Several large wildfires broke out from August 19 through the 22nd. As the rains ended in early July, hardly any rain fell through late August.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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.
Several large wildfires broke out from August 19 through the 22nd. As the rains ended in early July, hardly any rain fell through late August. Plenty of the vegetation that blossomed from the wet spring, quickly dried, and fueled the wildfires.
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 19, 2:19 PM CST, 2 hours 41 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 319 PM CDT WED AUG 19 2015 .SHORT-TERM... (Tonight and Thursday) At 2:30 PM, a cold front was located roughly along a line from Sterling City to just north of Brownwood, and is moving south at around 15 mph. Additionally, an outflow boundary was stalled just east of a Menard/Brady/Richland Springs line. Thunderstorms were developing along the front east of our CWA, with additional isolated thunderstorms developing east of the stalled outflow in southeastern San Saba County, and south of the front in the western Concho Valley. Expect thunderstorms to be possible mainly along and south of the front as the atmosphere become more stable behind it. Ahead of the front, surface based CAPE values are as high as 4000 J/kg, with ML CAPEs of greater than 3000 J/kg, which are located generally from the Concho Valley into the Heartland. If this instability can be tapped, a few storms could quickly strengthen with the main severe storm hazard being wind gusts over 50 mph. However, with basically no shear in place to aid in organization of these storms, it is likely that thunderstorms will be 'pulse-type' in nature, and therefore fairly short-lived. Precipitable water values were also greater than 1.5 inches across most of the area, arguing for possible heavy rainfall and localized flooding with storms ahead of the front that will have slow movement. Once the front moves out of the area, which should be around 9 PM, expect most of the thunderstorms to move out with it. There is a slight chance for additional elevated shower and thunderstorm activity to develop late tonight over the northern half of the area, but there is low confidence in this taking place. For tomorrow, we will have highs mainly in the lower to mid 80s, so much cooler across the southern half of the area, and similar to conditions north of I-20 today. There will also be a lingering chance for showers and thunderstorms, along and east of a Cross .LONG TERM... (Thursday night through next Wednesday) A challenging forecast remains for the remainder of the week. Most of the long range numerical models continue to suggest the possibility for additional rainfall across roughly the northern half of the forecast area as a series of disturbances pass by to our north. The ECMWF has been the most aggressive as of late showing precipitation developing across the Big Country, and mainly the Concho Valley and Heartland. The GFS shows less of a convective signature with the NAM in between, but closer to the ECMWF solution. They all show a trough diving east southeast from the Pacific Northwest/western Canada. This trough will continue treking east through the weekend, sending another cold front south towards Texas. Meanwhile, with a west to northwest upper wind field in place aloft, a strong disturbance is expected to dive southeast, crossing Oklahoma on Saturday with a cold front entering West Central Texas on Sunday. Either of these features should generate convection as shown by the models during the weekend. The previous forecast already had slight chance to chance POPs in the forecast, and this looks reasonable given the model solutions. Warming temperatures and dwindling rain chances will return to the region by Tuesday. A ridge of high pressure aloft will build across the state with rising upper-level heights and increasing subsidence. Temperatures will once again climb back into the mid to upper 90s, which is a few degrees above normal for this time of year. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Abilene 61 85 70 95 / 30 10 20 10 San Angelo 64 87 70 96 / 40 10 5 5 Junction 70 89 70 93 / 40 30 10 10 && .SJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && 20/Doll
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 331 PM CDT WED AUG 19 2015 TXZ049-054-064>066-071>073-076>078-098-099-113-114-127-128-139- 140-154-155-168>170-202030- 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- 331 PM CDT WED AUG 19 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE SOUTH OF A STERLING CITY TO BROWNWOOD LINE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. A FEW STORMS MAY BECOME SEVERE WITH THE MAIN HAZARD BEING WIND GUSTS NEAR 60 MPH...AS WELL AS DANGEROUS LIGHTNING. IN ADDITION...HEAVY RAINFALL CAUSING LOCALIZED FLOODING WILL BE POSSIBLE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE THURSDAY GENERALLY EAST OF AN ABILENE TO OZONA LINE. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH EARLY NEXT WEEK MAINLY NORTH OF INTERSTATE 10. THE MAIN THREATS WILL BE DANGEROUS LIGHTNING AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 327 PM CDT WED AUG 19 2015 TXZ071-192100- IRION TX- 327 PM CDT WED AUG 19 2015 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHEASTERN IRION COUNTY UNTIL 400 PM CDT... AT 326 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING A STRONG THUNDERSTORM OVER SHERWOOD...OR OVER MERTZON...MOVING SOUTH AT 5 MPH. WIND GUSTS OF 50 TO 55 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM. LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... MERTZON AND SHERWOOD. LAT...LON 3117 10091 3135 10094 3142 10075 3118 10072 TIME...MOT...LOC 2026Z 015DEG 5KT 3130 10082
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX
401 PM CDT WED AUG 19 2015
TXZ071-076-077-192130-
SCHLEICHER TX-CROCKETT TX-IRION TX-
401 PM CDT WED AUG 19 2015
...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR NORTHEASTERN CROCKETT...
NORTHWESTERN SCHLEICHER AND SOUTHWESTERN IRION COUNTIES UNTIL 430 PM
CDT...
AT 359 PM CDT...DOPPLER RADAR WAS TRACKING TWO STRONG
THUNDERSTORMS...ONE OVER BARNHART...OR 16 MILES EAST OF BIG
LAKE...AND ANOTHER 10 MILES SOUTHEAST OF BARNHART. THE STORMS WERE
NEARLY STATIONARY.
WIND GUSTS OF 50 TO 55 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE...
BARNHART AND RURAL AREAS ALONG THE IRION AND SCHLEICHER COUNTY LINE.
LAT...LON 3108 10149 3108 10128 3116 10127 3119 10083
3100 10070 3094 10148
TIME...MOT...LOC 2059Z 240DEG 48KT 3112 10120The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The Treadwell Lane Fire in western Menard County located about 9 miles north of Fort McKavett was started by lightning. The fire burned about 657 acres and one home was threatened.
The Wilhelm Lane Wildfire located about 8 miles south southwest of Live Oak was started by lightning. Approximately 556 acres in northern Menard County near the intersection of Wilhelm Lane. Only one home was threatened.
The Log Cabin Wildfire started from a vehicle driving in tall grass approximately 14 miles south of Richland Springs or about 10 miles north of Pontotoc. The fire burned roughly 3400 acres and 12 homes were threatened.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, August 2015
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: 599639, 599640, 600013.