Hail in Texas, April 12, 2002

Name: Hail in Texas, April 12, 2002
Start: 2002-04-12T04:35
End: 2002-04-12T07:25
Location: Texas

April 12, 2002 · NWS AMA · 9 events in 5 counties and zones

Severe thunderstorms developed during the early morning hours across the northeast Texas panhandle and then over the central and eastern Texas panhandle. The severe thunderstorms produced large hail.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 9

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 AMA wrote it up.

Severe thunderstorms developed during the early morning hours across the northeast Texas panhandle and then over the central and eastern Texas panhandle. The severe thunderstorms produced large hail.

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 Amarillo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Apr 12, 2:30 AM CST, 2 hours 5 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 12, 2:30 AM CST, 2 hours 5 minutes before

TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
330 AM CDT FRI APR 12 2002

LATEST ANALYSIS SHOWS WEAK COLD FRONT DRAPED ACROSS NRN HALF OF FCST
AREA WITH DRYLINE EXTNDG FROM JUST W OF KAMA TO NEAR KLBB TO W OF
KMAF AND KFST. WEAK SFC LOW BEGINNING TO MATERIALIZE NEAR KINK.
WATER VAPOR IMAGERY REVEALS A SHORTWAVE TROF HEADING SEWD THRU
OREGON AND NRN CA TOWARDS GREAT BASIN REGION. EXPECT SFC FRONT TO
CONTINUE SETTLING SWD AGAIN TODAY AND BECOME QSTNRY S OF FCST AREA
WHILE WRN TAIL END OF IT BECOMES MORE OF AN INVERTED TROF OVER ERN
NM. SFC DRYLINE WILL CONTINUE TO GET SQUEEZED SWD AS FRONTAL
BOUNDARY PUSHES THRU PNHDLS. BEHIND THIS FRONT...WEAK EASTERLY OR
SERLY BOUNDARY LAYER FLOW WILL ENSUE ACROSS FCST AREA INTO ERN NM...
WITH LOW LVL MOISTURE BEING ADVECTED WWD INTO OUR AREA. SHORT RANGE
MODELS PROG AFOREMENTIONED SHORTWAVE TROF TO TRACK ACROSS FOUR
CORNERS REGION INTO NRN HALF OF NM LATER THIS AFTN...THEN ACROSS
FCST AREA TNGT INTO EARLY SAT. THE COMBINATION OF MID LVL WNW FLOW...
MOISTURE...DAYTIME HEATING AND INSTABILITY...SUFFICIENT LIFT AHEAD OF
APCHG SHORTWAVE TROF...AND EASTERLY LOW LVL WIND COMPONENTS ALONG AND
JUST N OF FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL INCREASE POTENTIAL FOR MORE ORGANIZED
TSTM DVLPMT...PSBLY SVR...LATE THIS AFTN AND TNGT. EXPECT STORMS TO
FIRST FIRE OVER ERN NM SOMETIME THIS AFTN...THEN SPREAD E AND ESE
ACROSS PNHDLS THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT. WILL KEEP LOW POPS ALL ZNS
TODAY...THEN BOOST SECOND PERIOD UP A BIT FROM PREVIOUS PCKG AND
RETAIN MENTION OF SVR. SPC DAY1 OUTLOOK AND QPF DAY1 FCST SEEM
REASONABLE. HAVE LEANED WITH ETA HANDLING FIRST 24 HRS WITH FURTHER
SWD FRONTAL POSITION AND RESULTANT QPF MAX.

SHORTWAVE TROF TO SLIDE ESE OF PNHDLS SATURDAY...AND FRONTAL
BOUNDARY SHOULD ALSO GET A NUDGE FURTHER S DUE TO EXPECTED
CONVECTIVE COMPLEX LATER THIS AFTN AND TNGT. THIS MAY SERVE TO
FOCUS BEST THREAT OF TSTMS S OF OUR AREA...AND WILL LOWER POPS SAT
TO SLIGHT CHC VARIETY. SOME RESIDUAL MOISTURE SEEN SUNDAY AS WELL...
AND WILL KEEP SLGT CHC ALREADY INHERITED FOR NOW.

ECMWF/UKMET/CANADIAN/NOGAPS/MRF NOW COMING INTO SOME SEMBLANCE OF
AGREEMENT DURG EXTENDED PERIODS. ALL FEATURE AN AMPLIFICATON TO THE
UA PATTERN BY CARVING OUT A TROF ACROSS WRN US AND RIDGING IN THE
ERN US. HOWEVER...THEY STILL DIFFER ON TIMING...TRACK...AND
INTENSITY OF SHORTWAVE TROFS EMBEDDED IN THIS PATTERN. RIGHT NOW...
NO MATTER WHICH SOLUTION YOU LOOK AT...FOR US IT SEEMS LIKE DRY AND
WINDY WX FOR MON AS PRESSURE GRADS STEEPEN DUE TO INTENSIFYING
LEESIDE TROF...DRY TUE AS WELL. LOOKS LIKE SOME SORT OF COLD FRONTAL
PASSAGE AFTER TUE...AND WILL RETAIN THE COOLER TEMPS AND LOW POPS
FOR WED AND THU. OVERALL...PREVIOUS PCKG IN PRETTY GOOD SHAPE WITH
SOME MINOR ADJUSTMENTS HERE AND THERE PLANNED. PRELIM VALUES FOLLOW.

DHT 72/49/71/48  2622
GUY 73/51/72/51  2622
BGD 74/52/73/52  2622
AMA 75/52/73/51  2622

.AMA...
TX...NONE.
OK...NONE.

ANDRADE

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 171 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 10:37 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

9 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Lipscomb

When: April 12, 4:35 AM CST
Where: Lipscomb County, Lipscomb
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 36.233, -100.267

Hail, Hutchinson

When: April 12, 5:31 AM CST
Where: Hutchinson County, Sanford
Measured: 0.88 in hail
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 35.733, -101.483

Hail, Hutchinson

When: April 12, 5:35 AM CST
Where: Hutchinson County, Sanford
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 35.733, -101.483

Hail, Hutchinson

When: April 12, 5:52 AM CST
Where: Hutchinson County, Borger
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 35.667, -101.383

Hail, Hutchinson

When: April 12, 5:54 AM CST
Where: Hutchinson County, 5 mi W of Borger
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 35.667, -101.467

Hail, Hutchinson

When: April 12, 5:56 AM CST
Where: Hutchinson County, 4 mi W of Borger
Measured: 2.5 in hail
Reported by: EMERGENCY MANAGER
Coordinates: 35.667, -101.450

Hail, Carson

When: April 12, 6:10 AM CST
Where: Carson County, 11 mi WNW of Skellytown
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Reported by: FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates: 35.633, -101.367

Hail, Wheeler

When: April 12, 6:17 AM CST
Where: Wheeler County, 3 mi N of Wheeler
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.500, -100.267

Hail, Gray

When: April 12, 7:25 AM CST
Where: Gray County, 2 mi W of Mc Lean
Measured: 0.75 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.233, -100.633

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Texas in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Texas, April 2002

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: 5292397, 5292398, 5292399, 5292249, 5292250, 5292251, 5292253, 5292252, 5292254.