A vigorous upper level storm system moved into the Southern Plains during the afternoon of October 12th. Strong southwest flow aloft across Northeast Texas resulted in deep layer shear values near 30 knots and this combined with moderate instability resulted in the development of a few strong to severe thunderstorms.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 SHV wrote it up.
A vigorous upper level storm system moved into the Southern Plains during the afternoon of October 12th. Strong southwest flow aloft across Northeast Texas resulted in deep layer shear values near 30 knots and this combined with moderate instability resulted in the development of a few strong to severe thunderstorms. These storms produced hail and wind damage across a few counties.
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 Shreveport, LA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Oct 12, 9:30 AM CST, 3 hours 16 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 1030 AM CDT SAT OCT 12 2013 .DISCUSSION... A COMPLICATED FORECAST TO DEAL WITH TODAY...AS MOISTURE AND DECENT INSTABILITY WILL BE IN PLACE ACROSS THE AREA...BUT THE LACK OF A DEFINED TRIGGER MAKES RAIN CHANCES QUESTIONABLE. A COLD FRONT IS SLOWLY MIGRATING THROUGH THE SOUTHERN PLAINS...CURRENTLY NEAR A FAYETTEVILLE...OKLAHOMA CITY...WICHITA FALLS LINE. THIS FRONT IS NOT EXPECTED TO MAKE IT INTO OUR AREA TODAY. SO THE ONLY TRIGGERING MECHANISMS WE HAVE TO GENERATE SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL BE ASSOCIATED WITH WEAK DISTURBANCES PASSING IN THE SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT. A BROAD UPPER RIDGE CURRENTLY IN THE WESTERN GULF STILL HAS SOME INFLUENCE ON OUR WEATHER PATTERN...AS A WEAK TROUGH AXIS PASSES TO OUR NORTH TODAY. WITH SO MUCH UNCERTAINTY IN THE MODELS...I HAVE DECIDED TO RETREAT BACK TO A 50 PERCENT POP ACROSS THE ENTIRE AREA TODAY. TEMPS ARE ALREADY RUNNING A COUPLE DEGREES ABOVE GUIDANCE...SO I BUMPED MAX TEMPS UP A DEGREE OR TWO. UPDATED PACKAGE WILL BE OUT BY 1100 AM. ELEVEN && .AVIATION... UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE MOVING ACROSS THE PLAINS HAS GENERATED SOME CONVECTION ACROSS SW AR...BUT OTHERWISE...CONVECTION YET TO DEVELOP FURTHER S AS PREVIOUSLY ANTICIPATED. HOWEVER...AS DAYTIME HEATING INCREASES AND A COLD FRONT BECOMES STATIONARY ACROSS THE REGION LATE TODAY...CONVECTION SHOULD FILL IN. CIGS ARE EXPECTED TO LIFT BY THIS AFTERNOON...BUT WILL LOWER AGAIN OVERNIGHT AS CONVECTION CONTINUES AND LINGER THROUGH THE FIRST HALF OF SUNDAY. OTHERWISE...WINDS WILL BE S TO SWLY AT 5-10 KTS TODAY...DECREASING IN SPEED AND BECOMING MORE SELY OVERNIGHT. /12/ && .UPDATED POINT TEMPS/POPS... SHV 85 66 84 65 81 / 50 50 50 30 50 MLU 85 65 84 62 83 / 50 50 50 20 20 DEQ 82 64 81 62 75 / 50 30 30 40 60 TXK 84 65 82 63 77 / 50 30 30 40 60 ELD 83 64 82 61 80 / 50 50 50 30 30 TYR 86 68 83 67 81 / 50 40 40 30 60 GGG 85 67 84 66 80 / 50 40 40 30 50 LFK 87 70 85 69 84 / 50 50 50 20 30 && .SHV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... AR...NONE. LA...NONE. OK...NONE. TX...NONE. && 11/12
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 1123 AM CDT SAT OCT 12 2013 ARZ050-051-059>061-070>073-LAZ001>006-010>014-017>022-OKZ077- TXZ096-097-108>112-124>126-136>138-149>153-165>167-131200- SEVIER-HOWARD-LITTLE RIVER-HEMPSTEAD-NEVADA-MILLER-LAFAYETTE- COLUMBIA-UNION AR-CADDO-BOSSIER-WEBSTER-CLAIBORNE-LINCOLN- UNION LA-DE SOTO-RED RIVER-BIENVILLE-JACKSON-OUACHITA-SABINE LA- NATCHITOCHES-WINN-GRANT-CALDWELL-LA SALLE-MCCURTAIN-BOWIE- FRANKLIN-TITUS-CAMP-MORRIS-CASS-WOOD-UPSHUR-MARION-SMITH-GREGG- HARRISON-CHEROKEE-RUSK-PANOLA-NACOGDOCHES-SHELBY-ANGELINA- SAN AUGUSTINE-SABINE TX- 1123 AM CDT SAT OCT 12 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS...NORTH CENTRAL AND NORTHWEST LOUISIANA... SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...AND EAST AND NORTHEAST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER THE AREA THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THE CHANCE FOR ORGANIZED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LOW...BUT STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS...LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL...HAIL...AND DEADLY LIGHTNING. RAINFALL AMOUNTS THROUGH TONIGHT FOR SOME LOCATIONS COULD NEAR ONE TO TWO INCHES WHERE THUNDERSTORMS OCCUR. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SUNDAY THROUGH FRIDAY... SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY WILL CONTINUE FOR THE REST OF THE WEEKEND AND THROUGH MUCH OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE NEXT WEEK DUE TO THE PASSAGE OF A COUPLE OF COLD FRONTS AND UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES SPREADING ACROSS THE AREA. WITH SUCH A RICH SUPPLY OF GULF AND PACIFIC MOISTURE...RAINFALL WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY AT TIMES PROVIDING PONDING OF WATER IN STREETS...LOW LYING AND POOR DRAINAGE AREAS. URBAN AND SMALL STREAMS IN HEAVY DOWNPOURS MAY ALSO FILL TO MINOR OVERFLOW. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF ONE TO THREE INCHES COULD OCCUR FOR SOME LOCATIONS. STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE CAPABLE OF PRODUCING STRONG AND GUSTY WINDS...HAIL AND DEADLY LIGHTNING. ORGANIZED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL...AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS...AND STORM SPOTTERS WILL NOT BE NEEDED THIS AFTERNOON OR TONIGHT. ELEVEN
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
136 PM CDT SAT OCT 12 2013
TXZ136-121930-
SMITH-
136 PM CDT SAT OCT 12 2013
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY...
THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SHREVEPORT HAS ISSUED A SIGNIFICANT
WEATHER ADVISORY...EFFECTIVE UNTIL 230 PM CDT...FOR THE FOLLOWING
COUNTY...
IN NORTHEAST TEXAS...
SMITH...
INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS...
LINDALE AND TYLER...
AT 132 PM CDT...NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE METEOROLOGISTS WERE
DETECTING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM NEAR CHANDLER...OR 9 MILES WEST OF
TYLER...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 30 MPH.
NICKEL SIZE HAIL...AND WINDS OF UP TO 50 MPH ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS
STORM.
12The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 138 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:46 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
Powerlines were downed on County Road 419 in Tyler, Texas. A tree was also downed near that location.
Hail was reported west of Lindale near Hideaway, Texas.
Wind gust was estimated by a trained storm spotter near Hwy. 726 and Hwy. 271.
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, October 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: 474549, 474548, 474550.