Flash Flooding and Hail in Texas, May 4, 2001

Name: Flash Flooding and Hail in Texas, May 4, 2001
Start: 2001-05-04T17:04
End: 2001-05-04T19:00
Location: Texas

May 4, 2001 · NWS EWX · 4 events in 3 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $35,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 4

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS EWX wrote it up.

General rainfall of 1 to 2 inches was reported from eastern Val Verde County eastward into southwest Edwards County and northwestern Kinney County. Maximum amounts in the event were between 4 and 5 inches at the three county intersection. Flash flooding developed in the early afternoon over the adjacent three county areas. During the afternoon, SH377 was closed from south of Rocksprings to north of Carta Valley, SH334 and SH 674 were closed just north of Brackettville and SH693 was closed southwest of Brackettville.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Austin/San Antonio, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 4, 2:15 PM CST, 2 hours 49 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 4, 2:15 PM CST, 2 hours 49 minutes before

SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
315 PM CDT FRI MAY 4 2001

WILL EXTEND THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH EAST INTO CENTRAL AND NORTHEASTERN
SECTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS THIS AFTERNOON AS MOST MODELS DRAG A
SLOW MOVING COMPLEX OF THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH THE AREA TONIGHT. ETA
MODELS WHILE SHOWING POOR PERFORMANCE ON PRECIP FORECASTING HAVE
DONE WELL ON PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES. STRONG SHORTWAVE LIFTING OUT
OF MEXICO IS TRIGGERING CURRENT THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY, AND NORTHEAST
MOVEMENT OF THE SHORTWAVE COMBINED WITH GOOD DIFFULENCE ALOFT WILL
ALLOW FOR HEAVY RAINS TO MOVE OVER THE PROPOSED WATCH AREA.
SOUTHEAST COUNTIES MAY MISS OUT ON THE HEAVIEST PART OF THE SQUALL
SO WILL ONLY MENTION LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL HERE. LATE TOMORROW THE
AREA WILL LIKELY SEE ANOTHER GOOD FLARE UP OF ORGANIZED
THUNDERSTORMS AND A CHANCE FOR FLOODING, BUT WILL NOT EXTEND THE
WATCH WITH UNCERTAINTY IN WHICH AREAS WILL RECEIVE HEAVIEST RAINS
FOR TONIGHT. GUIDANCE TEMPERATURES LOOK APPROPRIATELY MILD FOR THE
NEXT FEW DAYS.

MODELS GOING IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS BEYOND TUESDAY WITH 12Z AVN
ACCELERATING THE UPPER LOW POSITION TO SUPPORT DRY WEATHER OVER
SOUTH TX WEDNESDAY. GUIDANCE NUMBERS CLOSE TO CLIMO, BUT CLIMO EVEN
CALLS FOR A CHANCE OF RAIN. MRF SUGGESTS NW FLOW PATTERN LATE IN THE
WEEK AND WHILE NOGAPS SUGGESTS PROLONGED INSTABILITY IN THE BAJA
REGION. THUS CAN NOT RULE OUT AT LEAST SLIGHT CHANCE POPS FOR ANY
DAY THROUGH NEXT FRIDAY.

PRELIMINARY NUMBERS...
AUS 68/79/70/84 8662
DRT 67/85/69/89 6432
SAT 69/80/70/84 6642

.EWX...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THROUGH TONIGHT FOR ALL OF THE SOUTH        ?
       CENTRAL TEXAS AND THE HILL COUNTRY EXCEPT FOR FAR SOUTHEAST
       COUNTIES.

18

In the hours before

Special weather statement, May 4, 12:45 PM CST, 4 hours 19 minutes before

TXZ171-172-183>190-202>204-050200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
145 PM CDT FRI MAY 4 2001

...SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS POSSIBLE IN THE HILL COUNTRY THIS AFTERNOON
AND TONIGHT...

A DEVELOPING LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS IS MOVING ACROSS VAL VERDE
COUNTY.  THIS LINE IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE MOVING TOWARD THE EAST AT
20 MPH THIS AFTERNOON AND INCREASE IN AREAL COVERAGE AND INTENSITY.
SOME OF THE STORMS COULD APPROACH SEVERE LIMITS...WHICH MEANS THAT
LARGE HAIL...GUSTY DAMAGING WINDS...FREQUENT DEADLY LIGHTNING AND
LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WHICH COULD PRODUCE FLASH FLOODING MAY OCCUR.

THE AREA WITH THE GREATEST RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS IS THAT
PORTION OF THE TEXAS HILL COUNTRY WEST OF INTERSTATE 35 BETWEEN SAN
ANTONIO AND GEORGETOWN...AND ALONG AND NORTH OF U.S. HIGHWAY 90
BETWEEN SAN ANTONIO AND DEL RIO.

THIS OUTLOOK APPLIES TO THE FOLLOWING SPECIFIC COUNTIES...

GILLESPIE...MEDINA...KENDALL...REAL...BLANCO...KERR...BURNET...
BANDERA...LLANO...EDWARDS...KINNEY...UVALDE AND VAL VERDE.

ABUNDANT LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE OVER SOUTH TEXAS...COMBINED WITH AN
APPROACHING UPPER-LEVEL DISTURBANCE FROM MEXICO...WILL PRODUCE
WIDESPREAD SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY THIS AFTERNOON AND
TONIGHT.  SOME OF THE STORMS COULD BE SEVERE.  IN ADDITION...A FLASH
FLOOD WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR MUCH OF THE HILL COUNTRY AND ADJACENT
SECTIONS OF THE EDWARDS PLATEAU THROUGH TONIGHT.

SPOTTER NETWORKS MAY NEED TO BE ACTIVATED AS THE THUNDERSTORMS
MOVE INTO THE THREATENED AREA.

FOR INFORMATION ON WEATHER THREATS IN SURROUNDING AREAS...REFER
TO OUTLOOKS FROM OFFICES IN MIDLAND...SAN ANGELO...FORT WORTH...
HOUSTON/GALVESTON AND CORPUS CHRISTI.

The radar

The Laughlin AFB radar (KDFX), 68 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:01 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 flash flood, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Val Verde

When: May 4, 5:04 PM CST to 5:20 PM CST
Where: Val Verde County, 8 mi NNW of Del Rio
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.467, -100.950

Flash Flood, Kinney

When: May 4, 5:30 PM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Kinney County, West Portion
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.350, -100.418 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Val Verde

When: May 4, 5:30 PM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Val Verde County, East Portion
Property damage: $15,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.893, -101.152 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Flash Flood, Edwards

When: May 4, 5:45 PM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where: Edwards County, South Portion
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.983, -100.305 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Flash Flood: Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Texas in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Texas, May 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5243855, 5243856, 5243857, 5243858.