An upper trough migrated in West Central Texas from northern Mexico and brought heavy rainfall to an area mainly along and south of a line from Mertzon to San Angelo to San Saba. As the upper trough interacted with the remnants of Tropical Storm Manuel, very heavy rainfall developed which lead to flash flooding and several road closures.
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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 SJT wrote it up.
An upper trough migrated in West Central Texas from northern Mexico and brought heavy rainfall to an area mainly along and south of a line from Mertzon to San Angelo to San Saba. As the upper trough interacted with the remnants of Tropical Storm Manuel, very heavy rainfall developed which lead to flash flooding and several road closures.
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 Sep 19, 2:47 PM CST, 46 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 347 PM CDT THU SEP 19 2013 .SHORT TERM...(Tonight and tomorrow) Currently, widespread light to moderate showers are moving northeast across West Central Texas. This air mass is primarily tropical in nature, therefore little to no lightning is expected. There are several features contributing to the ongoing rainfall across the area. The first is a swath of mid to upper level moisture from Hurricane Manuel moving northeast into West Central Texas. Meanwhile, low level southeast flow will bring additional moisture from the Gulf of Mexico. We are also expecting precipitable water to increase to 2 inches by late this afternoon. To give a frame of reference for the moisture availability in the area, the precipitable water at Midland and Del Rio are in the 99th percentile of climatology, 1.78" and 2.34 respectively. Finally, a cold front will meander south from the Panhandle into West Central Texas tomorrow afternoon. For this reason we expect the best chances for precipitation will be late tonight and Friday. Afternoon highs tomorrow were are slightly below guidance, due to the cloud cover and high dew points across the area. I kept the overnight lows in the upper 60s to near 70 since we do not expect the frontal boundary until the afternoon hours. Dunn .LONG TERM...(Friday night through Wednesday) Widespread rain is expected to taper off by Friday evening, with scattered showers (and a few thunderstorms) continuing through the overnight hours. Additional rainfall amounts Friday night will generally remain below 1/2". This will put storm total rainfall amounts at 1 to 3 inches with localized amounts exceeding 4 inches. The 12z model suite depicts a slightly slower departure of this system, delaying the drying by several hours from yesterday's runs. Thus, PoPs were continued through Saturday afternoon for the southern half of the CWA. Afternoon temperatures will be limited given the widespread cloud cover and residual showers. Max temps are expected to remain in the low to mid 80s. Drier air will advect into the area by Saturday evening, dropping dewpoints down to near 50 degrees. With clearing skies, dry air, and light winds, temps should cool nicely, dropping down around 60 degrees by Sunday morning. Residual ground moisture will temper the radiational cooling potential, however. Differences exist between the GFS and ECMWF Sunday and beyond, especially regarding the extent to which the low level moisture is scoured out of the area. The GFS keeps most of this moisture in the vicinity of I-35 southwest of San Antonio, with return flow advecting this moisture back into the CWA as early as Sunday afternoon. The ECMWF is more aggressive in shoving this moisture south, resulting in a slower moisture return and lower sky cover into early next week. This will have an affect on min temps early in the work week, with the slightly cooler ECMWF favored over the warmer GFS. We will see quasi-zonal flow aloft early next week transitioning to southwesterly as a mid-latitude wave digs into the southwest CONUS. This will result in warmer temperatures with generally dry weather continuing through the period. However, the GEM and ECMWF are hinting at another tropical wave moving into Central TX during the latter part of next week. This will need to be watched over the next few days. Johnson && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Abilene 70 80 63 83 58 / 70 70 30 10 0 San Angelo 70 79 66 83 60 / 70 70 40 20 5 Junction 70 82 68 81 61 / 70 70 60 40 5 && .SJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FLASH FLOOD WATCH through Friday evening FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: Coke...Concho...Crockett...Irion...Kimble...Menard... Schleicher...Sterling...Sutton...Tom Green. && 18/25
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 338 PM CDT THU SEP 19 2013 TXZ049-054-064>066-071>073-076>078-098-099-113-114-127-128-139- 140-154-155-168>170-202100- 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- 338 PM CDT THU SEP 19 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT WIDESPREAD MODERATE...TO OCCASIONALLY HEAVY...PRECIPITATION WILL CONTINUE TO DEVELOP ACROSS WEST CENTRAL TEXAS THROUGH THE EVENING AND OVERNIGHT HOURS. A FLASH FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR AREAS WEST OF A LINE FROM ROBERT LEE TO JUNCTION THROUGH 7 PM FRIDAY. WHILE HEAVY RAINFALL WILL BE THE PRIMARY CONCERN...ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS MAY PRODUCE DANGEROUS CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY WIDESPREAD SHOWERS WITH ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH FRIDAY. THREAT OF FLOODING WILL BE ENHANCED DUE TO A SLOW MOVING COLD FRONT INTERACTING WITH MOISTURE FROM HURRICANE MANUEL AND THE GULF OF MEXICO. THEREFORE...THE PRIMARY HAZARD WILL BE FLASH FLOODING ESPECIALLY ACROSS AREAS THAT HAVE ALREADY RECEIVED SIGNIFICANT RAINFALL. THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM FRIDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... RAINFALL OBSERVERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO RELAY RAINFALL MEASUREMENTS AND FLOODING REPORTS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE.
The San Angelo radar (KSJT), 102 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:35 UTC.
11 flash flood, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flooding was reported by a trained spotter along State Highway 137 at the Howard Draw. Water was estimated at two feet deep.
The City of San Angelo reported flooding at the 1200 Block of Tres Rios Street.
The Sheriff's Office reported Juno Highway or Ranch Road 189, located about 14 miles south of Sonora, was closed because of flooding.
The Sheriff's Office reported Bond Road or Ranch Road 1691, about 4 miles southeast of Sonora, was closed due to flooding.
The Sutton County Sheriff's Office reported Caverns Road or Ranch Road 1989, located 10 miles west northwest of Sonora, was closed due to flooding.
The Tom Green County Sheriff's Office reported a vehicle was stalled on a flooded road on Lagoon Lane near the town of Knickerbocker.
The Texas Department of Transportation closed Ranch Road 2291 about 4 miles south of Menard.
Flooding was reported along FM 864, a few miles south of Highway 190 along the San Saba River. The road was also closed.
FM 915 was closed because of flooding about 13 miles south southeast of Mertzon.
McIntosh Road located in southeast Schleicher County was closed due to flooding.
U.S. Highway 277 located just south of Sonora was closed because of high water.
The Texas Department of Transportation closed Ranch Road 385 in Eastern Kimble County because of flooding.
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, September 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: 477851, 477861, 477846, 477847, 477848, 477849, 477856, 477862, 477852, 477853, 477854, 477855.