A band of showers and thunderstorms developed during the early and mid afternoon over Southeast Texas on May 13th, and spread into portions of Deep East Texas during the early evening hours. Locally heavy rain was common with these storms, as they moved slowly over already saturated grounds from heavy rainfall that had fallen only a couple of days prior.
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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 SHV wrote it up.
A band of showers and thunderstorms developed during the early and mid afternoon over Southeast Texas on May 13th, and spread into portions of Deep East Texas during the early evening hours. Locally heavy rain was common with these storms, as they moved slowly over already saturated grounds from heavy rainfall that had fallen only a couple of days prior. This resulted in areas of flash flooding across portions of Nacogdoches County that lingered through mid-evening.
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 May 13, 2:55 PM CST, 3 hours 20 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA
355 PM CDT WED MAY 13 2015
.DISCUSSION...
THE WARM FRONT IS POISED TO SURGE NORTHWARD THIS EVENING WITH
SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS OVER EAST TEXAS
ESPECIALLY...PROMPTING A FLASH FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 06Z OR 1 AM. IT
IS LIKELY MUCH OF THIS WILL BE OVER BY THEN BUT NORTH OF I-30
COULD BE ONGOING AND NEED AN EXTENSION DEPENDING ON THE PUSH AND
LIFT OF THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY.
OTHERWISE...IS HAS BEEN A NICE LATE WINTER LIKE DAY WITH MOSTLY
LIGHT RAIN STILL EXITING TO THE NORTH AND EAST FROM SOME WEAK
OVERRUNNING OF THE COOLER AIR MASS STILL HOLDING ON TO THE FOUR
STATE AREA. OUR SURFACE WINDS ARE VEERING A BIT MORE TO THE
SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE WATCH AREA AND PARTS OF KISATCHIE. WE ARE A
BIT ABOVE GUIDANCE FOR LOWS AND COULD BE TOO COOL AGAIN DEPENDING
ON THE SURGE OF DEW POINTS OFF THE GULF...IT IS A TOUGH CALL TO
NAIL DOWN. AT ANY RATE IT WILL BE BACK TO THE MUGGIES BY MORNING
AREA WIDE.
THE SHORT TERM PICTURE IS PRETTY CLEAR...BUT NOTHING TO GET
EXCITED ABOUT IN THE LONGER TERM IF YOU HAPPEN TO LIKE SPRING
CONVECTIVE RAINFALL. WE ARE PRETTY CLOSE TO ALL BLENDS GOING
FORWARD WITH HIGHER THAN AVERAGE TEMPERATURES AND POPS. THE NEXT
COLD FRONT EARLY NEXT WEEK WILL HELP TO BRING SOME CHANGE...BUT
CONSIDERING THIS PAST FRONT/S ENTRANCE AND SOON TO BE EXIT...THE
MONTHLY TOTALS FOR RAIN LOOK IMPRESSIVE FOR PERHAPS AN AVERAGE
SEASON. MEANWHILE...OUR HYDROLOGIC INTERESTS WILL BEAR LONG
WATCHING AS EVEN AFTER THE RAIN GETS BACK TO NORMAL...AS RELEASES
FROM UPSTREAM WILL KEEP RIVERS AND LAKES HIGH PERHAPS INTO SOME OF
NEXT MONTH.
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
SHV 66 83 68 83 / 60 40 40 50
MLU 65 84 69 85 / 30 30 20 50
DEQ 62 81 66 82 / 60 40 40 50
TXK 64 80 68 83 / 60 40 40 50
ELD 62 81 68 83 / 50 30 40 50
TYR 68 83 70 82 / 60 40 20 50
GGG 67 84 70 83 / 60 40 40 50
LFK 69 84 70 85 / 50 40 20 50
&&
.SHV WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
AR...NONE.
LA...NONE.
OK...FLASH FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 1 AM CDT THURSDAY FOR OKZ077.
TX...FLASH FLOOD WATCH UNTIL 1 AM CDT THURSDAY FOR TXZ096-097-108>112-
124>126-136>138-149>153-165-166.
&&
24HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SHREVEPORT LA 1200 PM CDT WED MAY 13 2015 ARZ050-051-059>061-070>073-LAZ001>006-010>014-017>022-141700- SEVIER-HOWARD-LITTLE RIVER-HEMPSTEAD-NEVADA-MILLER-LAFAYETTE- COLUMBIA-UNION-CADDO-BOSSIER-WEBSTER-CLAIBORNE-LINCOLN-DE SOTO- RED RIVER-BIENVILLE-JACKSON-OUACHITA-SABINE-NATCHITOCHES-WINN- GRANT-CALDWELL-LA SALLE- 1200 PM CDT WED MAY 13 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR MUCH OF SOUTH ARKANSAS AND FOR ALL OF NORTH LOUISIANA. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... SCATTERED RAIN SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE...AS AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE APPROACHES THE REGION TODAY. HOWEVER...HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN IN THE FORECAST THROUGH MUCH OF THE WEEK AS A WARM FRONT BEGINS LIFTING BACK NORTHWARD ACROSS THE AREA. MUCH OF THIS WILL BE HIT OR MISS DAYTIME ACTIVITY. AND WHILE THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT LOOKS TO BE VERY MINIMAL OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS...ANY ADDITIONAL RAIN COMBINED WITH CURRENT CREST EXPECTATIONS COULD LEAD TO ADDITIONAL FLOODING OF SOME AREA LAKES AND RIVERS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL...AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS AND STORM SPOTTERS WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT. OKZ077-TXZ096-097-108>112-124>126-136>138-149>153-165>167-141700- MCCURTAIN-RED RIVER-BOWIE-FRANKLIN-TITUS-CAMP-MORRIS-CASS-WOOD- UPSHUR-MARION-SMITH-GREGG-HARRISON-CHEROKEE-RUSK-PANOLA- NACOGDOCHES-SHELBY-ANGELINA-SAN AUGUSTINE-SABINE- 1200 PM CDT WED MAY 13 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...EAST TEXAS AND NORTHEAST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT... SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE...AS AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE APPROACHES THE REGION TODAY. WHILE WIDESPREAD FLOODING ISSUES ARE NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME...A FEW ISOLATED TROUBLE SPOTS CANNOT BE RULED OUT...ESPECIALLY UNDER HEAVIER DOWNPOURS OR WHERE PREVIOUS HEAVY RAINFALL HAS OCCURRED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN IN THE FORECAST THROUGH MUCH OF THE NEXT WEEK AS A WARM FRONT BEGINS LIFTING BACK NORTHWARD ACROSS THE AREA. THE POSSIBILITY FOR HEAVY RAINFALL WILL CREEP IN LATE SATURDAY INTO SUNDAY...AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES THE REGION AND BECOMES STALLED ACROSS PARTS OF SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA...NORTHEAST TEXAS...AND SOUTHWEST ARKANSAS. WHILE THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT LOOKS TO BE VERY MINIMAL OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS...ANY ADDITIONAL RAIN COMBINED WITH CURRENT CREST EXPECTATIONS COULD LEAD TO ADDITIONAL FLOODING OF SOME AREA LAKES AND RIVERS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... ACTIVATION OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL...AMATEUR RADIO OPERATORS AND STORM SPOTTERS WILL NOT BE NEEDED THROUGH TONIGHT. 24
The Shreveport radar (KSHV), 132 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:14 UTC.
1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Flooding was reported At County Road 3 and Highway 21 just west of the Douglass community.
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, May 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: 566818.