A long period of dry hot weather and abundant fuels created the conditions for three large wildfires.
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.
A long period of dry hot weather and abundant fuels created the conditions for three large 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 Oct 14, 11:33 AM CST, 24 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 1233 PM CDT WED OCT 14 2015 .AVIATION... /18Z TAFS/ VFR conditions will continue across West Central Texas through tonight. Clear skies and mainly south winds around 10 kts will prevail. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 640 AM CDT WED OCT 14 2015/ AVIATION... /12Z TAFS/ Flight weather will remain VFR for the next 24 hours. PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 418 AM CDT WED OCT 14 2015/ SHORT TERM... (Today and Tonight) Dry conditions will continue for the next 24 hours, with afternoon highs today slightly warmer than yesterday. Forecast highs yesterday were slightly too cool, when compared to actual highs yesterday. Thus, highs today will likely be a couple degrees warmer, especially given sunny skies and relatively light surface winds. Huber LONG TERM... (Thursday through Tuesday) With upper level ridging and a fairly strong 850mb thermal ridge in place, expect temperatures to reach the 90s once again for highs Thursday, with sunny skies. On Friday, a cold front will push south across our northern and central counties. With this and weakened low-level thermal ridging south of the front, high temperatures will be confined to the 80s across our area. The most noticeable cooling will be across our northern counties. Will start to see a more progressive pattern across the southern tier of the U.S. over the weekend and into next week. A weakened upper level ridge over Texas on Friday will shift east into the lower Mississippi Valley on Sunday. Will have dry conditions for our area during the weekend with highs mostly in the lower to mid 80s. An upper trough will approach Texas from the southwestern states early next week. Strengthening southerly low-level flow will aid in moisture increase for our area. Beginning at Day 7 and just beyond the range of this forecast, the 00Z GFS and ECMWF models are in good agreement in taking the upper trough east toward Texas. With a combination of increased moisture, lift with the approaching trough, and the approach/arrival of a cold front, the scenario looks favorable for showers and thunderstorms in our area (Tuesday night/Wednesday). At this time, we have low PoPs beginning Tuesday and increasing Tuesday night. Given how far out in time with the accompanying uncertainty, we are leaning toward a conservative approach with PoPs at this point. 19 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Abilene 94 60 93 61 / 0 0 0 0 San Angelo 95 61 93 59 / 0 0 0 0 Junction 94 60 92 57 / 0 0 0 0 && .SJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && 07
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 409 AM CDT WED OCT 14 2015 TXZ049-054-064>066-071>073-076>078-098-099-113-114-127-128-139- 140-154-155-168>170-150915- 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- 409 AM CDT WED OCT 14 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The Preston Ranch Wildfire burned around 860 acres in far western Menard County near FM 1674 or about 4 miles south of Fort McKavett.
The Whitley Wildfire burned an estimated 750 acres approximately 5 miles southwest of Brownwood. The fire began along County Road 201 and spread to FM 1176 and County Road 190. Twelve structures were threatened. The fire resulted in the closure of FM 1176 and the evacuations of several homes.
The Rim Rock Ranch Wildfire burned approximately 350 acres on the Rim Rock Ranch in southern Crockett County 25 miles south-southwest of Ozona. The fire was located east of FM 2083 just off of Clegg Road.
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, October 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: 604687, 604688, 604694.