April has been a month of well known severe weather events
over the area. Flash floods have come also, along with the typical
severe spring thunderstorms. Even though it is a Spring month, a
few cold outbreaks have come in the past also, and extremes in temperatures have
come also.
On April 12th of 1927 an F5 tornado struck Rocksprings.
The tornado destroyed most of what was Rocksprings in April of 1927.
with 72 fatalities. Two additional fatalities occurred 2 miles northeast of
Leakey, where the tornado passed by. The tornado was documented as
being over a mile wide when it struck Rocksprings.
Three years earlier in the 1920s, an F2 tornado struck in
Travis County, with 5 fatalities and 15 injured. During
the drought the of 1950s, 2 notable tornado events
came in 1953 and 1954. On April 28, 1954 an
F3 and F4 Tornado struck in Bexar County, with 3 fatalities and 20 injured.
On April 30, 1954 a Tornado outbreak occurred over Travis, Williamson,
Lee, Milam, Brazos, Angelina, Choctaw and Bowie Counties.
During the El Nino Event of 1972/1973, on April 15, 1973
a tornado struck near Pearsall and Medina.
The tornado at Pearsall was an F4 and was up to 3/4 of
a mile wide. There were 5 fatalities with this tornado.
At Medina the tornado was an F2.
Severe thunderstorm events have been common in April.
One rare severe thunderstorm event came April 22, 1978.
The severe thunderstorms developed between 11 am and
1 pm just north of Hondo, to the west and northwest
of San Antonio.
When the thunderstorms moved over San Antonio, they
brought damaging hail and strong winds. Winds gusted to
74 mph with these thunderstorms at San Antonio International Airport..
The thunderstorms affected other parts of South and Southeast Texas
as the storms moved east. Severe thunderstorms also came
Friday, April 24, 1987 and Thursday, April 26, 1990 during Fiesta Week in
San Antonio. The late April of 1990 thunderstorm event brought
some much needed rain in wake of the dry period in 1988/1989.
Recently, a round of severe thunderstorms came April 4th, 2004.
The thunderstorms affected Eagle Pass to Carrizo Springs
and Crystal City with heavy rains and strong winds.
This complex of thunderstorms then moved northeast
across South Central Texas. About a week later on
April 10th 2004, a line of thunderstorms came over
the area from the west, and much colder weather came
the next day on Sunday, April 11th, 2004.
In 2005, severe thunderstorms
developed west of Austin on April 5th, and moved east over
Austin, and parts of Llano, Burnet, Travis, Williamson, Bastrop, Comal,
Hays, Kerr, Bandera, Bexar, and Wilson Counties, bringing hail
and strong winds.
In April of 1915 devastating and deadly floods affected South
Central Texas. A flood at Austin, Texas left 35 fatalities.
On
April 23, 1915, the Austin City climate location recorded 10 inches
of rain. Heavy rain followed on the 25th and 26th, with
6.05 additional inches of rain. April 1915 ended up with
19.82 inches of rain at Austin, the 2nd wettest All Time
month for Austin, after September of 1921. Also in April
of 1915, heavy rains and floods left 6.78
inches at San Antonio on April 18th. April 1915 ended
up the wettest April on record for San Antonio, with
11.64 inches of rain, and 11th All Time wettest
month for San Antonio.
In April 1973, in addition to
severe weather, several heavy rain events came to the
area.
A few cold outbreaks, for an April setting have come in the
past. The coldest lows for April at Austin are as follows: Austin
Mueller/Mabry 30 April 1, 1926; and Austin Bergstrom 31
on April 13, 1980 and April 17, 1999. The latest freeze of
record for Austin City climate location was 32 April 9, 1914.
The mid April of 1980 freeze affected parts of the Texas Hill
County. For San Antonio the coldest April low was 31 April 3,
1987, and this is the latest freeze of record.. Del Rio
had 33 April 3 and April 7 in 1987 and 33 on April 9,
1973. A few cold outbreaks in April have brought lots of
clouds and left daytime highs in the 40s. This occurred at
Austin, Del Rio and San Antonio in 1928, after very warm weather in
late March of 1928.
For information on cold outbreaks in March and April
See Past Cold Weather Events for
March and April.
Very hot days, with highs near 100 have
come, especially in drought years. The hottest April day for Austin
was April 2, 1939 when the high was 99. The hottest day at
Austin Bergstrom was 99 April 19, 1951. At San Antonio the
hottest April day was April 21, 1996 when the highs was 101.
Del Rio topped out at 106 for its April high on April 11, 1907
and April 20, 1984.
Some very windy days have come in April in wake of cold fronts that had strong
lows track across North Texas. On Friday, April 1st, 1983, very windy
conditions came, as a fast moving
Pacific Cold front went through the area. Large amounts of dust moved
southeast across the area with the strong northwest winds that gusted
to between 45 and 55 mph. An isolated wind gust of 65 mph occurred at
Del Rio.
April 1st, 2005 turned out a windy day in
wake of a strong cold front that brought some chilly morning lows in the 30s
the 2nd and 3rd. Conditions warmed up to the 90s late in April 2005.
April 2005 was also a very dry April for the area. This was during the
early stages of the current drought affecting the area.
weather.gov
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