Drought conditions continued to worsen across Bosque, Erath, Hood, and Somervell counties during the middle of the month.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 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.
Drought conditions continued to worsen across Bosque, Erath, Hood, and Somervell counties 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 Jul 17, 9:51 PM CST, 2 hours 9 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 1051 PM CDT Mon Jul 17 2023 ...New Short Term, Aviation... .SHORT TERM... /NEW/ /Overnight through Wednesday/ The center of a 599dm subtropical ridge will steadily shift eastward over the next 24-36 hours resulting in continued hot weather with no chance for rainfall. Outside of some anvil debris from thunderstorms well to our north overnight tonight, skies should be mainly clear with a persistent southerly wind. Strong subsidence beneath the ridge will send temperatures well above 100 degrees across most of the area both Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. Deep lower atmospheric mixing to around 700 mb will allow dewpoints to fall into the 50s and 60s across most of the region, with the exception of our east/northeast counties where recent rainfall and higher soil moisture content will likely lead to the highest heat indices across the area. Heat indices will be near or slightly below ambient air temps west of I-35 and should be around 110 again east of I-35. There will be an increasing threat through mid-week for more significant fire activity, particularly west of I-35 where 100-hr fuel moisture has fallen below the 10th percentile. These larger fuels will support more aggressive wildfire activity as they are slower to respond to modest moisture recovery at night and will burn modestly with lighter winds. Temperatures near 110 degrees with RH <20% will support this fire activity both Tuesday and Wednesday. Dunn && .LONG TERM... /Issued 136 PM CDT Mon Jul 17 2023/ /Wednesday through Monday/ The sprawling, persistent upper level ridge will continue to dominate our weather through the remainder of the week. Daily high temperatures will again surpass the century mark in most areas Wednesday through Friday. As we've discussed over the past few days, the ridge will retrograde and break down just a bit by the end of the week, resulting in a slight retreat in highs and heat indices by Friday. Still and all, the heat will remain significant just about everywhere through the week, and excessive heat warnings will likely need to be extended at least through Thursday. Concurrent with the retrograding ridge, the ensemble guidance still advertises the resumption of a northwest flow regime over the area by Saturday/Sunday. This subtle pattern shift will be preceded by the arrival of a weak cold front into the area late Friday. The boundary will hang up over our southern counties by early Saturday, with the majority of the area dominated by a slightly cooler northeast low level flow pattern through the weekend. The combination of the weaker ridge and this flow orientation should constrain high temperatures to the 90s areawide both days. The boundary should largely wash out by Monday, with a return to southeasterly low level flow by afternoon. In keeping with the northwesterly regime, guidance suggests at least one or two rounds of precipitation occurring across portions of North Central Texas Saturday and Sunday. Had very low confidence in pinpointing locations and timing of any convective activity at this extended range, but did go ahead and paint generally low end PoPs across the northern and eastern counties during portions of both days. Unfortunately, nothing suggests that we'll see any widespread/significant precipitation across our area anytime soon. This will only exacerbate the dry soil and vegetation conditions that are affecting much of North Texas (outside the extreme northeast counties) at this point of the summer. Bradshaw && .AVIATION... /NEW/ /6Z TAFs/ VFR with south flow around 15 kt will continue through the period. No significant aviation concerns expected. Dunn && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Dallas-Ft. Worth 82 107 83 104 81 / 0 0 0 0 0 Waco 79 106 78 104 77 / 0 0 0 0 0 Paris 77 98 78 97 76 / 5 0 0 0 0 Denton 80 108 80 106 79 / 0 0 0 0 0 McKinney 78 102 80 100 78 / 0 0 0 0 0 Dallas 82 107 82 104 80 / 0 0 0 0 0 Terrell 78 103 78 101 77 / 0 0 0 0 0 Corsicana 80 106 79 104 78 / 0 0 0 0 0 Temple 77 106 77 104 76 / 0 0 0 0 0 Mineral Wells 78 109 78 108 77 / 0 0 0 0 0 && .FWD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Heat Advisory until 9 PM CDT Tuesday for TXZ091>095-103>107- 120>123-135-146>148-161-162-175. Excessive Heat Warning until 9 PM CDT Tuesday for TXZ100>102- 115>119-129>134-141>145-156>160-174. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 650 PM CDT Mon Jul 17 2023 TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-181215- 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- 650 PM CDT Mon Jul 17 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. Hot weather will continue through the upcoming workweek with afternoon heat index values of 105 to 110 degrees or higher each afternoon through Thursday. An elevated threat for grass fires will exist west of I-35 each afternoon through Thursday. Low storm chances will return on Saturday and Sunday. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
4 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Severe drought conditions impacted most of the county through the end of the month.
Severe drought conditions impacted western portions of the county through the end of the month.
Severe drought conditions impacted western portions of the county through the end of the month.
Severe drought conditions impacted western portions of 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, July 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: 1124273, 1124275, 1124276, 1124277.