A short wave trough moved around an upper level area of low pressure and caused a mesoscale convective system in West Texas that moved into Val Verde County where it produced damaging wind.
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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 short wave trough moved around an upper level area of low pressure and caused a mesoscale convective system in West Texas that moved into Val Verde County where it produced damaging wind.
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 May 14, 2:25 AM CST, 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 325 AM CDT MON MAY 14 2012 .DISCUSSION... AT 08Z THIS MORNING A WEAKENING MCS WAS MOVING SE ACROSS VAL VERDE COUNTY. THIS COMPLEX OF STORMS IS STILL CAPABLE OF PRODUCING DAMAGING WIND GUSTS FOR THE NEXT HOUR OR TWO. THE MCS IS EXPECTED TO WEAKEN FURTHER AS IT TRACKS SE ALONG THE RIO GRANDE DISSIPATING OVER MAVERICK...ZAVALA AND DIMMIT COUNTIES. MODELS ARE IN GOOD AGREEMENT DEVELOPING ANOTHER CONVECTIVE COMPLEX LATE THIS AFTERNOON OVER THE TRANS PECOS REGION AND THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF THE SIERRA MADRE. THIS COMPLEX WILL EVOLVE INTO ANOTHER MCS TONIGHT TRACKING SE THEN EAST ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. SPC HAS PLACED VAL VERDE COUNTY IN THE SLIGHT RISK AREA FOR THIS EVENING. THE PRIMARY SEVERE WEATHER THREATS WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS WITH THE REMOTE POSSIBILITY OF AN ISOLATED TORNADO. PLEASE REFER TO THE SPC DAY 1 CONVECTIVE OUTLOOK FOR MORE DETAILS. LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL WILL ALSO ACCOMPANY THE STRONGER THUNDERSTORMS THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT. ADDITIONAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE EDWARDS PLATEAU AND RIO GRANDE PLAINS AND A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MAY BE NEEDED FOR TONIGHT. WE WILL LET THE DAY SHIFT RE-EVALUATE THE FLASH FLOOD THREAT. THE CHANCE FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL END ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS TUESDAY EVENING AS THE WEST TO EAST UPPER LEVEL TROF AXIS MOVES SOUTH OF OUR CWFA. A DRY PATTERN WILL FOLLOW ON THE HEELS OF THE UPPER TROF AXIS PASSAGE LASTING INTO THE WEEKEND. AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES TODAY THRU WEDNESDAY WILL BE AROUND SEASONAL NORMALS. SLIGHTLY WARMER AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED THURSDAY INTO THE WEEKEND AS RIDGING ALOFT STRENGTHENS ACROSS SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. LOW LEVEL GULF MOISTURE WILL RETURN ON FRIDAY AS SFC WINDS BECOME SOUTHEAST. THE LOW LEVEL GULF FLOW REGIME WILL PERSIST THRU THE WEEKEND RESULTING IN MORE HUMID CONDITIONS...ESPECIALLY AT TIME. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... AUSTIN CAMP MABRY 84 63 80 61 86 / 20 40 40 10 - AUSTIN BERGSTROM INTL AIRPORT 85 61 80 57 85 / 20 40 40 10 - NEW BRAUNFELS MUNI AIRPORT 83 61 78 56 85 / 10 40 40 10 - BURNET MUNI AIRPORT 80 62 78 59 85 / 20 40 20 - - DEL RIO INTL AIRPORT 82 64 79 61 85 / 60 90 30 - 0 GEORGETOWN MUNI AIRPORT 82 62 79 59 85 / 20 30 30 10 - HONDO MUNI AIRPORT 86 61 81 56 88 / 20 70 40 10 0 SAN MARCOS MUNI AIRPORT 83 62 78 58 85 / 20 40 40 10 - LA GRANGE - FAYETTE REGIONAL 84 63 78 60 85 / 20 30 40 10 - SAN ANTONIO INTL AIRPORT 84 64 79 60 86 / 10 50 40 10 - STINSON MUNI AIRPORT 85 64 79 61 87 / 10 60 40 10 - && .EWX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && MESOSCALE/AVIATION...02 SYNOPTIC/GRIDS...13
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AUSTIN/SAN ANTONIO TX 1235 AM CDT MON MAY 14 2012 TXZ171>173-183>194-202>209-217>225-228-141100- 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- 1235 AM CDT MON MAY 14 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAY ONE...REST OF TONIGHT... THERE IS A THREAT OF LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL AND DAMAGING WIND GUSTS EARLY THIS MORNING ACROSS THE EDWARDS PLATEAU AND RIO GRANDE PLAINS. A MESOSCALE CONVECTIVE COMPLEX LOCATED OVER WEST TEXAS WILL MOVE RAPIDLY SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE WESTERN THIRD OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY... A LARGE CLUSTER OF THUNDERSTORMS WILL DEVELOP IN WESTERN TEXAS MONDAY AFTERNOON AND THEN MOVE SOUTHEASTWARD INTO THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL SECTIONS OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS LATE MONDAY AFTERNOON INTO EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. ACROSS THE RIO GRANDE PLAINS INTO THE EDWARDS PLATEAU...THERE IS A POSSIBILITY OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE THE MAIN THREATS. RAINFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 3 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE AND A FLASH FLOOD WATCH MAY BE NEEDED. FURTHER EAST...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE ADJACENT AREAS OF SOUTH CENTRAL TEXAS AND THE HILL COUNTRY GENERALLY WEST OF HIGHWAY 281. OTHERWISE...NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MIGHT BE NEEDED LATE MONDAY AFTERNOON INTO EARLY TUESDAY MORNING.
The Laughlin AFB radar (KDFX), 113 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 08:55 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 50 mph that tore off a four inch diameter branch from a healthy Palo Verde tree at Seminole Canyon State Park.
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, May 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: 374555.