Drought conditions expanded across North Texas by the middle of February due to a lack of precipitation.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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 FWD wrote it up.
Drought conditions expanded across North Texas by the middle of February due to a lack of precipitation.
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 Fort Worth, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 16, 11:38 PM CST, 22 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 1138 PM CST MON FEB 16 2015 .AVIATION... VFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED THEREAFTER. NORTH WINDS AROUND 10 KNOTS WILL BECOME NORTHWEST AT 5 TO 7 KNOTS BY MIDDAY /18Z/ TUESDAY. DRY AIR WILL CONTINUE TO FILTER INTO THE LOWER LEVELS. AS AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE APPROACHES OVERNIGHT INTO TUESDAY MORNING ...SOME LIGHT SNOW MAY FALL OUT OF CLOUDS THAT WILL HAVE 9000-10000 FEET BASES. AS THIS SNOW FALLS THROUGH DRY AIR IN THE LOWER 8000-9000 FEET...MOST IF NOT ALL OF IT...WILL SUBLIMATE BEFORE REACHING THE SURFACE. ONLY A FEW FLURRIES ARE POSSIBLE SO HAVE NOT INCLUDED IN THE TAFS. WILL CONTINUE TO WATCH LOW THE LEVEL MOISTURE PROFILES CLOSELY THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING. 58 && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 343 PM CST MON FEB 16 2015/ LIGHT RAIN CONTINUES ACROSS OUR SOUTHEAST COUNTIES THIS AFTERNOON BUT SHOULD MOVE OUT OF THE REGION BY SUNSET. TEMPERATURES IN THIS AREA HAVE STAYED ABOVE FREEZING AND EXPECT ALL RAIN TO REMAIN IN LIQUID FORM THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE AFTERNOON HOURS. A RELATIVELY DRY EVENING AND NIGHT IS EXPECTED BUT THERE STILL REMAINS A LOW CHANCE FOR LIGHT SNOW OR SNOW FLURRIES OVER THE REGION LATE TONIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING. BROAD UPPER LEVEL TROUGHING CONTINUES ACROSS THE REGION THIS AFTERNOON. A DISTURBANCE...CURRENTLY MOVING ACROSS UTAH...WILL CONTINUE SOUTHEAST INTO WEST TEXAS LATE TONIGHT AND THEN MOVE ACROSS NORTH TEXAS DURING THE DAY ON TUESDAY. THIS DISTURBANCE IS EXPECTED TO GENERATE ENOUGH MID LEVEL LIFT TO PRODUCE SNOW ACROSS WEST TEXAS TONIGHT WITH POSSIBLY A BAND OF LIGHT SNOW OCCURRING ACROSS THE WESTERN COUNTIES OF NORTH TEXAS. FORECAST SOUNDINGS CONTINUE TO INDICATE THE LOWER LEVELS OF THE ATMOSPHERE WILL REMAIN DRY MAKING IT DIFFICULT FOR MUCH OF THE SNOW TO REACH THE GROUND. THE FURTHER EAST YOU GO...THE DEEPER THE DRY LAYER AT THE SURFACE. WILL KEEP A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR SNOW ALONG AND WEST OF A LINE FROM BRIDGEPORT TO WEATHERFORD TO KILLEEN OVERNIGHT TONIGHT AND TUESDAY MORNING. DO NOT THINK ALL OF THIS AREA WILL SEE SNOW...BUT AM NOT SURE EXACTLY WHERE THE BAND OF SNOW WILL OCCUR. MOST OF THE HI-RES GUIDANCE SUGGESTS IT MAY OCCUR NEAR OR NORTH OF I-20. A TRACE OF SNOW ACCUMULATION MAY OCCUR ON GRASS UNDERNEATH THE SNOW BAND BUT NO IMPACTS ARE EXPECTED FROM ANY SNOW THAT DOES FALL. EAST OF THIS AREA...WILL KEEP A MENTION FOR FLURRIES WITH A LESS THAN 20 POP. DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING HOURS OF TUESDAY...BOTH THE TEXAS TECH WRF AND NAM SUGGEST SOME LIGHT RAIN OR DRIZZLE MAY OCCUR IN OUR NORTHWEST AND/OR NORTH COUNTIES AS THE DISTURBANCE EXITS THE REGION...BUT THINK WITH THE NEAR-SURFACE DRY LAYER IT WILL STILL BE DIFFICULT FOR ANY PRECIP TO REACH THE GROUND. IF ANYTHING DOES REACH THE GROUND...SOUNDINGS INDICATE IT WOULD REMAIN AS LIQUID RAIN OR DRIZZLE. FOR NOW...WILL KEEP A 10 POP BUT NOT MENTION ANY RAIN OR DRIZZLE IN THE WORDED FORECAST. FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE WORK WEEK...WE WILL REMAIN UNDER NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WITH A LARGE UPPER LEVEL TROUGH SLOWLY MOVING EAST OVER THE EASTERN HALF OF THE CONUS. A WEAK FRONT WILL MOVE INTO AT LEAST THE EASTERN HALF OF THE CWA ON WEDNESDAY BUT IT WILL HARDLY BE NOTICED EXCEPT FOR A WIND SHIFT TO THE NORTH. TEMPERATURES WILL STEADILY WARM THROUGH FRIDAY. RAIN CHANCES RETURN TO THE FORECAST ON THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY AS WARM AIR ADVECTION ALLOWS FOR SOME LIGHT RAIN OVER MAINLY THE EASTERN HALF OF THE CWA. BEGINNING ON FRIDAY...A POSITIVELY-TILTED AND NEARLY ZONAL TROUGH WILL BEGIN TO DEVELOP ALONG THE WEST COAST. AS THIS DEVELOPS...IT WILL SEND A STRONGER COLD FRONT INTO THE REGION THIS WEEKEND. THE GEM AND ECMWF ARE IN FAIRLY GOOD AGREEMENT THAT THE FRONT WILL ARRIVE SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT WHILE THE GFS STALLS THE FRONT JUST NORTH OF THE AREA. HOWEVER...IN PREVIOUS MODEL RUNS THE GFS BROUGHT THE FRONT THROUGH THE AREA THIS WEEKEND. THIS FORECAST WILL LEAN MORE TOWARDS THE CONSENSUS OF THE ECMWF AND GEM WITH THE FRONT ARRIVING ON SATURDAY. THERE WILL BE A CHANCE FOR RAIN AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WITH THE FRONT ON SATURDAY AND SATURDAY NIGHT. DEPENDING ON WHAT THE UPPER LEVEL PATTERN EVENTUALLY EVOLVES INTO...THERE COULD BE LINGERING PRECIP CHANCES THROUGH THE REMAINDER OF THE WEEKEND AND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. THE ECMWF SOUNDINGS SUGGEST THAT THE ATMOSPHERIC PROFILES WILL BE COLD ENOUGH FOR POSSIBLY SOME SNOW. WILL MENTION A RAIN/SNOW MIX ACROSS THE NORTHERN HALF OF THE REGION SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY BUT THIS POTENTIAL EVENT IS STILL 6-8 DAYS OUT AND THERE ARE LIKELY TO BE CHANGES TO THE FORECAST BEFORE THEN. 82/JLD && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... DALLAS-FT. WORTH, TX 27 50 32 57 33 / 10 10 5 0 0 WACO, TX 27 49 31 61 34 / 10 10 5 0 0 PARIS, TX 22 46 27 50 26 / 10 10 10 0 0 DENTON, TX 26 51 30 56 31 / 10 10 10 0 0 MCKINNEY, TX 26 49 29 53 29 / 10 10 10 0 0 DALLAS, TX 29 50 34 57 34 / 10 10 5 0 0 TERRELL, TX 28 48 32 56 30 / 10 10 5 0 0 CORSICANA, TX 28 48 32 58 33 / 10 10 5 0 0 TEMPLE, TX 29 50 32 63 35 / 10 10 5 0 0 MINERAL WELLS, TX 29 51 31 59 32 / 20 20 5 0 0 && .FWD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 58/84
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX 321 PM CST MON FEB 16 2015 TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-171145- MONTAGUE-COOKE-GRAYSON-FANNIN-LAMAR-YOUNG-JACK-WISE-DENTON-COLLIN- HUNT-DELTA-HOPKINS-STEPHENS-PALO PINTO-PARKER-TARRANT-DALLAS- ROCKWALL-KAUFMAN-VAN ZANDT-RAINS-EASTLAND-ERATH-HOOD-SOMERVELL- JOHNSON-ELLIS-HENDERSON-COMANCHE-MILLS-HAMILTON-BOSQUE-HILL-NAVARRO- FREESTONE-ANDERSON-LAMPASAS-CORYELL-BELL-MCLENNAN-FALLS-LIMESTONE- LEON-MILAM-ROBERTSON- 321 PM CST MON FEB 16 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR NORTH TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. THERE IS A SLIGHT CHANCE FOR SOME LIGHT SNOW ACROSS MAINLY WESTERN PORTIONS OF NORTH TEXAS OVERNIGHT TONIGHT. HOWEVER...LITTLE TO NO ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED AND NO IMPACTS TO TRAVEL ARE ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. THE SLIGHT CHANCE FOR LIGHT SNOW ACROSS MAINLY WESTERN PORTIONS OF NORTH TEXAS CONTINUES THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING. HOWEVER...LITTLE TO NO ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED AND NO IMPACTS TO TRAVEL ARE ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. A CHANCE FOR SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS RETURNS TO THE FORECAST ON SATURDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT EXPECTED AT THIS TIME.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
By the middle of February, the nearly all of Mills County was under D2/Severe drought conditions.
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, February 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: 564662.