A swimmer drowned within strong rip currents affecting the upper Texas coast.
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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 HGX wrote it up.
A swimmer drowned within strong rip currents affecting the upper Texas coast.
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 Houston/Galveston, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 11, 11:47 AM CST, 2 hours 13 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Houston/Galveston TX
1247 PM CDT Mon May 11 2020
.AVIATION [18Z TAF Issuance]...
VFR conditions are expected to remain in place through the
remainder of the afternoon and into the evening, with east winds
gradually shifting to the southeast. This return to onshore flow
will result in increased cloud cover, although the widespread development
of any MVFR cigs is not anticipated until tomorrow morning.
Increasing chances for precipitation come on Tuesday as an upper
trough approaches the area. Nonetheless, recent guidance has been
a bit slower in depicting the trough's progression and as a
result the onset of showers and thunderstorms will likely not
occur until the afternoon hours. Have included VCSH wording at CLL
but otherwise not included language at other terminals. Will need
to reassess this at the 00Z update based on additional high-
resolution guidance.
Cady
&&
.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 430 AM CDT Mon May 11 2020/
SHORT TERM [Through Tuesday Night]...
Surface ridge axis will be moving off to the east allowing a
southeast flow off the Gulf to resume today. Corresponding moisture
levels, cloud cover and overnight lows will begin a gradual
increase.
PW's climb into the 1.4-1.7" range in the vicinity of a llvl
jet that sets up across w/nw parts of the CWA into the Hill
Country later tonight & Tue in advance of an approaching
shortwave. Expect some iso-sct shower & tstm development as it
travels across the area during the afternoon and evening hours.
Locations generally north of a Columbus-Livingston line should see
the better chances of tstms...tapering down to 20% or less
further southeast one gets. Of note, some of the individual HREF
members are showing the potential for some embedded stronger cells
(with wind being the primary threat) & a few indicating the
HWY59/I69 corridor being the southern extent. Lingering precip
should taper off during the evening hours with the loss of heating
and eastward progression of the disturbance. 47
LONG TERM [Wednesday Through Monday]...
Subtle ridging in the wake of the shortwave should keep things
relatively dry on Wed followed by some iso-sct diurnally driven
precip Thursday and Friday.
Weather becomes more unsettled this weekend with the approach of
a broad mid level trof from the west. Evolution & finer details
are still quite debatable depending on your model of choice, but
it is the time of year and type of pattern worth keeping an eye
on in regards to convection/rainfall in the general vicinity.
There's some longer range hints that a portion of trof becomes
cutoff or a weakness lingers into days 7-10. 47
AVIATION [12Z TAF Issuance]...
With only mid/high clouds over the region and light easterly winds,
not a lot of issues for this TAF package with VFR conditions likely
continuing through this afternoon. Light SE winds are set to return
tonight, but moisture levels will be slow to respond. Not expecting
widespread CIG development overnight/early Tue morning at this time.
However, looking ahead, we could see some SHRA/TSRA activity by Tue
afternoon/evening with the approach/passage of a well-defined upper
level disturbance from the west. 41
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
College Station (CLL) 65 85 69 88 70 / 10 40 20 10 10
Houston (IAH) 67 84 70 87 72 / 0 20 10 10 20
Galveston (GLS) 73 82 74 83 76 / 0 10 10 10 20
&&
.HGX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
TX...High Rip Current Risk until 9 PM CDT this evening for the
following zones: Brazoria Islands...Galveston Island and
Bolivar Peninsula...Matagorda Islands.
GM...NONE.
&&
Discussion...12
Aviation/Marine...12The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 rip current. Local standard time, as filed.
A young male drowned in the Gulf nearshore waters when he became caught up in a rip current.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rip Current, Coastal Brazoria | 2020-05-11 | 18 | Male | In Water | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, May 2020
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: 881748.