Weekly Climate Summary: 10/22/23-10/28/23

Climate in the News:

Extreme rainfall brought flooding to several parts of Texas this past week including Kaufman County on Friday night into early Saturday morning. Almost 30 people had to be evacuated from Warsaw, College Mound, and the city of Kaufman due to the flooding of homes. Warsaw, Texas also saw two deaths that resulted from two different drivers being swept off the road by fast moving flood waters. Many other people had to be rescued from their vehicles. To read more, visit CBS News Texas here: https://www.cbsnews.com/texas/news/two-dead-others-evacuated-amid-flooding-in-kaufman-county/

Source: @AWainwrightTV on Twitter

As a reminder, never attempt to drive through flooded roads. Six inches of water is enough to reach the bottom of most cars and a foot of water can float many cars. Even SUVs and trucks are at risk, as two feet of moving water can easily carry these vehicles away.

Weather Synopsis:

The beginning of last week was quiet and unseasonably warm. A cold front impacted the state during the later part of last week, bringing severe storms and heavy rains with it. The front stalled out on Saturday which caused a massive amount of rain to impact locations along this boundary. This front finally pushed through the rest of the state on Sunday. In stark contrast to the beginning of the week, temperatures were much colder following the frontal passage. Below is a surface analysis of the stationary front on October 28th at 7:00 am. Note the much colder temperatures (red numbers) to the north of the boundary versus those to the south.

Source: Storm Prediction Center

Temperature:

Last week had a wide spread in average temperatures across the state. Average temperatures were warmest to the southeast and lowered at a smooth gradient as you moved northwest. The warmest portions had temperatures near 85 degrees Fahrenheit with the highest average recorded at 84.2 degrees in La Salle County. The coldest area of the state had averages near 60 degrees with the coolest weekly average recorded at 58.2 degrees in Dallam County. Overall, temperatures were much warmer than normal across Texas with anomalies reaching 10 degrees above normal.

Precipitation:

Most of Texas saw rain last week with the Panhandle, South Texas, and the Upper Coast having regions that saw no rain. Rain accumulations were high across the state with most areas seeing above an inch in total. The highest accumulation for the week was recorded at 14.96” in Kaufman County.

Records/Extremes:

• October 26 - Caldwell County - A tornado was reported near Lockhart.
• October 26 - Bexar County - A tornado was reported in Terrell Hills.
• October 28 - McLennan County - A social media video depicted a tornado touch down near Hallsburg. 
• October 28 - Kaufman County - 8.10” of rain fell in a 24 period in Rosser.