Drought — Coastal Willacy, Texas

2023-10-01 to 2023-10-09 · Coastal Willacy, Texas

Event narrative

Severe (D2) Drought continued across the northern third of coastal Willacy County, including Port Mansfield, through October 9th. Drought improved to Moderate (D1) levels on the 10th courtesy of thunderstorm rains that dropped an estimated 1 to 3 inches of rainfall across these areas during the afternoon of October 5th.

Wider weather episode

Searing heat that dominated September continued into the first four days of October across the entire region, maintaining Severe (D2) to Extreme (D3) Drought. Localized clusters of thunderstorms from southern Kenedy through Brownsville (Cameron County), and across the Jim Hogg/Starr/Zapata Brush Country/Rio Grande Plains on October 5th, associated with a cooling front, would begin gradual improvements across the entire region - though Severe to Extreme conditions would persist a bit longer.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1144873. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.