National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Heat and Fire Weather Concerns in the West; Excessive Rainfall Possible in the South-Central U.S.

Heat will build over the Intermountain West and the Southwest the next couple of days. Lightning from dry thunderstorms can create new fire starts and combined with gusty winds may cause a fire to rapidly grow in Oregon and northern California. Flash flooding will be possible in New Mexico and west Texas today, as well as parts of the southern and central Plains due to slow moving thunderstorms. Read More >

Fig. 15. The combined infrared satellite imagery and regional radar reflectivity mosaic from 2300 UTC 16 July to 0200 UTC 17 July 2003 shows Claudette as it became increasingly disorganized over far southwest Texas. Satellite imagery suggests that the middle and upper level cloud structure became less symmetrical with time as the system weakened and dry air began to entrain into the circulation from the south. Plots of the regional surface observations reveal that Claudette’s low level circulation was becoming displaced from the circulation aloft as it began rapidly moving west-northwest into northern Mexico. In addition, thunderstorms can be seen initiating over the Serranias del Burro Mountains in northern Coahuila, Mexico. This convection trained north over Terrell County, and resulted in heavy rainfall and flash flooding.