The average April temperature was 67.2 degrees, 1.4 degrees below normal. The average high was 76.7, and the average low was 57.7. Heating degree days 43 and cooling degree days 116. The highest temperature reached 84 on the 22nd. The lowest was 40 on the 14th. Highest wind gust was 39 mph from the north with thunderstorms on the 10th. Rainfall was 5.02 inches, 2.42 inches above normal. Rainfall from January 1st to April 30th, 2004... 11.42 inches or 3.52 inches above normal.

Like much of January through March of 2004, April 2004 stayed wet. Several severe weather and flood events; stronger than usual cold fronts; and more cloudy days than usual showed up in April 2004. It was the 10th wettest April of Record at Del Rio, where 3.34 inches of rain fell. The average monthly temperature was below normal over most of the area, with near normal at a few locations.

What began as a mild and sunny day the first turned to a stormy day Friday April 2nd, as a line of showers and thunderstorms developed over the western hill country to east of Del Rio and moved east to Interstate 35, and beyond to parts of Lee, Fayette, and Lavaca Counties, before moving to Southeast Texas. As the storms on Friday the 2nd got further east, locally heavy rains formed over parts of Kerr, Bandera, and Medina County. The rain, showers and thunderstorms moved east to parts of Bexar, Comal, Kendall, Guadalupe, and Atascosa Counties in the late morning through the early afternoon on Friday the 2nd. One to two inch rains fell in a short period of time, and winds gusted to around 30 to 45 mph in the stronger thunderstorms. By early to mid afternoon locally heavy rains with the showers and thunderstorms moved to the eastern parts of South Central Texas. Showers and thunderstorms in the late afternoon and evening developed over parts of Dimmit, Zavala, Frio and Atascosa Counties. Frequent lightning accompanied these thunderstorms. As the rain making system moved away in the evening, skies cleared up and a partly cloudy day followed Saturday the 3rd, with isolated showers over the west and north part of the area.

Typical of a Spring setting, severe weather and flooding returned soon on the night of the 3rd to the day of April 4th. On the night of the 3rd and early morning of the 4th, an area of showers and thunderstorms developed near and west of the Rio Grande. This complex of storms increased rapidly around and after sunrise the 4th, becoming severe storms and causing heavy rains with flood problems. At El Indio in Maverick County 5.60 inches of rain fell Sunday April 4th, after 0.88 inches the day before. Some locations in Maverick County had around 6 inches of rain on Sunday the 4th. The storms increased over Maverick County and moved into Dimmit and Zavala County, becoming severe storms. Just before 2 pm the storms came to Crystal City. These severe storms caused damaging wind and hail in Crystal City in the afternoon, along with flooding. Hail 1.5 to 2 inches was reported, with some as large as near 3 inches. Hail as large as 2.5 inches was reported around the Big Wells area in Dimmit County and west of Big Wells toward Carrizo Springs. The heavy rains caused flooding in parts of Zavala and Dimmit county. As the storms moved east in the mid to late afternoon, scattered reports of strong gusty winds, and hail occurred from parts of Frio, Bexar, and Atascosa Counties, and extended eastward in the evening hours.

Even after 2 waves of severe weather, the end had not come, as another round came April 5th and 6th. On the evening of Monday the 5th and early morning of Tuesday the 6th, an area of showers and thunderstorms formed near Del Rio and Edwards County, then moved east. Hail and flooding accompanied the storms. The showers and thunderstorms moved across the hill country, dropping heavy rains of 1 to 3 inches in a short period of time and flooding low water crossings. Strong winds and frequent lightning also accompanied these thunderstorms, along with heavy downpours. The heaviest rain amounts were 4.05 inches at Camp Wood, in Real County, and 4.00 inches 10 miles west of Hunt, in Kerr County. The heavy rain and thunderstorms moved over the Austin Area and parts of Williamson and Bastrop Counties in the morning, and flooded low water crossings. Rain amounts of 1 to 3 inches fell in a short period of time. As the low pulled north of the area in the day, the rain activity ended from the west and southwest in the afternoon of the 6th.

April 7th to Friday the 9th brought dry and pleasant weather, with warmer afternoons. Highs on the 7th warmed to the 80s. On Friday the 9th, moisture returned quickly ahead of yet another spring storm system, approaching from the west. The low pressure system aloft increased in intensity over southern Arizona Friday night the 9th and early Saturday morning the 10th. Further north wind patterns were beginning to merge with the Southwest U.S. low, from 10,000 to 40,000 feet, and a strong mid April Cold front was poised to move across the area. Scattered to numerous showers and thunderstorms formed on the Cold Front in the early afternoon of Saturday the 10th, bringing another round of severe weather and flooding to the area. The storms in the April 10th and 11th event moved along quicker, and were associated with several waves of energy coming in from the west. The first wave on the afternoon and early evening of the 10th brought strong winds, scattered hail reports, and locally heavy rains from the hill country east to a large part of South Central Texas. Hail near 2.75 inches was reported 8 miles southwest of Schulenburg around 720 pm. A cold front accompanied the first wave of storms, and another wave of scattered showers and thunderstorms followed in the cool air after 9 pm, followed by yet another wave or rain, showers and thunderstorms, between 2 am and Noon, April 11th. Much cooler conditions came Sunday the 11th. The coolest high of record at Austin Bergstrom, 53 was observed, and the high of 54 at San Antonio was a record for the coolest high for April 11th. At Austin Mabry the high of 54 tied the record coolest day for April 11th. Several clear to sunny days and clear cool nights. followed the rainy, wet weekend of the 10th and 11th. Several nights from April 12th to 14th, observed lows in the 30s from parts of the hill country to protected valleys in Central Texas, to low 40s over South Central Texas. Unseasonably cool nights gave way to warm afternoons.

Clouds returned April 15 and 16. Mostly cloudy days followed the 16th to Monday the 19th, with short sunny periods in the afternoons. Isolated morning showers showed up Sunday the 18th and Monday the 19th. On the 20th, a weather system brought scattered showers and a few thunderstorms to parts of the hill country and east to parts of Central Texas. More stable conditions followed the 21st and 22nd, as daytime highs warmed up a few degrees.

Another rain making weather system affected South Central Texas the weekend of April 24th and 25th, and extended to the evening of the 25th and part of the morning of the 26th. Like the weekend of the 10th and 11th, several waves of rain came. On the night of the 23rd and early morning of the 24th, a line of showers and thunderstorms came across South Central Texas, bringing locally heavy rains, and strong winds. Wind damage was reported in Atascosa, Wilson, and Lavaca Counties. Rainfall amounts of 2 to near 3.56 inches fell over parts of the hill country, where Bandera observed 3.56 inches of rain. After sunrise on the 24th, the rains moved east, with locally heavy rains falling across the southeast part of South Central Texas in the afternoon hours. On the night of the 24th and morning of the 25th, scattered showers and thunderstorms returned again, with heavy rains in the morning across the southeast part of South Central Texas, for a 2nd day in a row. In the afternoon, as these rains moved east, rain increased from the Rio Grande east to San Antonio. Severe thunderstorms developed in the late afternoon after 5 pm on Sunday the 25th, along with heavy rains over parts of Val Verde, Edwards, Real, and Uvalde Counties. During the night of the 25th and early morning of the 26th, a line of rain and showers came across the area, and moved east after sunrise. Lingering showers and thunderstorms over northern Val Verde County moved south and diminished after 9 am. A partly cloudy and breezy afternoon followed.

In the last several days of April, another weather event came the night of the 28th and morning of the 29th, with rain, showers and thunderstorms. Severe thunderstorms were reported in Val Verde and Kinney County, where 1.00 to 1.75 inch hail was observed. Funnel clouds were observed at 705 PM the evening of the 28th, at Laughlin AFB. The thunderstorms caused hail of 1.00 inches in the Del Rio area; 1.50 inches at Laughlin AFB and 1.75 inches 7 miles west of Brackettville. Rainfall amounts of 1.62 inches was reported at Rocksprings in Edwards County, 1.61 inches at Pandale in Val Verde County, and 1.52 inches at Del Rio in Val Verde County. Further east the heavier rain amounts included the following: 1.52 inches at Kendalia; 1.38 inches at Blanco; 1.24 inches at Tarpley; and 1.19 inches at Runge. The month ended with warmer than usual weather on April 30th, with cloudy conditions in the morning, followed by partly cloudy skies in the mid afternoon to early evening.

April 2004 ended up wetter than normal. After Del Rio has its wettest March of Record, April 2004 ended up the 10th wettest April of Record at Del Rio. Rainfall amounts for the month at locations across parts of Central and South Central Texas were as follows: Austin Bergstrom International Airport 2.89 inches; Austin Mabry 3.97 inches; Burnet 3.73 inches; Del Rio 3.34 inches; Hondo 8.41 inches; New Braunfels 4.03 inches; San Antonio International Airport 5.02 inches; and San Antonio Stinson Field 5.68 inches.

After a warm March, April 2004 ended up cool for most places by April standards. One strong cold front that came across the area on April 10th, brought unseasonably cool conditions for several days. It made the coolest daily high for April 11th of record at Austin Bergstrom, 53, and San Antonio, 54. At Austin Mabry, the high of 54 on the 11th, tied the April 11th coolest daily high of record. The high of 59 at Del Rio on the 11th was not a record for the coolest high for April 11th at Del Rio. Some cool nights followed. The coolest early morning lows of the month came on the 13th and 14th. The lowest temperatures for April 2004 of 42 at Austin Mabry the 14th, 42 at Del Rio on the 13th, and 40 at San Antonio on the 14th, was cooler than the coolest daily lows observed in March 2004. At Austin Bergstrom the low of 35 on the 14th was 1 degree above the March 2004 low of 34, set on March 10th. The low of 35 at Austin Bergstrom International Airport on April 14th, 2004, was a new daily record for April 14th. The average monthly temperature was below normal at most locations, with near normal observed at a few locations. April 2004 was the 6th coolest April of Record at Austin Bergstrom International Airport, with the average temperature at 66.4 degrees, 2.5 degrees below normal. The average April temperature at Austin Mabry was 68.8, equal to the 1971 to 2000 Thirty Year Normal. For Del Rio the average April temperature was 68.7 degrees, 1.9 degrees below normal. At San Antonio the average April temperature was 67.2, 1.4 degrees below normal.

When April ended on the 30th, warm conditions prevailed. Lows of 70 were observed at Austin Mabry, Del Rio, and San Antonio. Austin Bergstrom had a low of 68 on the 30th. Afternoon highs were in the 80s. Cooler conditions followed the next day on May 1st, when another strong cold front came through the area, associated with a line of showers and thunderstorms. Conditions cleared up in wake of the cold front, and its associated showers and thunderstorms, in the afternoon and evening on Saturday, May 1st.