Flash Flooding in Texas, November 21, 2004

Name: Flash Flooding in Texas, November 21, 2004
Start: 2004-11-21T07:30
End: 2004-11-21T20:00
Location: Texas

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

2 flash flood, 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: 2

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 21, 3:06 AM CST, 4 hours 24 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 21, 3:06 AM CST, 4 hours 24 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
306 AM CST SUN NOV 21 2004

.DISCUSSION...
STATIONARY FRONT ALONG MID-UPPER COAST THIS MORNING REMAINS FOCUS
FOR MODERATE RAINFALL OVER THE SERN COUNTIES. BIG DISAGREEMENT
BETWEEN EXTREMELY WET GFS AND MUCH DRIER ETA. AT THIS TIME NO
EVIDENCE IS SEEN OF STRONG VORT MAX DEVELOPED BY GFS BY 18Z OVER
MEXICO AND LIFTED NEWD INTO CENTRAL ZONES. BUT ETA IS OBVIOUSLY TOO
DRY IN LOW LEVELS. AND...AS WINDS AT AND BELOW H8 LEVEL BECOME SELY
THRU THE AFTN...THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY WILL LIFT SLOWLY NWD AS ISENT
LIFTING SPREADS TSHRA ACROSS THE ALREADY SOAKED SOILS OF THE WATCH
AREA. WILL ADD ERN HILL COUNTRY TO CURRENT FF WATCH CONFIGURATION
VALID THRU 6 PM.

GFS MAINTAINS A THREAT OF HEAVY RAIN OVER THE SAME AREA TONIGHT AND
THEN SHIFTS MAX AREA SLOWLY NEWD MONDAY INTO MONDAY NIGHT. DAY SHIFT
MAY NEED TO ADJUST WATCH AREA FURTHER WEST TONIGHT. WILL CONTINUE
HIGH POPS WITH LITTLE DIURNAL TEMP CHANGES THRU MONDAY.

SFC LOW WITH NEXT COLD FRONT SHOULD FORM IN WRN TX TUE MORNING...
TRACKING NEWD THRU THE DAY AND DRAGGING A DRY LINE ACROSS SC TX IN
THE MORNING. COLDER AIR WILL FILTER SWD INTO AREA WED NITE. THAT WILL
SIGNAL THE END OF THE RAIN THRU THIS PACKAGE. MIN TEMPS WILL FALL
INTO THE 30S AND 40S AS HIGHS HOLD IN THE 60S.  THEN BY THE
WEEKEND...BOTH HIGHS AND LOWS WILL BEGIN TO WARM.

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
AUSTIN CAMP MABRY              74  65  74  61 /  60  60  80  90
AUSTIN BERGSTROM INTL AIRPORT  75  65  74  61 /  60  60  80  90
DEL RIO INTL AIRPORT           75  63  74  55 /  40  40  60  40
SAN ANTONIO INTL AIRPORT       74  66  74  62 /  50  60  80  90

&&

.EWX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
DENSE FOG ADVISORY ALL ZONES THRU 10 AM THIS MORNING.
FLOOD WATCH FOR FLASH FLOODING HILL COUNTRY AND ALONG/EAST
OF IH35 CORRIDOR THRU 6 PM THIS AFTERNOON.

&&

09/13

The radar

The Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 95 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 13:30 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, De Witt

When: November 21, 7:30 AM 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 again re-developed over DeWitt and Lavaca Counties on the morning of the 21st. They produced another general 1 inch rain in DeWitt County, with highest amounts near 4 inches along the DeWitt and Victoria County lines. The worst flash flooding problems were reported from Nordheim to Yorktown to Cuero. FM766, among many other rural roads, was closed through much of the afternoon.

Flash Flood, Lavaca

When: November 21, 7:30 AM CST to 8:00 PM 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 again re-developed over DeWitt and Lavaca Counties on the morning of the 21st. They produced a general 1 to 2 inch rain in Lavaca County, with highest amounts of 5 to 7 inches over the southeast part of the county. Flash flooding was widespread, with nearly all secondary roads in Lavaca County under water through the late afternoon and early evening.

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.

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 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: 5428135, 5428136.