S. Drought Monitor upgraded the classification as exceptional to a large region north of Interstate 20.
Every event with a place to put it; 22 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.
As the drought intensified across the Big Country, the U.S. Drought Monitor upgraded the classification as exceptional to a large region north of Interstate 20. This region has experienced the brunt of the drought since February 2011. With little rainfall in March, the drought also intensified over the remainder of West Central Texas as parts of the region south of Interstate 20 were upgraded to extreme or exceptional drought.
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 Feb 28, 11:32 PM CST, 28 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 1132 PM CST THU FEB 28 2013 .DISCUSSION... SEE 06Z AVIATION DISCUSSION BELOW. && .AVIATION... NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES TO THE PREVIOUS SET OF TAFS. STILL EXPECTING A VFR 24 HOUR PERIOD. LIGHT AND VARIABLE WINDS TONIGHT WILL BECOME NORTHWESTERLY AND GUSTY TOMORROW AFTERNOON FOLLOWING THE PASSAGE OF A COLD FRONT. WE MAY SEE SOME MID LEVEL CLOUDINESS NEAR THE KABI TERMINAL...BUT THE REST OF THE AREA WILL LIKELY ONLY SEE A FEW UPPER LEVEL CLOUDS. WINDS BECOME LIGHT AGAIN AFTER 00Z TOMORROW NIGHT. 20 && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 557 PM CST THU FEB 28 2013/ DISCUSSION... SEE 00Z AVIATION DISCUSSION. AVIATION... NORTH WINDS HAVE DIMINISHED ACROSS THE AREA FOR THE MOST PART. WINDS WILL BECOME LIGHT AND VARIABLE OR SOUTHWEST TONIGHT. TOMORROW...A WIND SHIFT WILL OCCUR AROUND 18Z AS ANOTHER COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH...TURNING WINDS BACK TO THE NORTHWEST AT 15 KNOTS GUSTING TO 25 KNOTS AT MOST LOCATIONS. 20 PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 328 PM CST THU FEB 28 2013/ SHORT TERM... LOOKS TO BE FAIRLY QUIET WEATHER ACROSS WEST CENTRAL TEXAS THROUGH THE NEXT 24 HOURS. CLEAR AND COLD TONIGHT...WITH LIGHT WINDS AND A DRY AIR MASS LEADING TO GOOD RADIATIONAL COOLING. FOR FRIDAY...VERY DRY AIR MASS IN THE LOWEST 5K+ FEET WILL CONTINUE. HOWEVER..A FAIRLY STRONG UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE...SHORTWAVE...WILL ROTATE THROUGH THE SOUTHERN PLAINS. WILL LIKELY SEE A DECENT AMOUNT OF MID CLOUD WITH THIS SYSTEM...AND PROBABLY A FEW MID LEVEL SHOWERS. HOWEVER...GETTING ANYTHING TO THE SURFACE THROUGH ALL OF THAT DRY AIR WILL BE TOUGH. WILL LEAVE OUT OF THE FORECAST AND SEE HOW THINGS DEVELOP. FIRE... DRY AIR MASS WILL CONTINUE ACROSS WEST CENTRAL TEXAS THROUGH THE WEEKEND...WITH RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES BELOW 25% FOR MOST OF THE AREA EACH AFTERNOON. AS THE SURFACE HIGH SHIFTS EAST...SOUTHERLY WINDS WILL BEGIN TO INCREASE...AND COMBINATION OF GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS AND DRY AIR MASS WILL MEAN ELEVATED FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS. SUNDAY LOOKS TO BE THE MOST DANGEROUS TIME PERIOD...AND WE MAY APPROACH RED FLAG CRITERIA. && LONG TERM... BY SATURDAY...THE FORECAST AREA WILL BE ON THE EASTERN FLANK OF AN UPPER RIDGE LOCATED OVER THE WESTERN STATES... RESULTING IN A NORTHERLY FLOW ALOFT OVER THE CWA. THE UPPER RIDGE WILL DE-AMPLIFY AS IT MOVES EAST INTO THE WEEKEND WITH OUR FLOW ALOFT BACKING TO THE WEST. THE NEXT UPPER LEVEL LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST ON SUNDAY AND DIG SOUTHEAST OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS BY MONDAY. IN THE MEANTIME...GOOD WARMING WILL OCCUR OVER THE FORECAST AREA WITH HIGHS IN THE MID 60S ON SATURDAY...LOWER 70S ON SUNDAY AND UPPER 70S TO AROUND 80 ON MONDAY. THE UPPER LOW WILL PUSH A COLD FRONT SOUTH THROUGH THE FORECAST AREA DURING THE DAY ON MONDAY... KEEPING MONDAY AFTERNOON HIGHS OVER THE BIG COUNTRY IN THE LOW TO MID 70S. A POST-FRONTAL COOL-DOWN ON TUESDAY WILL RESULT IN AFTERNOON HIGHS GENERALLY IN THE 60S ACROSS ALL OF THE FORECAST AREA. PRE-FRONTAL MORNING LOWS IN THE MID TO UPPER 40S MONDAY MORNING WILL COOL POST-FRONTALLY ON TUESDAY...RANGING FROM THE MID 30S TO THE LOWER 40S. FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE EXTENDED...AFTERNOON HIGHS WILL WARM INTO THE 70S BY THURSDAY AS UPPER LEVEL RIDGING BUILDS OVER THE FORECAST AREA IN THE WAKE OF THE DEPARTING UPPER LEVEL LOW. MORNING LOWS WILL WARM INTO THE MID 40S BY THURSDAY MORNING. NO RAINFALL IS ANTICIPATED THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... ABILENE 28 55 31 63 38 / 0 10 5 0 0 SAN ANGELO 26 59 29 66 37 / 0 5 0 5 0 JUNCTION 24 64 30 66 35 / 0 5 0 5 0 && .SJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 308 PM CST THU FEB 28 2013 TXZ049-054-064>066-071>073-076>078-098-099-113-114-127-128-139- 140-154-155-168>170-012115- 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- 308 PM CST THU FEB 28 2013 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...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY ELEVATED TO NEAR CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE POSSIBLE SUNDAY AND MONDAY DUE TO GUSTY WINDS AND DRY CONDITIONS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
22 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Haskell County in the exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Jones County in the exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Throckmorton County in the exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Fisher County in the exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Sutton County in the exceptional drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Shackelford County in the extreme drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Sterling County in the extreme drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Coke County in the extreme drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Nolan County in the extreme drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed San Saba County in the extreme drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Menard County in the extreme drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Schleicher County in the extreme drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Taylor County in the severe drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Callahan County in the severe drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Runnels County in the severe drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Brown County in the severe drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Irion County in the severe drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Tom Green County in the severe drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed McCulloch County in the severe drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Mason County in the severe drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed Kimble County in the severe drought category.
The U.S. Drought Monitor placed most of Crockett County in the severe drought category with the southeastern part in extreme drought category.
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: 442748, 442750, 442751, 442752, 442754, 442758, 442759, 442760, 442762, 442763, 442764, 442765, 442767, 442768, 442769, 442770, 442771, 442772, 442773, 442775, 442776, 442778.