Some of the hottest weather of the season occurred as a mid and upper ridge dominated North and Central Texas during the middle to latter part of August. All of the forecast area reached Heat Advisory criteria, and a good portion of the region reached Excessive Heat Warning criteria more than once during this period.
Every event with a place to put it; 38 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.
Some of the hottest weather of the season occurred as a mid and upper ridge dominated North and Central Texas during the middle to latter part of August. All of the forecast area reached Heat Advisory criteria, and a good portion of the region reached Excessive Heat Warning criteria more than once during this period.
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 Aug 20, 4:48 AM CST, 6 hours 12 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 548 AM CDT Tue Aug 20 2024 ...New Aviation, Short Term... .SHORT TERM... /NEW/ Update: No notable adjustments are needed to the current forecast other than to incorporate current observations and trends. Though the weak cold front will provide only minor heat relief today, particularly north and east of the Metroplex where the boundary has already cleared, hot and rain-free conditions will persist through midweek as the front slows/lingers over the area. 12 Previous Discussion: /Through Wednesday Afternoon/ ...Dangerous heat continues across North and Central Texas... The axis of the 594-597 dam subtropical ridge will be nudged slightly westward tonight through Tuesday as an upper level low drops south across Lake Ontario. As this occurs, a weak back door cold front, currently analyzed across our far northeastern zones, will begin to push into North Texas. A 5 to 10 degree temperature drop was observed in the wake of this front as it moved through Oklahoma on Monday. In contrast to the subtly “cooler” air associated with the front, downslope warming is expected ahead of the front as the low level winds veer to the west-northwest. With 850mb temperatures again topping 25-27C, highs ahead of the frontal boundary will surpass 105 F with a few locations in the Big Country approaching 110F. Dewpoints should mix out into the mid 50s in our western zones keeping heat index values near the ambient temperature through the afternoon. An axis of higher dewpoints (mid/upper 60s) behind the front will result in peak heat index values around 100 to 105F across the remainder of the region. There has been some reconfiguration in the heat headlines since the last forecast update: * An Excessive Heat Warning is in effect from Noon to 9 PM CDT Tuesday for all counties west of Jack Co. to Robertson Co. line. * A Heat Advisory is in effect from Noon to 9 PM CDT Tuesday for areas east of the Excessive Heat Warning not including the far northeast (areas NE of the Metroplex). The front will continue to drift slowly southwestward Tuesday night into Wednesday, drawing the cooler post-frontal airmass further west/southwest. As the thermal ridge is shunted further west, the anomalous heat will continue to subside with highs on Wednesday a few degrees lower than Tuesday...though still above- normal for this time of the year. Depending on where the front settles, some areas may see just enough relief from the heat to fall below Heat Advisory criteria on Wednesday. Any extension or reconfiguration of the current Excessive Heat Warning and Heat Advisory will be addressed in the afternoon or evening forecast update. 12 && .LONG TERM... /Issued 327 AM CDT Tue Aug 20 2024/ /Wednesday Night through Monday/ Mid level ridging will continue to dominate the weather pattern through the end of the week and into next week, although some subtle changes will keep it from being quite as hot as the last couple of days. The center of the ridge will begin to reposition itself farther northeast toward the Ozarks by Thursday in response to a fairly deep upstream trough spreading into the western CONUS. This will help maintain a more easterly low and mid level flow through the end of the week and will keep 925-850 mb temperatures a few degrees lower than where they have been hovering. While we will likely see a slight uptick in humidity, the overall temperature trend will be down a few degrees with highs in the upper 90s to near 100 by the weekend. There is a very small chance for showers/storms on Thursday mainly across Central Texas as a more pronounced easterly flow brings a slug of Gulf moisture toward the TX coast. While the GFS is particularly aggressive in developing precipitation, there is at least some small signal in other guidance as well. Given the proximity of the ridge still in place across the Southern Plains, we're going to keep the forecast dry at this time. There still appears to be good consensus with a TUTT spreading westward across the Gulf and into South Texas by early next week. While this would certainly be welcomed as it would likely be accompanied by an increase in moisture and rain chances, global ensembles are a little less enthused with rain possibilities. Most of the guidance has 50th percentile QPF at no more than 1/10 of an inch across much of the region. The track of this feature will strongly dictate where any rains would fall, and right now it looks to remain pretty far displaced to our south. Dunn && .AVIATION... /NEW/ /12Z TAFs/ VFR flight conditions will prevail through the current TAF cycle. A weak front has drifted across the DFW Metroplex introducing an easterly component to the light surface winds. Wind speeds should remain 10 knots or less through the period varying between the northeast and southeast as the frontal boundary lingers nearby. For Waco...winds will veer to the north before shifting to the northeast/east after FROPA around 21Z. 12 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Dallas-Ft. Worth 101 79 98 78 99 / 0 0 0 0 0 Waco 106 78 102 77 101 / 0 0 0 0 0 Paris 93 71 91 69 94 / 0 5 5 0 0 Denton 102 76 99 75 99 / 0 0 0 0 0 McKinney 100 75 97 74 97 / 0 0 0 0 0 Dallas 103 78 99 78 100 / 0 0 0 0 0 Terrell 99 74 96 73 96 / 0 0 0 0 0 Corsicana 103 76 99 76 99 / 0 0 0 0 0 Temple 106 78 104 77 101 / 0 0 0 0 0 Mineral Wells 107 76 104 76 103 / 0 0 0 0 0 && .FWD WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Heat Advisory from noon today to 9 PM CDT this evening for TXZ091-102-103-118-119-121-122-134-135-146>148-162. Excessive Heat Warning from noon today to 9 PM CDT this evening for TXZ100-101-115>117-129>133-141>145-156>161-174-175. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Fort Worth TX 304 AM CDT Tue Aug 20 2024 TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-210815- 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- 304 AM CDT Tue Aug 20 2024 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for North and Central Texas. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight. Dangerous heat will continue today, especially west of I-35 where temperatures will rise to near 110 degrees in some locations. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. Widespread triple-digit temperatures with heat indices from 105 to 112 are expected across western North Texas and Central Texas through midweek. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
36 excessive heat, 2 heat. Local standard time, as filed.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county from August 20 through August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 20 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county from August 20 through August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county from August 20 through August 22 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county from August 20 through August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 20 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 20 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county from August 20 through August 22 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county from August 20 through August 22 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county from August 20 through August 22 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county from August 20 through August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county from August 20 through August 22 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 20 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county from August 20 through August 22 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county from August 20 through August 22 2024.
Heat index values met or exceeded 105 across much of the county on August 22 through August 24 2024.
Heat index values met or exceeded 105 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
Temperatures reached or exceeded 105 and/or heat index values reached or exceeded 110 across much of the county on August 23 2024.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, August 2024
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: 1214667, 1214668, 1214669, 1214670, 1214671, 1214672, 1214673, 1214674, 1214675, 1214676, 1214677, 1214678, 1214679, 1214680, 1214681, 1214700, 1214704, 1214709, 1214710, 1214711, 1214712, 1214715, 1214716, 1214717, 1214724, 1214725, 1214726, 1214735, 1214736, 1214737, 1214738, 1214740, 1214741, 1214742, 1214743, 1214744, 1214745, 1214746.