A broad upper level trough brought a cold front to South Central Texas and into a warm, moist airmass. Thunderstorms developed along the front and some of these storms produced large hail.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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 broad upper level trough brought a cold front to South Central Texas and into a warm, moist airmass. Thunderstorms developed along the front and some of these storms produced large hail.
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 21, 2:45 PM CST, 1 hour 9 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio TX 345 PM CDT Sat May 21 2022 ...New UPDATE... .UPDATE... Issued at 340 PM CDT Sat May 21 2022 Severe Thunderstorm Watch has been issued for parts of the Hill Country, southern Edwards Plateau and Rio Grande through 11 PM tonight. Clusters of storms ahead and along a slow moving cold front pushing into our area through tonight are capable of producing large hail and damaging wind gusts through the period. && .SHORT TERM... (Tonight through Sunday night) Issued at 124 PM CDT Sat May 21 2022 Another hot day across the region where record high temperatures will again be threatened for the I-35 climate sites. With the dew points in the mid to upper 60s and low 70s, heat indices will peak in the 101 to 108 degree range for many today. Satellite imagery shows the region is mostly sunny with a batch of passing mid-level cumulus. Cumulus field is beginning to get more agitated north of our CWA across portions of Mason and San Saba counties in the location of our approaching cold front. Over the next few hours, expect isolated to scattered convection to develop across the Hill Country. Convective allowing models show the activity generating into a broken line that will advance southeastward toward the I-35 corridor into and through this evening along the front or outflow advancing ahead of the frontal boundary. The isolated to scattered convection could become strong to severe given moderate to high instability and steep low to mid-level lapse rates. Shear is weak but sufficient enough to maintain organized convection. Main hazards will be large hail and strong damaging winds. The majority of the guidance show the activity waning through the overnight where only isolated post-frontal showers may linger and start to concentrate most along the Rio Grande where the highest PWATs will reside. Few convective allowing models, however, do show a possible secondary round of convection with the presence of possible outflow driven cold pools. Warm and humid conditions persist ahead of the front under a light to moderate south-southeasterly flow. Behind the front, expect for moderate north-northeasterly winds, which will help to advect a cooler airmass into the region. This will lead to a cooler morning and a much cooler day on Sunday across the region underneath the mostly cloudy skies. The afternoon high temperatures are to range from the low to mid 70s across the Hill Country to the mid 80s for our southern counties. Outside from lingering post-frontal shower activity, much of the area should see a lull in activity on Sunday ahead of the arrival of the upcoming the more unsettled and wet pattern early next week. Overnight Sunday night into Monday morning should see rain chances start to bump back upwards out west along the Rio Grande with the approach of an upper level disturbance and our next weather maker. See the long term below for details as this system moves in from Monday through Monday night. && .LONG TERM... (Monday through Friday) Issued at 124 PM CDT Sat May 21 2022 Sunday night begins cool and mostly stable, although some weak and elevated convection can't be ruled out. Continued upstream troughing to the west of TX brings a warm front into the Rio Grande Valley by Sunday night with a widespread coverage event possible starting by 09Z Monday and continuing through 18Z Tuesday and featuring multiple rounds. There will likely be a break or two between rounds of rain during this period, but a large scale MCS is forecast to coincide with compact mid level low pressure system Monday night. This could be excellent news for most of us wanting rain, but there could be some excessive amounts as depicted in the slight risk area by the WPC. Forecast Pwat values are not particularly high for this pattern, but the mid level dynamics will likely create the locally heavy pockets and possibly lead to slow moving or training cells. Should any storm clusters dump large amounts of rain in the short-term, we may see a few areas go from extreme to extraordinary drought to a localized threat for flash flooding. For the month of May, this should come as no surprise to those that have lived here long enough. Lapse rates should become quite steep beneath the mid-level low, but a limiting factor might be the deep moisture profile through 12KM. CAPES should be curbed to mostly below 3000 J/Kg and with light to moderate shear for what will probably be a Marginal Risk for severe weather as is already shown for the Day 3 Outlook. Assuming this compact system delivers a solid round of rain, there should be a period of worked-over air for Tuesday night. However, another lobe of the upper trough and another cold front to arrive Wednesday, means one last good round of rain chances should appear before we head back to drier weather. We'll message storm total rains to peak at around 5 inches for now, and revise upward should the early rain rounds deliver at or above what we suggest. Thursday will benefit from the second cold front and pleasant weather forecast for late May standards. So enjoy while you can. Highs in the 90-97 range could return by next Saturday. && .AVIATION... (18Z TAFS) Issued at 1210 PM CDT Sat May 21 2022 For KAUS, KSAT and KSSF: VFR conditions in place this afternoon but a frontal boundary is pushing southward into the Hill Country. Anticipate a broken line of scattered convection to develop along the front and move toward the I-35 corridor from late afternoon into tonight. For the Austin and San Antonio TAF sites elected to keep a roughly a 6 to 8 hour time period with -SHRA and VCTS in the TAF. South to southeasterly winds will continue ahead of the frontal boundary but will turn and become north to northeasterly with moderate to breezy speeds behind the front. Latter half of the overnight into Sunday morning, a few post- frontal showers may remain possible, otherwise expect for MVFR ceilings to develop. Ceilings improve midday with VFR returning by Sunday afternoon. For KDRT: VFR flight conditions with clear to mostly clear skies prevail from this afternoon into this evening. The passage of the front/dryline by the early evening hours will shift the southerly flow to out of the north-northeast. While shower/storm activity is not to be expected further west along the front, chances for some post-frontal showers will become possible overnight into Sunday morning. Elected to add VCSH into the TAF package for this chance. Low clouds also be on the increase and MVFR ceilings develop for Sunday morning near or just after sunrise. && .CLIMATE... Record High Temperatures for May 21st... Austin Bergstrom.....97 in 2005 Austin Camp Mabry....99 in 1939 San Antonio Int......98 in 1939 Del Rio.............107 in 1953 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Austin Camp Mabry 62 79 66 84 / 60 20 10 70 Austin Bergstrom Intl Airport 63 79 66 84 / 60 20 10 70 New Braunfels Muni Airport 66 80 66 86 / 50 20 10 70 Burnet Muni Airport 59 76 64 81 / 50 20 10 70 Del Rio Intl Airport 68 82 70 85 / 20 30 40 80 Georgetown Muni Airport 62 77 65 82 / 60 20 10 70 Hondo Muni Airport 68 83 69 85 / 40 20 20 80 San Marcos Muni Airport 64 79 66 85 / 50 20 10 70 La Grange - Fayette Regional 67 82 69 88 / 60 40 20 60 San Antonio Intl Airport 66 81 69 84 / 50 20 20 80 Stinson Muni Airport 68 83 69 88 / 50 20 20 80 && .EWX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && Short-Term...17 Long-Term...Platt Aviation...05
Hazardous Weather Outlook...UPDATED National Weather Service Austin/San Antonio TX 352 PM CDT Sat May 21 2022 TXZ171>173-183>194-202>209-217>225-228-222100- 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- 352 PM CDT Sat May 21 2022 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for South-Central Texas.. .DAY ONE...This Afternoon And Tonight. Scattered thunderstorms will be possible across much of the area late this afternoon through the overnight hours. Some of this activity could be severe with large hail and damaging winds the main threat. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect for parts of the Hill Country, southern Edwards Plateau and Rio Grande through 11 PM tonight. Heat index values will be near 103-105 for areas east of I35 and south of US 57. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Sunday through Friday. Additional strong to possible severe thunderstorms can be expected on Monday. In addition, locally heavy rainfall is possible Monday and again on Wednesday. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are encouraged to submit severe weather reports to the National Weather Service.
The Laughlin AFB radar (KDFX), 140 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:51 UTC.
11 hail, 1 high wind, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A thunderstorm produced quarter size hail west of Harper. Quarter was the largest size with most of the hail being dime size.
A thunderstorm produced quarter size hail west of Harper.
A thunderstorm produced pea to nickel size hail in Mountain Home.
A thunderstorm produced hail up to the size of half dollars north of Hunt.
A thunderstorm produced ping pong ball size hail north-northeast of Hunt.
A thunderstorm produced golf ball size hail near Medina.
A thunderstorm produced golf ball size hail between Medina and Bandera.
A thunderstorm produced ping pong ball size hail in Hondo.
A thunderstorm produced quarter size hail in northern Austin.
Outflow from earlier thunderstorms produced wind gusts measured at 53 kts by the ASOS at Stinson Municipal Airport.
A thunderstorm produced wind gusts estimated at 90 mph that uprooted trees along FM 99 southwest of Karnes City.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, May 2022
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: 1027550, 1027551, 1027552, 1027553, 1027554, 1027568, 1027555, 1027556, 1027557, 1027558, 1027559, 1027565, 1027561.