Severe drought conditions returned to portions of the Brazos Valley during the middle of the month.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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.
Severe drought conditions returned to portions of the Brazos Valley during the middle of the month.
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 Dec 18, 11:18 PM CST, 42 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 1118 PM CST Mon Dec 18 2023 ...New Short Term, Aviation... .SHORT TERM... /NEW/ /Overnight through Wednesday/ Mid level ridging is traversing the Southern Plains tonight resulting in cool and generally calm conditions. Surface high pressure has shifted a bit to the east and a very light northeasterly flow is in place at the surface. Synoptic scale troughing over the far western CONUS and a modest upper jet are helping to spread a fairly thick canopy of cirrus across the region and this will continue into the day Tuesday. For the remainder of tonight, we'll see intermittent high clouds with lows dropping into the mid/upper 30s. Most locations will be spared a freeze given the disruption of optimal radiational cooling from the high clouds. Tuesday and Wednesday will be transition days into a much more active end of the week pattern. A subtle disturbance will cross the region late in the day Tuesday and will go largely unnoticed, although low level southerly flow will increase and dewpoints will climb back into the 40s. By late Tuesday, clouds will continue to increase and lower into the overnight hours. Tuesday night should be considerably warmer with lows in the mid/upper 40s and modest southerly winds. Dewpoints will climb further on Wednesday into the mid 50s with widespread clouds around the region. Clouds will hamper further warming but highs should still top out in the mid/upper 60s. Any shower activity should hold off through the day with rain chances increasing through the end of the week. Dunn && .LONG TERM... /Issued 316 PM CST Mon Dec 18 2023/ /Tomorrow night through Monday/ For the long-term we are looking at a more dreary wet pattern. Starting Tuesday night, we have moist low-level southerly flow resulting in gradually more humid conditions and warmer-than- seasonal temperatures. The warmest day looks to be for Sunday with highs in the mid 60s to near 70. Wednesday night could bring in some fog into central Texas as gulf moisture meets the colder air in our area. Thanks to that moisture and low surface winds, our nights will not be getting quite as chilly, being about 10 degrees higher than normal. This does mean grey skies for the rest of the week, typical of North Texas winter. The bigger story for the long term is being written on the West Coast. An upper low pressure system off the Pacific Coast will ride on down into Baja California, creating several upper-level disturbances that will bring rain chances Thursday through Sunday. Most models are in agreement with light precipitation totals near a quarter inch on Thursday. The environment will be pretty stable so storms are not expected to be severe, but some thunderstorms can't be ruled out for our western counties. Rain chances will continue overnight into Friday morning with rain totals a little over half an inch. The upper-level trough moves into the region Saturday, giving way to more rising motion and moisture to give us pretty good rain coverage. There will be better chances Saturday for thunderstorms, but nothing severe is expected. Showers could appear Saturday morning but greater chances of showers and thunderstorms will be throughout the day with widespread coverage by Saturday night. Areas around the Metroplex could see an additional inch of rain with isolated pockets greater than 1.5 inches Saturday through Saturday night. Overall totals from this event will be between 1 to 3 inches with locally higher amounts. On Christmas Eve, Sunday, we will have a cold front moving through our area from the west. Most ensemble members show this front passing through our area midday Sunday. The upper trough will begin to tilt and therefore move our axis of precip to the northeast. Cluster analysis has about 20% of the ensemble members indicating the trough moving more slowly letting the rain linger a little longer with the front moving through Christmas Day. Mancilla && .AVIATION... /NEW/ /06Z TAFs/ VFR will prevail through the period with intermittent BKN/OVC200 cigs through the day. These will lower Tuesday night into Wednesday, but no precipitation is expected. Light northeast winds tonight will become southerly 10-15 kt on Tuesday. No significant aviation concerns are expected at this time. Dunn && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Dallas-Ft. Worth 36 60 46 65 53 / 0 0 0 0 5 Waco 37 62 47 68 54 / 0 0 0 0 5 Paris 32 53 38 62 48 / 0 0 0 0 5 Denton 37 58 44 65 50 / 0 0 0 0 5 McKinney 33 57 42 64 50 / 0 0 0 0 5 Dallas 37 59 46 66 54 / 0 0 0 0 5 Terrell 36 58 42 65 50 / 0 0 0 0 0 Corsicana 36 61 45 68 53 / 0 0 0 0 0 Temple 37 63 46 68 53 / 0 0 0 0 5 Mineral Wells 32 63 46 67 53 / 0 0 0 0 5 && .FWD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 536 PM CST Mon Dec 18 2023 TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-191200- 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- 536 PM CST Mon Dec 18 2023 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for North and Central Texas. .DAY ONE...Tonight. No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday through Sunday. Isolated thunderstorms are possible across North Central Texas in association with a slow moving storm system late Thursday and into the weekend. Lightning is the primary hazard. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Severe drought conditions impacted the county through the end of the month.
Severe drought conditions impacted the county through the end of the month.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, December 2023
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: 1148532, 1148533.