Powerful Storms to Impact the Western U.S. and Northern Plains

A strong, long-duration atmospheric river will bring excessive rainfall, flash flooding, and very strong winds to southwest Oregon and northwest California through Thursday. A High Risk (level 4 of 4) of Excessive Rainfall has been issued. A storm system over the northern Plains will produce locally heavy snow in North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. Read More >

Figure 1 shows the geographic regions across West Central Texas, which are referenced in this event summary.

Figure 1: Geographic Regions of West-Central Texas.

Precipitation for June varied from much above to much below normal across west-central Texas (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Departure from Normal Precipitation for June, 2015.

The monthly precipitation was mostly above normal across the southern Concho Valley, Northern Edwards Plateau, and western Big Country. Below normal precipitation occurred across much of the central and eastern Big Country, northern Concho Valley, and parts of the Heartland and Northwest Hill Country.

Temperatures averaged below normal for the month. Table 1 (below) summarizes June 2015 temperature, precipitation, and departure from normal for Abilene and San Angelo.

Site	Average Temperature(Degrees F)	Departure from Normal(Degrees F)	Normal Average Temperature(Degrees F)	Total Precipitation(Inches)	Departure from Normal(Inches)	Normal June Precipitation(Inches)
Abilene	80.3	0.8	79.5	3.62	0.06	3.56
San Angelo	79.5	-0.9	80.4	3.55	0.96	2.59

Table 1: June Climate Data for Abilene and San Angelo.

After very wet conditions in May, warmer and drier conditions occurred during the first part of June, when an upper level high pressure system shifted east into Texas from New Mexico. Two main wet periods occurred during the middle (June 14-17) and late (June 27-30) parts of the month. Strong winds, intense lightning and very heavy rainfall occurred with a complex of thunderstorms across Tom Green and Irion Counties, during the post-Midnight hours of the 30th.