Tornado and Flash Flooding in Texas, November 20 to 21, 2004

Name: Tornado and Flash Flooding in Texas, November 20 to 21, 2004
Start: 2004-11-20T17:00
End: 2004-11-21T00:00
Location: Texas

November 20 to 21, 2004 · NWS EWX · 4 events in 2 counties and zones

2 flash flood, 1 hail, 1 tornado, as filed by the National Weather Service.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 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: None recorded
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 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 Nov 20, 4:30 PM CST, 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 20, 4:30 PM CST, 30 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
430 PM CST SAT NOV 20 2004

.DISCUSSION...
HEAVY RAIN THREAT IS INCREASING AGAIN ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS.
THE PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES ARE ONCE AGAIN PUSHING NORTH OF 150
PERCENT OF NORMAL FOR MOST AREAS AS A STRONG UPPER LOW TO THE WEST
INTERACTS WITH THIS MOISTURE. THE RAIN COOLED AIR IS KEEPING MOST
RAIN AS SHOWERS WHICH SHOULD MINIMIZE THE FLOOD THREAT THROUGH LATE
SUNDAY. PATCHY FOG WAS OCCURRING MOST AREAS TODAY AND WILL LIKELY
CONTINUE THROUGH THE MORNING HOURS SUNDAY.

FOR SUNDAY AFTERNOON, MODEL TRENDS ARE LEANING TOWARD WARMER AIR TO
MIX INTO A DEEPER BOUNDARY LAYER AND WARM TEMPS INTO THE 70S FOR MANY
AREAS. THIS MAY COME WITH ISOLATED SEVERE STORMS AGAIN AS WAS SEEN
TODAY IN A FEW SPOTS. PRIMARY THREATS REMAIN HAIL AND TORNADOES WITH
THE TORNADO THREAT HOLDING CLOSE TO THE COAST EARLY THIS EVENING AND
DISAPPEARING FOR THE REST OF THE NIGHT. AFTERWARDS THE TORNADO THREAT
MAY SHIFT DEEPER INTO THE FORECAST AREA DEPENDING ON THE EXTENT OF
SOUTH WINDS AND NORTHWARD MIXING OF THE PSEUDO-FRONTAL INVERSION.
WITH ABUNDANT MOISTURE CAUSING NUMEROUS CELLS IN COMPETITION WITH
EACH OTHER, THE SEVERE/TORNADO THREAT TONIGHT AND SUNDAY STILL LOOKS
TOO ISOLATED FOR MENTION IN THE FORECAST. THIS THREAT WILL REMAIN
CONDITIONAL THROUGH TUESDAY WHEN THE UPPER STORM SYSTEM FINALLY
DEPARTS. UNFORTUNATELY, THE CUMULATIVE RAIN AMOUNTS WILL MAKE FOR
ANOTHER FLOOD CONCERN BY AS EARLY AS LATE SUNDAY AND CONTINUING
THROUGH TUESDAY.

BY WEDNESDAY AN HONEST TO GOODNESS COLD FRONT FINALLY WIPES AWAY ALL
BUT THE GROUND MOISTURE AND BRINGS WITH IT A CHANCE OF FREEZING
TEMPS BY THURSDAY MORNING. THE MODELS ARE SHOWING GOOD AGREEMENT
AND CONSISTENCY ON KEEPING A POLAR JET DOMINATED PATTERN, SO THE
CHANCE OF SUSTAINED DRY WEATHER APPEARS TO BE ON THE INCREASE FOR
LATE IN THE WEEK.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
AUSTIN CAMP MABRY              66  74  65  74 /  60  60  60  70
AUSTIN BERGSTROM INTL AIRPORT  66  75  65  74 /  60  60  60  70
DEL RIO INTL AIRPORT           63  75  63  73 /  20  40  50  60
SAN ANTONIO INTL AIRPORT       66  76  66  76 /  50  50  60  70

&&

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

&&

18/01

The radar

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 95 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:56 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flash flood, 1 hail, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, De Witt

When: November 20, 5:00 PM CST to 6:30 PM CST
Where: De Witt County, Countywide
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.082, -97.357 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Showers and thunderstorms re-developed over DeWitt and Lavaca Counties in the early afternoon of November 17. They produced a general 1 inch rain over the two counties, with highest totals of up to 3 inches between Cuero and Sweet Home. FM766, FM953, and FM443 were closed. A car was reported to have washed off CR158 near Sandies Creek.

Flash Flood, Lavaca

When: November 20, 5:30 PM CST to November 21, 12:00 AM CST
Where: Lavaca County, Countywide
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 29.384, -96.930 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Showers and thunderstorms re-developed over DeWitt and Lavaca Counties in the early afternoon of November 17. They produced a general 1 inch rain over the two counties, with highest totals of up to 3 inches between Cuero and Sweet Home. Several rural roads were closed in Lavaca County during the evening due to high water.

Hail, Lavaca

When: November 20, 6:55 PM CST to 7:10 PM CST
Where: Lavaca County, 11 mi S of Halletsville
Measured: 1 in hail
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 29.283, -96.950

Tornado, Lavaca

When: November 20, 7:10 PM CST to 7:15 PM CST
Where: Lavaca County, 11 mi S of Halletsville
Rating: F0
Path length: 0.3 mi
Path width: 30 yd
Reported by: GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates: 29.283, -96.950

An NWS cooperative observer reported seeing a small tornado drop down in open country, travel around one-quarter mile and lift back into the parent thunderstorm. The tornado did not cause any damage and was rated F0 on the Fujita Scale.

What these are

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.
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, November 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: 5428039, 5428040, 5428041, 5428134.