Tornado and Hail in Texas, April 28, 2004

Name: Tornado and Hail in Texas, April 28, 2004
Start: 2004-04-28T17:50
End: 2004-04-28T21:40
Location: Texas

April 28, 2004 · NWS EWX · 5 events in 2 counties and zones

4 hail, 1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

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: 5

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 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 Apr 28, 1:42 PM CST, 4 hours 8 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Apr 28, 1:42 PM CST, 4 hours 8 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
242 PM CDT WED APR 28 2004

.DISCUSSION...
NEXT ROUND OF CONVECTION DEVELOPING OVER WEST TX/NE MEX THIS AFTN AS
A S/W TROF KICKS ENEWD OUT OF W TX TONIGHT.  CLOUDS LIMITING HEATING
OVER THE CWA THIS AFTN AND THEREFORE INSTABILITY...EXCEPT OVR VAL
VERDE COUNTY WHERE LAPS SHOWS INCREASING CAPES 1000+ WITH ONLY A WEAK
CAP. EXPECT CONVECTION TO THE WEST TO BECOME BETTER ORGANIZED...AND
AGREE WITH SPC REGARDING MARGINAL SVR STORMS OVR VV COUNTY THIS
EVENING. DEVELOPING MCS TO WEAKEN OVER THE CWA TONIGHT WITH LOW CHC
POPS EASTERN CWA THU MORNING.  DECREASING CLOUDS AND WARMER THURSDAY
AS S CENTRAL TX SHOULD BE UNDER SUBSIDENCE FROM A S/W RDG.  A CLOSED
LOW DIGGING TOWARD THE 4-CORNERS FRIDAY WILL INCREASE MID LEVEL
CLOUDS AND THE SLY SFC PRES GRADIENT...WITH A CHANCE OF DRZL/STREAMER
SHOWERS DURING THE DAY AS THE GULF MOISTURE SURGES NWD.  THE 4-
CORNERS LOW TO OPEN/KICK OUT AS A TROF FRIDAY NIGHT/SATURDAY...
DRIVING A CDFNT THRU S TX SATURDAY MORNING.  THERE WILL BE A GOOD CHC
OF SHRA/TSRA WITH THE FRONT IN THE MORNING...ENDING FROM THE N BY
THE AFTN AS THE UPR TROF SLIPS TO THE EAST.  BY SATURDAY NIGHT AND
SUNDAY DECREASING CLOUDS/COOLER UNDER THE NWLY FLOW...THEN AN UPR RDG
PREVAILS MON-WED WITH WARMING TEMPERATURES AND AN INCREASING SLY
PRES GRADIENT BY WEDNESDAY AS THE NEXT LOW DIGS INTO THE WEST.
WILL INCREASE CLOUDS AND ADD SOME LOW 10-20% POPS FOR WED/THU AS LLJ
DEVELOPS IN THE OVERNIGHT HOURS...AND COULD SOME PATCHY DRZL OR
STREAMER SHOWERS OVR MUCH OF THE ERN HALF OF THE CWA.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
AUSTIN CAMP MABRY              64  82  67  83 /  40  30  10  30
AUSTIN BERGSTROM INTL AIRPORT  62  82  65  82 /  40  30  10  30
DEL RIO INTL AIRPORT           64  86  68  87 /  40  10  10  10
SAN ANTONIO INTL AIRPORT       64  82  68  83 /  40  20  10  30

&&

.EWX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...NONE.

&&

01/11

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 hail, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Val Verde

When: April 28, 5:50 PM CST to 6:10 PM CST
Where: Val Verde County, 5 mi NW of Del Rio
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.417, -100.967

Hail, Val Verde

When: April 28, 6:05 PM CST to 6:15 PM CST
Where: Val Verde County, Laughlin Afb
Measured: 1.5 in hail
Reported by: OTHER FEDERAL AGENCY
Coordinates: 29.367, -100.783

Hail, Kinney

When: April 28, 6:45 PM CST to 7:05 PM CST
Where: Kinney County, 7 mi W of Brackettville
Measured: 1.75 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.317, -100.533

Tornado, Kinney

When: April 28, 8:20 PM CST to 8:23 PM CST
Where: Kinney County, 5 mi W of Brackettville
Rating: F0
Path length: 1 mi
Path width: 20 yd
Reported by: AMATEUR RADIO
Coordinates: 29.317, -100.500

The small tornado was spotted by a Amateur Radio Skywarn Spotter west of his home in Brackettville. It dropped to the ground for just over a minutes in an open area, causing no damage.

Hail, Val Verde

When: April 28, 9:20 PM CST to 9:40 PM CST
Where: Val Verde County, Del Rio
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.367, -100.900

What these are

Hail: Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.
Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Texas in 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Texas, 2004 Warnings in Texas, April 2004

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: 5392104, 5392105, 5392106, 5392107, 5392108.