11 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Exceptional drought expanded to all but the extreme eastern portion of the county.
Exceptional drought expanded to cover all of the county.
Exceptional drought expanded to cover all of the county.
Exceptional drought expanded to cover the western half of the county.
Exceptional drought developed over the western portion of the county.
Exceptional drought expanded into the eastern portion of the county.
Extreme drought continued over the southern portion of the county.
Extreme drought continued over the southern portion of the county.
Severe drought continued over the western portion of the county.
Severe drought continued over the extreme western portion of the county.
Severe drought developed over the entire county during the month.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, March 2013
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: 442172, 442173, 442174, 442175, 442176, 442177, 442178, 442179, 442180, 442181, 442182.