A mid to upper level easterly wave moved through Texas and combined with a conditionally unstable atmosphere to produce thunderstorms. Some of these storms produced heavy rain leading to flash flooding along with large hail and strong winds.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS EWX wrote it up.
A mid to upper level easterly wave moved through Texas and combined with a conditionally unstable atmosphere to produce thunderstorms. Some of these storms produced heavy rain leading to flash flooding along with large hail and strong winds.
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 Jul 18, 1:57 PM CST, 1 hour 33 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 257 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2012 .DISCUSSION... SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THIS EVENING MAINLY ACROSS AREAS SOUTH AND WEST OF A LINE FROM KERRVILLE TO SAN ANTONIO TO LA GRANGE (OR ROUGHLY I-10)...BUT A FEW STORMS COULD REACH AREAS FURTHER NORTH. CONVECTION WILL WANE WITH THE LOSS OF DAYTIME HEATING...BUT STILL ANTICIPATE SOME SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS TO LINGER ACROSS THE RIO GRANDE PLAINS OVERNIGHT AS THE UPPER LOW CURRENTLY PARKED OVER THE MEXICAN STATE OF COAHUILA SLOWLY CONTINUES WESTWARD. EVEN THOUGH THE LOW WILL CONTINUE MOVING AWAY FROM TEXAS...ITS BROADER CIRCULATION WILL KEEP ADVECTING GULF MOISTURE INTO SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS THURSDAY. BOTH THE NAM AND THE GFS INDICATE PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES OF CLOSE TO 1.5 INCHES ACROSS THE HILL COUNTRY...AND REACHING 1.9-2 INCHES ACROSS OUR SOUTHERN TIER OF COUNTY AND ALONG THE RIO GRANDE. ANOTHER ROUND OF DIURNALLY-ENHANCED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED THURSDAY...GENERALLY ACROSS MOST OF THE CWA ASIDE FROM OUR NORTHEASTERN TIER OF COUNTIES. ADDITIONALLY...WITH THE AFOREMENTIONED PW VALUES STILL RUNNING 75 PERCENT ABOVE NORMAL...SOME HEAVY DOWNPOURS CAN BE EXPECTED. AS THE UPPER LOW PUSHES FURTHER WEST AND WEAKENS...UPPER RIDGING WILL BUILD IN FROM THE NORTH ON FRIDAY PUTTING AN END TO CHANCES FOR RAIN. FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE FORECAST PERIOD...WE WILL GENERALLY BE ON THE SOUTHERN PERIPHERY OF THE UPPER RIDGE SPREAD ACROSS THE CENTRAL PLAINS. THE INCREASING UPPER LEVEL STABILITY WILL ENABLE A WARMING TREND OF AFTERNOON HIGHS...WITH TEMPERATURES RETURNING TO THE MID/UPPER 90S ACROSS MUCH OF THE REGION (TRIPLE-DIGITS ACROSS THE RIO GRANDE PLAINS) FOR THE WEEKEND. THE WARM AND DRY PATTERN WILL PERSIST INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. 12Z RUN OF THE MID/LONG RANGE MODELS CONTINUE TO SHOW FAIR CONSENSUS WITH DEEPER MOISTURE SNEAKING INTO EASTERN PORTIONS OF THE CWA AND POTENTIALLY THE RETURN OF CHANCES FOR RAIN. FOR NOW HAVE GONE WITH MENTIONABLE POPS RETURNING TO OUR EASTERN TIER OF COUNTIES DURING THE AFTERNOON HOURS TUES/WEDS. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... AUSTIN CAMP MABRY 75 96 75 98 75 / 10 10 - - - AUSTIN BERGSTROM INTL AIRPORT 73 94 72 96 72 / 10 10 - - - NEW BRAUNFELS MUNI AIRPORT 74 94 73 95 72 / 20 10 10 - - BURNET MUNI AIRPORT 74 94 74 96 74 / - - - - - DEL RIO INTL AIRPORT 77 95 77 99 77 / 50 20 20 - 0 GEORGETOWN MUNI AIRPORT 73 96 74 96 74 / - - - - - HONDO MUNI AIRPORT 74 95 72 96 73 / 30 20 10 - 0 SAN MARCOS MUNI AIRPORT 72 94 72 95 72 / 10 10 10 - - LA GRANGE - FAYETTE REGIONAL 73 93 73 94 74 / 20 20 10 - - SAN ANTONIO INTL AIRPORT 76 94 75 95 75 / 30 20 10 - - STINSON MUNI AIRPORT 75 95 74 96 74 / 30 20 10 - - && .EWX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && MESOSCALE/AVIATION...01 SYNOPTIC/GRIDS...25
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 507 AM CDT WED JUL 18 2012 TXZ171>173-183>194-202>209-217>225-228-191015- LLANO-BURNET-WILLIAMSON-VAL VERDE-EDWARDS-REAL-KERR-BANDERA- GILLESPIE-KENDALL-BLANCO-HAYS-TRAVIS-BASTROP-LEE-KINNEY-UVALDE- MEDINA-BEXAR-COMAL-GUADALUPE-CALDWELL-FAYETTE-MAVERICK-ZAVALA- FRIO-ATASCOSA-WILSON-KARNES-GONZALES-DE WITT-LAVACA-DIMMIT- 507 AM CDT WED JUL 18 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY... NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION WILL NOT BE NEEDED.
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
311 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0302 PM HAIL SAN ANTONIO 29.46N 98.51W
07/18/2012 M0.25 INCH BEXAR TX TRAINED SPOTTER
&&
EVENT NUMBER EWX1200416
CVPPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
327 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0325 PM HEAVY RAIN 2 SE LEON VALLEY 29.47N 98.59W
07/18/2012 M1.20 INCH BEXAR TX COCORAHS
RAINFALL IN PAST 40 MINUTES
&&
EVENT NUMBER EWX1200417
CVPPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX
409 PM CDT WED JUL 18 2012
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0402 PM HAIL SAN ANTONIO 29.46N 98.51W
07/18/2012 M0.25 INCH BEXAR TX TRAINED SPOTTER
ON BLANCO ROAD JUST SOUTH OF LOOP 1604
&&
EVENT NUMBER EWX1200418
CVPThe Austin/San Antonio radar (KEWX), 54 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:29 UTC.
3 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 funnel cloud. Local standard time, as filed.
Thunderstorms produced heavy rain that caused flash flooding on Flores St requiring a high water rescue by law enforcement personnel.
A thunderstorm produced golf ball size hail that broke windows at the Uvalde Memorial Hospital.
A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 58 mph that blew down trees and caused power outages in Uvalde.
A thunderstorm produced a funnel cloud approximately 13 miles NW of La Pryor.
A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 45 mph that broke several 3-4 inch diameter tree branches.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, July 2012
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: 397438, 397439, 397441, 397445, 397446, 397449, 397451.