An upper level low brought a cold front through South Central Texas which generated thunderstorms. One of these storms produced severe wind gusts.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 EWX wrote it up.
An upper level low brought a cold front through South Central Texas which generated thunderstorms. One of these storms produced severe wind gusts.
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 Austin/San Antonio, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 22, 2:07 AM CST, 2 hours 55 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio TX 207 AM CST Wed Feb 22 2023 ...New SHORT TERM, LONG TERM, FIRE WEATHER... .SHORT TERM... (Today through Thursday) Issued at 152 AM CST Wed Feb 22 2023 The tail end of an upper level shortwave will move across the region this morning, dragging a dryline east through the area. The bulk of the forcing with the disturbance, and rain chances, will remain just north of the region through the remainder of the overnight and morning, although we may see a few showers clip Llano, Burnet, Williamson, Travis, and Lee counties through 9AM. Behind the dryline dry westerly flow will develop, with some wind gusts between 25 and 35 mph possible. Warm temperatures will develop in the afternoon, with highs forecast in the mid 80s across the Hill Country and Central Texas, to upper 80s through the Coastal Plains and San Antonio metro, to low 90s across the Winter Garden region and Rio Grande. Despite these unseasonably warm temperatures, we should stop short of the very high records for this date from 1996. The dry air and gusty winds will also promote critical fire weather conditions in some areas (see Fire Weather below). Wind speeds will drop off quickly early this evening. A shallow moisture return is indicated to take place across the inland Coastal Plains late evening and overnight. This should lead to the development of low stratus and fog across this region, possibly becoming dense. A cold front is indicated to move south into the area Thursday morning and slow over the Coastal Plains in the afternoon. Slightly cooler temperatures are forecast, with highs in the mid 70s across the Hill Country, mid 80s along the Rio Grande, and upper 70s to low 80s elsewhere. && .LONG TERM... (Thursday night through Tuesday) Issued at 152 AM CST Wed Feb 22 2023 A tricky temperature forecast is expected at the start of the long term period as a shallow cold front slides in from the northeast late Thursday night into Friday morning. The 00Z NAM came in considerably cooler for the Hill Country and Coastal Plains with temperatures in the 50s for highs west of I-35 and north of I-10. Looking at model forecast soundings, the airmass in question will be quite shallow, somewhere around 1500 feet or around the 925mb level. With quite a bit of cloud cover in place too, it would be difficult to warm up if the front does indeed slide further south over the Hill Country and as far south as the I-10 corridor in the Coastal Plains to the east of the San Antonio metro. For now, we have opted to go with a blend of the NBM 25th, NAM12, and CMC, as the NBM is notoriously bad with these very shallow airmasses. Ultimately, we may still be too warm for the San Antonio metro and locations along the I-35 corridor for Friday, but future forecasts should be able to hone in on this tricky temperature forecast that has a high bust potential. Ultimately, this forecaster feels like he's been burned too many times by the NBM during shallow fronts like this one, so hedging towards the NAM12 felt like the right move. It should be noted that there is a slight chance for some patchy rain showers for a good chunk of the region Friday and into Saturday morning. The front looks to start lifting back northward as a warm front on Saturday, so we should see a nice rebound in temperatures across most of the CWA, with the Hill Country perhaps remaining in the upper 60s to lower 70s. We may see a few more breaks in the clouds Saturday afternoon, but mostly cloudy skies and above average temperatures can be expected for most. Sunday will be yet another warm day in advance of our next shot at rain Sunday night into early Monday morning. A 500mb vort max will swing through west Texas Sunday evening, sending another strong cold front/dry line like feature through South-Central Texas. This boundary is not expected to bring much of a change in the temperature department, but we may be able to squeeze out some much-needed rainfall for the Hill Country, I-35 corridor, and the Coastal Plains early Monday. Things look dry beyond Monday's system as westerly flow aloft and mild temperatures look to continue. We will await our next hope of rain Thursday-Friday of next week, but for now, this system is outside of the forecast range. && .AVIATION... (06Z TAFS) Issued at 1033 PM CST Tue Feb 21 2023 MVFR ceilings have developed/moved in across the I35 sites and will be in place until a dry line moves in tomorrow morning. Southerly winds ahead of the dryline will remain breezy with speeds gusting up to 30 knots. The dryline should move through DRT overnight but will make it to the I35 sites around 13-16z. Dry air and westerly winds will quickly filter in behind the boundary leading to the return of VFR. Any rain chances along the boundary should remain north of AUS. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 152 AM CST Wed Feb 22 2023 Dry air and gusty west winds will develop across the region late morning into the early afternoon behind a dryline. HREF is indicating a greater than 70% chance of RH values less than 20% occurring with wind speeds of greater than 15 mph through the northern Rio Grande, southern Edwards Plateau, Hill Country, and into portions of the I-35 corridor. 20-foot winds are forecast to increase to 15-20 mph with gusts to 25-35 mph possible while RH values of 8-15% occur. We will continue the current Red Flag Warning for the Hill Country, southern Edwards Plateau, and Rio Grande where forecast fuel dryness is lower and fire danger higher from the Texas A&M Forest Service. Along the I-35 corridor we will issue a Fire Danger Statement. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Austin Camp Mabry 87 58 79 58 / 20 0 0 10 Austin Bergstrom Intl Airport 87 57 79 59 / 10 0 0 10 New Braunfels Muni Airport 89 57 80 62 / 10 0 0 10 Burnet Muni Airport 82 55 76 55 / 20 0 0 0 Del Rio Intl Airport 88 55 85 62 / 0 0 0 0 Georgetown Muni Airport 85 56 77 56 / 20 0 0 10 Hondo Muni Airport 89 56 83 62 / 0 0 0 0 San Marcos Muni Airport 87 57 79 59 / 10 0 0 10 La Grange - Fayette Regional 85 61 78 65 / 10 0 0 10 San Antonio Intl Airport 88 59 81 62 / 0 0 0 0 Stinson Muni Airport 90 60 82 65 / 0 0 0 0 && .EWX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... && Short-Term...76 Long-Term...MMM Aviation...76
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio TX 336 AM CST Wed Feb 22 2023 TXZ171>173-183>194-202>209-217>225-228-231000- Llano-Burnet-Williamson-Val Verde-Edwards-Real-Kerr-Bandera- Gillespie-Kendall-Blanco-Hays-Travis-Bastrop-Lee-Kinney-Uvalde- Medina-Bexar-Comal-Guadalupe-Caldwell-Fayette-Maverick-Zavala- Frio-Atascosa-Wilson-Karnes-Gonzales-De Witt-Lavaca-Dimmit- 336 AM CST Wed Feb 22 2023 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for South-Central Texas.. .DAY ONE...Today And Tonight. Critical fire weather conditions are likely today across the Rio Grande Plains, Hill Country, and southern Edwards Plateau. A Red Flag Warning is in effect for these areas from 11am to 5pm. Elevated to near-critical fire weather conditions are forecast along and east of the I-35 corridor during this same time. Winds will quickly diminish through the late afternoon and evening hours. Dense fog is possible late tonight into Thursday morning across the Coastal Plains. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday. Dense fog is possible Thursday morning across the Coastal Plains. No other hazardous weather is expected at this time. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated.
The Laughlin AFB radar (KDFX), 105 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 11:02 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A thunderstorm produced wind gusts of 71 mph that were measured by the West Texas Mesonet site southwest of Comstock.
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, February 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: 1080851.