Matador, Texas,
is located about ninety-five miles west of Lubbock, Texas.
In 1882, a group of Scottish investors founded the Matador Ranch
and ranch post office named Matador was opened in 1886. In 1891, range manger Henry H. Campbell lays out the town site and the town was designated the county seat of
Motley County. In 2010 the population of the Matador was
607, down from 740 in 2000.
Henry H. Campbell encouraged cowboys to set up one-day businesses to meet the General Land Office requirement that a county seat have twenty commercial enterprises.
Matador is designated the county seat of Motley County.
1891 or 1892; A school opens.
1901; A bank opens.
1913; Local rail service starts with the construction of the the eight-mile long Motley County Railroad.[30]
1940; The population reaches its high water mark of 1,302.
ca. 40,000-15,000 B.C.; People migrate to North America from Asia at irregular intervals by way of the Bering Land Bridge.
10,000-8000 B.C.; Paleo-Indian culture of seminomadic hunter-foragers living in open countryside and in natural rock shelters (e.g. Russell Cave in Jackson County, AL, and the Stanfield-Worley bluff shelter in Colbert County, AL).
7,000 BC - 1,000 BC; Archaic Period of Native American hunter-gatherer culture as Indians build temporary dwellings, add shellfish to their diets, and fashion atlatls (spear throwers) to hunt small game.
1000 B.C.-A.D. 1550; Woodland-culture American Indians settle in permanent locations, usually beside streams, and practice a mixed subsistence lifestyle of hunting, gathering, and some agriculture. They create pottery and also develop elaborate funeral procedures, such as building mounds, to honor their dead.
A.D. 700-1550; Mississippian-culture American Indians create large political units called chiefdoms, uniting people under stronger leadership than the Woodland cultures have. Towns become larger and last longer. People construct flat-topped, pyramidal mounds to serve as foundations for temples, mortuaries, chiefs' houses, and other important buildings. Towns are usually situated beside streams and surrounded by defensive structures.
Before 1500; Prior to the arrival of the first European explorers, numerous tribes of the Indians of Texas occupied the region between the
Rio Grande to the south and the Red River to the north.
1519; Sailing from a base in Jamaica, Alonso Álvarez de Pineda, a Spanish adventurer, was the first known European to explore and map the Texas coastline.
1528, November; ´lvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca shipwrecked on what is believed today to be Galveston Island. After trading in the region for some six years, he later explored the Texas interior on his way to Mexico.
1685, February 18; Robert Cavelier de Sieur de LaSalle established Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay, and thus formed the basis for France's claim to Texas. Two years later, LaSalle was murdered by his own men.
1689, April 22; Mexican explorer Alonso de Leon reached Fort St. Louis, and found it abandoned, during an expedition planned to reestablish Spanish presence in Texas.
1755 - Mission San Francisco Xavier de los Dolores
1756 - Mission Nuestra Señora de la Luz
1793 - Mission Nuestra Señora del Refugio
1700 - 1899
1716-1789; Throughout the 18th century, Spain established Catholic missions in Texas, and along with the missions, the towns of San Antonio, Goliad and Nacogdoches.
1812, August 8; About 130-men strong, the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition crossed the Sabine from Louisiana in a rebel movement against Spanish rule in Texas.
1820; With the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, ending the War of 1812, both the United States and Great Britain agreed to work towards ending the slave trade. The U.S. Navy's role in the struggle against slavery began in 1820 when warships deployed off West Africa to catch American slave ships.[Ref 1][Ref 2]
1821; August 24; The representatives of the Spanish crown and Iturbide signed the Treaty of Córdoba and Mexico gains independence from Spain.
1822; Stephen F. Austin received a grant from the Mexican government and begins colonization of lower Colorado-Brazos rivers.
1824; Texas and Coahuilla joined as a single Mexican state. Many anglos move to Texas.
1824, October 4; The Constitution of 1824 gave Mexico a republican form of government. It failed, however, to define the rights of the states within the republic, including Texas.
1830, April 6; Relations between the Texans and Mexico reached a new low when Mexico forbid further emigration into Texas by settlers from the United States.
1832, June 26; The Battle of Velasco resulted in the first casualties in Texas relations with Mexico. After several days of fighting, the Mexicans under Domingo de Ugartechea were forced to surrender for lack of ammunition.
1835, October 9; The Goliad Campaign of 1835 ended when George Collingsworth, Ben Milam, and forty-nine other Texans stormed the presidio at Goliad and a small detachment of Mexican defenders.
1835, Oct.; Sam Houston is ordered to raise an army.
1835, November 3; The Consultation met to consider options for more autonomous rule for Texas. A document known as the Organic Law outlined the organization and functions of a new Provisional Government.
1835, November 8; The Grass Fight near San Antonio was won by the Texans under Jim Bowie and Ed Burleson. Instead of silver, however, the Texans gained a worthless bounty of grass.
1836, March 6; Texans under Col. William B. Travis were overwhelmed by the Mexican army after a two-week siege at the Battle of the Alamo in San Antonio. The Runaway Scrape began.
1836, March 10; Sam Houston abandoned Gonzales in a general retreat eastward to avoid the invading Mexican army.
1836, March 2; The Republic of Texas gains iimdependence from Mexico. Based on the Treaties of Velasco the republic claimed borders that included all of the present U.S. state of Texas as well as parts of present-day Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico.[Ref]
1839; November; The Texas Congress first met in Austin, the frontier site selected for the capital of the Republic of Texas.
1840, March 19; Texans kill 35 kill Comanche's San AntonioCouncil House Fight. The Texas Rangers, Militia suffered 7 killed and 10 wounded, most from friendly fire.
1841, June 19; The Texan Santa Fe Expedition set out from Kenney's Fort near Austin for New Mexico. In md-September 1841, near Sante Fe, the Expedition is intercepted by Mexican forces and marched 2000 miles to prison in Mexico City.
1842, March 5; A Mexican force of over 500 men under Rafael Vasquez invaded Texas for the first time since the revolution. They briefly occupied San Antonio, but soon headed back to the Rio Grande.
1842, August; The Webster-Ashburton Treaty, between the United States and Great Britain is signed in to suppress the slave trade. To enforce the anti-slave trade, the US Navy deployed a permanent African Squadron. Despite the vigilance of American, as well as British and French, warships in African waters, the overseas slave trade increased in the 1850s, owing to the high demand for slaves in Latin America. The U.S. Navy's participation ended with the start of the U.S. Civil War, April 1861.[Ref 1][Ref 2]
1842, September 11; San Antonio was again captured, this time by 1400 Mexican troops under Adri´n Woll. Again the Mexicans retreated, but this time with prisoners.
1842; September 17; At the Battle of Salado Creek, Colonel Mathew Caldwell of the Texas Rangers leads just over 200 militiamen against 1,600 Mexican Army troops, commanded by Adri´n Woll, and Cherokee warriors and defeated them outside of San Antonio de Bexar along Salado Creek.
1842, Fall; Sam Houston authorized Alexander Somervell to lead a retaliatory raid into Mexico.
1842 November 25; 700 men under the command of Alexander Somervell leave San Antonio to punish the Mexican Army for raids in Texas. The Somervell Expedition recaptured Laredo and then, with a reduced force of 500, took the Mexican town of Guerrero. Without serious backing for the expedition from the Republic of Texas, Somervell ordered his men to disband and return home, but not all of the men obey the order todisband and stay.
1842, December 20; Some 308 from the orginal 700 men of the Somervell force approach Ciudad Mier, they are unawar of a force of 3,000 Mexican troops were in the area under the command of Generals Francisco Mejia and Pedro de Ampudia. Th ill-fated Mier Expedition surrendered at the Mexican town of Mier.[8]
1842, December 23; The Mier Expedition led by William S. Fisher cross the Rio Grande and entered the town of Ciudad Mier and demanded supplies from the town. They camped outside of the town. By December 25, a large detachment of Mexican troops arrived in Ciudad Mier and the two sides engage in a bloody battle that lasted almost 24 hours. The Texans sustained thirty casualties. They soon ran out of food, water, and ammunition. More than 200 Texans surrendered to Mexican forces, unaware that they had mauled the Mexican troops to an almost unbelievable degree, inflicting an astounding 800 casualties.[9]
1842, December 29; After the Mexican invasion of Austin in March 1842, president Sam Houston orders officials in Austin, TX, to remove the records of the Republic of Texas to the city of Houston, touching off the bloodless Archives War.
1843, March 25; After the men captured at Mier attempted to escape, President Antonio López de Santa Anna ordered that the recaptured prisoners, some 176 men, be put to death immediately. The governor of the state of Coahuila, Francisco Mexía, refused to carry out the order and pleaded with foreign ministers in Mexico City to persuade the president to change his mind. The order was changed to execution of every tenth man. Tthe prisoners were forced to draw from a jar containing 159 white beans and 17 black beans. At dusk that day, those unlucky enough to draw a black bean were shot to death, as was the leader of the escapees, Scottish-born, captain Ewen Cameronas, who led the escape attempt, and who had drawn a white bean.[10]
1843, May 27; The Texan's Snively Expedition reached the Santa Fe Trail, expecting to capture Mexican wagons crossing territory claimed by Texas. The campaign stalled, however, when American troops intervened.
1843, June; Sam Houston unilaterally declared a truce with Mexico, which was accepted the following month. [6]
1845, December 29; U. S. President James Polk followed through on a campaign platform promising to annex Texas, and signed legislation making Texas the 28th state of the United States.
1846, April; The Mexican-American War ignited as a result of disputes over claims to Texas boundaries. The outcome of the war fixed Texas' southern boundary at the Rio Grande River.
1848, February 2; The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed. The treaty established the U.S.-Mexican border of the Rio Grande River, and ceded to the United States the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming. In return, Mexico received US $18,250,000 ($461,725,000 [2011])-less than half the amount the U.S. had attempted to offer Mexico for the land before the opening of hostilities-and the U.S. agreed to assume $3.25-million ($82,225,000 [2011]) in debts that the Mexican government owed to U.S. citizens.[19]
1850, November 25; In a plan to settle boundary disputes and pay her public debt, Texas relinquished about one-third of her territory in the Compromise of 1850, in exchange for $10,000,000 from the United States.
1852, May ; The first Lone Star State Fair in Corpus Christi symbolized a period of relative prosperity in Texas during the 1850's. Organizer Henry L. Kinney persuaded Dr. Ashbel Smith to be the fair's manager.
April 1856 April 29; Backed by the US military, a shipment of 32 camels arrived at the port of Indianola. The resulting Texas Camel Experiment used the animals to transport supplies over the "Great American Desert."
White population = 420,891 (69.66 % of state population)
African-American population = 182,921 (30.27 % of state population)
Slave population = 182,566 (99.81 % of African-American population)
Free black population = 355 (0.19 % of African-American population)
1861, February 1; Texas seceded from the Federal Union following a 171 to 6 vote by the Secession Convention. Governor Sam Houston was one of a small minority opposed to secession.
1861, April 12: Bombardment of Fort Sumter begins at 4:30 A.M. The bombardment lasts 33 hours and the Confederates fire 3,000 shells. No one on either side is killed and only one injured at Fort Sumter. Edmund Ruffin is credited with the first shot. Captain James fired the signal shell from a ten inch mortar on Johnson's Island but the first gun from the iron clad battery on Morris Island is generally considered the first shot. Roger A. Pryor declined the honor of firing the signal shell. Ruffin later wraps himself in the Confederate Flag and commits suicide.
1861, April 13: Fort Sumter surrenders at 2:30 PM on Saturday. Major Robert Anderson is allowed to fire a 100 gun salute to the United States Flag but only 50 guns are fired. One of the guns explodes and Private Daniel Hough is killed and five are injured. Some authors say two were killed. Perhaps one died of wounds.
1861, April 15: Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers for three months service.
October 1861, October 22; Advance units of the newly formed Brigade of General H. H. Sibley marched westward from San Antonio to claim New Mexico and the American southwest for the Confederacy.
1861: Construction begins on the Confederate submarine, H.L. Hunley in Mobile, Alabama. For more information; visit the Online Library; SHIPS of the CONFEDERATE STATES, Submarine H.L. Hunley (1863-1864).
1862, September 24-25; Battle of Sabine Pass. Union steamer Kensington, SchoonerRachel Seaman, and Mortar Schooner Henry James trade shots with Fort Griffith Garrison (30) and 25 mounted men 3 1/2 miles away. Neither side scores any hits but the confederates abanden the fort that night. Acting Master Frederick Crocker, commander of the expedition, received the surrender of the town and Union firces control the Sabine Pass, later incursions into the interior possible.
1862, October 4; The Battle of Galveston Harbor was primarily a naval engagement fought between forces from the Union Navy and the Confederate States of America.
1863, Jan, 1; Confederates in Texas win the Battle of Galveston; a major confederate victory.
1863, August 12: the Hunley arrived by train in Charleston.
1863, September 8; United States Navy Captain Frederick Crocker entered the Sabine River with four gunboats and 18 troop transports containing 5,000 federal infantrymen. The confederates under command of Richard W. Dowling had 6 artillery pieces and 36 infantry. The confederates had placed stakes in the river to act as markers for cannon fire. When they Confederates opened fire, they were deadly accuracy and wrought havoc on the vessels. The Union Army was forced to withdraw down the river having lost two gunboats and 200 sailors captured. The Second Battle of Sabine Pass has often been credited as the most one-sided Confederate victory during the war.
1863, September 19 - 20: Confederate Victory at the Battle of Chickamauga, GA. The battle is the most significant Union defeat in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.
1865, April 14: General Robert Anderson raises the same flag over Fort Sumter that he lowered 4 years before.
1865, May 12-14; Battle of Palmito Ranch was fought on the banks of the Rio Grande about twelve miles east of Brownsville, Texas. The Union troop were commanded by Theodore H. Barrett and the Confederate troops were commanded by John "Rip" Ford. On May 11, Barrett instructed his lieutenant colonel, David Branson, to attack the Confederate encampments commanded by Ford at White and Palmito Ranches. The struggle lasted until 14th at which time the Union forces retreated back towards Boca Chica. Union casualties; 4 killed, 12 wounded and 101 captured. Confederate causalities; 5-6 wounded and 3 wounded.
1865, December 6: The Abolishment of Slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, thus officially abolishing slavery in the U.S. While the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the US, slavery still exists in other countries. As late as 2021, 167 counties allow slavery.
[Ref 1][Ref 2]
Before 1820, the number of enslaved Africans transported across the Atlantic to the New World was triple the number of Europeans who reached North and South American shores. At the time this was the largest oceanic displacement or migration in history, eclipsing even the far-flung, but less-dense, expansion of Austronesian-Polynesian explorers.
The number of Africans who arrived in each region is calculated from the total number of slaves imported, about 10,000,000
The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves of 1807 did not completely end slave imports to the United States and it is estimated that between 1808 and 1861 roughly fifty-four thousand (54,000) slaves were smuggled into the nation.[Ref ]
1866; The abundance of Texas Longhorn cattle in south Texas and the return of Confederate soldiers to a poor reconstruction economy marked the beginning of the era of Texas trail drives to northern markets.
1866, March 6; Texas rejoins the United States of America. Reconstruction continued, however, for another four years.
1874, January 17; Richard Coke is elected governor of Texas but incumbent governor, E. J. Davis disputes the election results and refused to relinquish his office. The Coke-Davis dispute ended peacefully in Austin as E. J. Davis relinquished the governor's office. Richard Coke began a Democratic Party dynasty in Texas that continued unbroken for over 100 years.
1876, October 4; The opening of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas marked the state's first venture into public higher education. Tuition totaled $10.00 per semester.
1883, September 15; The University of Texas opened its doors in Austin for its inaugural session. First courses were offered in the Academic Department and a Law Department.
1888, May 16; The dedication of the present state capitol in Austin ended seven years of planning and construction. The building was funded with 3,000,000 acres of land in north Texas.
1891, January 20; Based on a campaign platform calling for the regulation of railroads and big business, James Hogg took office as the first native-born governor of Texas.
1900, Sept. 8; Galveston, Texas, is struck by a major hurricane that kills an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 people. After the Galveston Hurricane, a 10-mile (16 km) long, 17 foot (5.2 m) high seawall was constructed and much of the existing city was raised to a sufficient elevation behind a seawall to protect the city from floods.
1901, January 10; The discovery of "black gold" in a salt domeoil field at the Spindletop oil field near Beaumont, TX, launched Texas Oil Boom and the state enters into a century of oil exploration, electronics, and manned space travel.
1914, July 28: Austro-Hungarian declared war on Serbia, and the tenuous peace between Europe’s great powers quickly collapsed.[Ref]
1914, July 30: Russian Czar Nicholas II orders the Russian Armed Forces to mobilize.
1914, August 1: Germany demands free passage of its troop through neutral Belgium. The demand is rejected.[Ref a][Ref b]
1914, August 3: Germany declares war on France and invades Belgium.[Ref] In the first battle of World War I,
the Germans assaulted the heavily fortified city of Liège , using the most powerful weapons in their arsenal—enormous siege cannons—to capture the city by August 15.
[Battle of Liège] [Ref a][Ref b]
1914, August 23: Japan sides with Britain, seizing German possessions in China and the Pacific.[Ref]
1915, May 7: The British ocean linerRMS Lusitania is torpedoed by German U-boat U-20, 128 Americans were killed.[Ref]
1915, November 1: Parris Island was officially designated a Marine Corps Recruit Depot and training. Parris Island is still the Marine Corps Recruit Depot and training center today.
1917, Jan 11: The Zimmermann Telegram offers a military alliance with Mexico, in the event of the United States entering World War I against Germany.[Ref]
1918, November 11: Armistice Day. At the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, Germany signs an
armistice with the Allies. The war is officially over. More than 8.5 million have been killed and over twice as many wounded from across the globe. New technology has been created,
America has risen to prominence as an economic power and new countries are forming in Europe and the Middle East.
[Ref]
Texas during World War I:
The battleship USS Texas (BB-35) serves with the Grand Fleet consisted entirely of convoy missions and occasional forays to reinforce the British squadron on blockade duty in the North Sea whenever German heavy units threatened.
1917; The National Guard of Texas is mustered into the Federal service. Texas Guardsmen constituting the major portion of the 36th Division and a part of the 42nd (Rainbow) Division.[22]
1846: Ft. Brown; previously Fort Texas in Brownsville, supported Mexico border patrols.
1846: Ft. McIntosh in Laredo existed from 1849 to 1946. During World War I, the fort was used as a training base and saw over 15,000 recruits pass through the gates.
1848: Ft. Bliss in El Paso, Cavalry units, supported Mexico border patrols.
1848: Ft. Ringgold in Rio Grande City was the southernmost installation of the western tier of forts constructed at the end of the Mexican War. It stood guard for nearly a century over the Rio Grande and Rio Grande City. Ft. Ringgold was home for the 12th Cavalry that one of several units which patrolled the Mexican border before, during and after World War I. The border was patrolled constantly, and because of the lack of roads in the area, the cavalry operations were the only practical and effective way to monitor the activity.[Ref]
1849: Ft. Duncan in Eagle Pass was one of seven army posts established in 1848–49 after the Mexican War to protect the settlers of West Texas.
1852: Ft. Clark in Brackettville, training station for field hospital and ambulance companies.
1891: Camp Mabry in Austin. During World War I the U.S. Army used the camp as a training site and built several barracks and administration buildings.[Ref]
1897: Ft. Crockett/Camp Crockett in Galveston overlooking the Gulf of Mexico was built as a defense installation to protect the city and harbor of Galveston and to secure the entrance to Galveston Bay, thus protecting the commercial and industrial ports of Galveston and Houston and the extensive oil refineries in the bay area. See Ft. Crockett, Galveston, Tex., 1918 for a photo of Fort Crockett in 1918.
1898: Ft. San Jacinto in Galveston, harbor defenses and coast artillery. The guns of San Jacinto were manned by both the 265th Coast Artillery and the Twentieth Coast Artillery.
1907: Leon Springs Military Reservation for reserve officer training in San Antonio.
Initial 17,273 acres of land acquired in 1907-1908 near Leon Springs, Bexar County, Texas. The reservation was intended to provide firing ranges and maneuver areas for units stationed at Fort Sam Houston. In the buildup for World War I the reservation was first designated Camp Funston, after Major General Frederick Funston who commanded the Southern District and who died at San Antonio 8 May 1917. There was already another Camp Funston (1) in Kansas so the Leon Springs Reservation was quickly renamed Camp Stanley for Brigadier General David S. Stanley, a commander of the Department of Texas.[Ref]
In February 1917, the facilities at the reservation were renamed Camp Funston in honor of Major General Frederick Funston. In preparation for World War I, Camp Funston established the First Officers Training Camp (FOTC) in May 1917. Drills and training at the FOTC included practice marches, target practice, and trench warfare training. Officers of the FOTC graduated in August 1917, after which a Second Series Officer Training Camp began.
To avoid confusion with another base of the same name, Camp Funston was renamed Camp Stanley in October 1917; additional land to the south was leased and named Camp Bullis in honor of Brigadier General John Lapham Bullis.
1910: Camp Del Rio in Del Rio. During World War I the post was primarily occupied by small companies of the Third Infantry. In the post-war period in April 1920, Camp Del Rio became the headquarters for the Twelfth Cavalry Regiment. On June 24, 1920, the post was renamed to honor Brig. Gen. Robert E. L. Michie who died in France in 1918.
1912: Camp Marfa; previously named Camp Albert in Marfa, supported Mexico border patrols and Signal Corps biplane operations. In 1930, the base was renamed Fort D. A. Russell.
1917: Camp Logan in Houston. In 1918, Camp Logan developed notorious attention among the residents of Houston as the focal point of the first widespread local outbreak of the 1918 flu pandemic. By September 24 of that year over 600 cases had been reported by the US Army surgeons at the camp, who made the fateful decision to send the sick to homes and hospitals in the community to try to protect those soldiers still healthy at the camp. Also see Memorial Park in Houston honors those who trained at Camp Logan and served their nation in World War One.
1917: Camp MacArthur was located on a 10,699 acre tract of land in northwest Waco, Texas. The camp closed on March 7, 1919.
1917, October 2: located at the Leon Springs Military Reservation, the present day Camp Bullis, twenty miles northwest of downtown San Antonio.
1918: Camp Holland was located twelve miles west of Valentine at Viejo Pass in Presidio County, was constructed after the Brite Ranch and Neville Ranch raids by Mexican bandits. During WW I the camp supported Mexico border patrols.
Texas A&M campus in College Station, provided specialized training for approximately 4,000 U.S. Army soldiers specialized skills such as auto mechanics, radio signaling, meteorology, horseshoeing, blacksmithing, carpentry, surveying and topographical drafting. During World War I, 49% of A&M graduates were in military service, and in 1918, the senior class was mustered into military service to fight in France.[Ref]
WWI air training sites / logistics support sites (aviation):
1916: Kelly Field in San Antonio. Kelly soldiers organized approximately 250,000 men into "Aero Squadrons" during the hectic months of 1917 and 1918. Eventually, 326 squadrons were formed at Kelly during World War I, with all but twenty of these moving to other installations in the U.S. or overseas. The majority of Aero Squadrons were combat support squadrons. Kelly Field served as the first reception and classification center, testing thousands of recruits before assigning them to specific jobs and squadrons for training. The Air Service Mechanics School Enlisted Mechanics Training Department turned out an average of 2,000 mechanics and chauffeurs a month. Kelly also trained bakers and cooks, and the Aviation General Supply Depot moved to the field from its old location in downtown San Antonio.[Ref]
1917: Brooks Field flight instructor training in San Antonio.
1917: Call Field in Wichita Falls. During its operation 3,000 officers, cadets, and enlisted men were stationed at Call Field, and 500 officers received their wings there. Two squadrons left the training facility for overseas duty. Thirty-four men lost their lives during training exercises, the smallest number of fatalities of any training center. After the war the training center closed. The last military personnel left on October 1, 1919.
1917: Camp John Wise balloon training camp in San Antonio. The camp grew to have four ballons and about 33 officers and 1,800 men. It quickly began to graduate balloon companies for service overseas.[Ref]
1917: Ellington Field in Houston. During World War I, Ellington served as an advanced flight training base. As of 1918, Ellington had its own gunnery and bombing range on a small peninsula in the Gulf of Mexico near San Leon, Texas.
1917: Rich Field in Waco. A total of 243 Standard J-1 trainers were assigned to Rich Field. In June 1918, the J-1s were replaced by the Curtiss JN-4 which was standardized by the War Department as the standard training plane for the Air Service.
1918: Camp Dick (DAL) ground training/holding camp in Dallas, Texas. This post was established January 31, 1918, in Dallas, Texas on the State Fair Grounds, as an aviation concentration camp to which graduates of ground schools were sent to await admittance to primary flying schools and for graduate reserve military aviators awaiting admittance to advanced schools.
The beginning of the Great Depression in the United States is associated with the stock market crash on October 29, 1929, known as Black Tuesday. The depression had devastating effects in both the industrialized countries and those which exported raw materials.
1933; The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is created as part of the The New Deal to develop resources of poor Appalachian South, including large parts of north Alabama.
The New Deal is the title President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave to a sequence of programs and promises he initiated between 1933 and 1938 with the goal of giving relief, reform and recovery to the people and economy of the United States during the Great Depression.
1930 - 1936; The American Midwest and the Canadian prairie are in the gripes of the Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties. This period of severe dust storms, causes major ecological and agricultural damage. The Dust Bowl affected 100,000,000 acres and is centered on the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, and adjacent parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas. Many Americans migrated west looking for work and were often known as "Okies", since so many came from Oklahoma. Some residents of the Plains, especially in Kansas and Oklahoma fall ill and die of dust pneumonia or malnutrition.[11]
1935, October 3; The Second Italo-Abyssinian War. Italian armed forces from Eritrea invaded Ethiopia without a declaration of war. In response Ethiopia declares war on Italy. On October 7, the League of Nations declared Italy to be the aggressor, and started the slow process of imposing limited sanctions on Italy.
1940, June 17: The British ocean liner,
RMS Lancastria, requisitioned by the UK Government during the Second World War was sunk
during Operation Aerial
off the cost of Saint-Nazaire, France. At the time of the sinking, there were an estimated 4,000 to 9,000
British military personal and forty civilian refugees, including embassy staff and employees of
Fairey Aviation Company of Belgium with their
families aboard the ship when the ship was struck by 3 to 4 bombs and quickly capsizes and sinks. Estimates of the death toll vary from fewer than 3,000 to 5,800 people to as many as 6,500 people, the largest loss of life in British maritime history.
[Ref]
1944, September 2; The Grumman TBM Avenger piloted by Lieutenant jg George H. W. Bush, with Radioman Second Class John Delaney and Lieutenant Junior Grade William White on board, is shot down during an attack on the Japanese installations on Chichi-jima. Bush is rescued by the lifeguard submarine USS Finback. Both Delaney and White were killed as a result of the battle.[12]
The estimated number of people that perished during World War II is 70 to 85 million. This was about 3 % of the world’s population in 1940. (Estimated to be 2.3 billion).
This makes World War II the deadliest military conflict in history.
[Ref 1][Ref 2]
*Worldwide casualty estimates vary widely in several sources. The number of civilian deaths in China alone might well be more than 50,000,000.
1946, April 16; The French-registered vessel SS Grandcamp catches fire while docked in the Port of Texas City. The ship is loaded with 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate. The fire causes the ammonium nitrate to explode and kills at least 581 people in the Texas City Disaster.
1943; Texas Economy booms. Jobs open up in Petrochemical industry.
1963, Nov. 22; President John F. Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas. Lee Harvey Oswald was charged with the crime but was shot and killed two days later by Jack Ruby before any trial.[13]
1964, September 24; The President's Commission on the Assassination of President Kennedy, known unofficially as the Warren Commission, conclues that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the killing of President Kennedy and the wounding of Texas Governor John Connally, and that Jack Ruby acted alone in the murder of Oswald. The Commission's findings have since proven controversial and been both challenged and supported by later studies. [14]
1965, April 9; The Astrodome, the world´s first multi-purpose, domed sports stadium, opens in Houston, Texas.
2000, Jan, Mark Cuban, Internet tycoon (Yahoo), bought the Dallas Mavericks basketball team for $280 million. (WSJ, 4/22/03, A1)
2000, Mar 28, A tornado hit Fort Worth, Texas, and 4 people were killed with over 100 injured. It cut a 2-mile swath and inflicted $450 million in damages. (SFC, 3/29/00, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/6/02, p.A1)
2000, Apr 26, In Texas a prison riot between Blacks and Hispanics left one person dead and 31 injured. (WSJ, 4/27/00, p.A1)
2000, Apr, Gov. George W. Bush signed a proclamation that declared June 10 to be Jesus Day. (SFEC, 8/6/00, p.A14)
2000, Jul 14, In Waco, Texas, a federal jury decided that federal agents were not responsible for the deaths of 80 Branch Davidians in 1993. (SFC, 7/15/00, p.A1)
2000, Nov 3, Five people died in central Texas over the last 2 days in car accidents due to flooding. (SFEC, 11/5/00, p.A7)
2000, Nov. 7, George W. Bush is elected as the 43rd President of the United States. When the election returns were tallied on November 7, Bush had won 29 states, including Florida. The closeness of the Florida outcome led to a recount. The initial recount also went to Bush, but the outcome was tied up in lower courts for a month until eventually reaching the U.S. Supreme Court. On December 9, in the, Bush v. Gore ruling, the Court reversed a Florida Supreme Court decision that had ordered a third count, and stopped an ordered statewide hand recount based on the argument that the use of different standards among Florida's counties violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment The machine recount showed that Bush had won the Florida vote by a margin of 537 votes out of six million casts. Although he had received 543,895 fewer individual nationwide votes than Gore, Bush won the election, receiving 271 electoral votes to Gore's 266 (Gore had actually been awarded a total of 267 votes by the states pledged to him plus the District of Columbia, but one D.C. elector abstained). Bush was the first person to win an American presidential election with fewer popular votes than another candidate since Benjamin Harrison in 1888.
2000, Dec 21, President-elect George W. Bush resigned as governor of Texas; Lt. Gov. Rick Perry (Republican) was sworn in to replace him. (AP, 12/21/01)(SFC, 12/22/00, p.A11)
2000, Dec 28, In the US recent bad weather was blamed for 41 deaths: including 22 in Texas and 11 in Oklahoma. (SFC, 12/29/00, p.A6)
2000-2001 Nurse Vickie Dawn Jackson injected 10 Texas hospital patients with lethal drug doses at Nocona General Hospital. In 2006 Jackson pleaded no contest to capital murder and was sentenced to life in prison. (WSJ, 10/6/06, p.A1)(http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2531512)
2001, Jun 10, Tropical storm Allison hung over Texas and Louisiana and killed at least 16 people. Pres. Bush declared 28 counties disaster areas due to flooding. (SSFC, 6/10/01, p.A12)(WSJ, 6/11/01, p.A1)
2001, Aug 2, Houston launched Sim Houston, a program to provide each of its 1.8 million residents with free e-mail accounts and access to word processing software. (SFC, 8/21/01, p.C1)
2001, Oct 4, In Texas Barry Bonds hit his 70th home run to tie Mark McGwire's 1998 record in a 10-2 victory over Houston. Rickey Henderson homered to pass Ty Cobb and become baseball's career leader in runs scored with 2,246 during San Diego's 6-3 win over Los Angeles. (SFC, 10/5/01, p.A1)(AP, 10/4/02)
2001, Nov 16, Texas storms abated and left 9 people dead. (SFC, 11/17/01, p.A15)
2001, Dec 22, A cloned cat was born following a year of experimentation by scientists at Texas A&M. (SFC, 2/15/02, p.A1)
2002, Jul 4, In central Texas 70,000 cubic feet of water gushed down a spillway from Canyon Lake toward the Guadalupe River for three days, scraping off vegetation and topsoil and leaving only limestone walls. The mile-and-a-half-long Canyon Lake Gorge, up to 80 feet deep, was dug out from what had been a nondescript valley covered in mesquite and oak trees. (AP, 10/5/07)
2002, Jul 5, The Medina River near San Antonio, Texas, overflowed along with the Guadalupe River and flooding left at least 7 people dead. (SFC, 7/6/02, p.A3)
2002, Dec, In Fort Worth, Texas, the $65 million Modern Art Museum, opened. It was designed by Tadao Ando of Japan. (WSJ, 12/17/02, p.D8)
2002, Crazy ants, an invasive species, were first discovered in Houston. In 2012 the crazy ant species was identified as Nylanderia fulva, from northern Argentina and southern Brazil. By 2013 they had spread to coastal areas from Texas to Florida. (LiveScience, 5/17/13)
2003, Feb 1, Space shuttle Columbia broke apart in flames over Texas, killing all 7 astronauts just 16 minutes before they were supposed to glide to ground in Florida. The astronauts included Michael P. Anderson (b.1959), David M. Brown (b.1956), Laurel Clark (b.1962), Kalpana Chawla (b.1962), Rick Husband (b.1957), William C. McCool (b.1961) and Ilan Ramon (b.1954). (AP, 2/1/03)(SSFC, 2/2/03, p.A8)
2003, May 22, Annika Sorenstam became the first woman since Babe Didrikson Zaharias in 1945 to tee off against the men on the pro tour, playing in the first round of the Colonial golf tournament in Fort Worth, Texas. Sorenstam missed the cut the next day by four shots. (AP, 5/22/08)
2003, Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed tort reform legislation, which capped non-economic damages in medical lawsuits. (Econ, 8/13/11, p.28)
2004, Feb 20, In Texas a strain of avian flu was reported in Gonzales County. Further checks revealed that it was highly pathogenic, but posed little risk to humans. (SFC, 2/24/04, p.A3)
2004, Jun 24, The US Census Bureau reported that San Antonio had eclipsed Dallas as the nation's 8th-largest city. (AP, 6/23/04)
2004; George W. Bush is re-elected to a second term as President of the United States. Bush carried 31 of 50 states, receiving a total of 286 electoral votes. He won an absolute majority of the popular vote (50.7 percent to his opponent's 48.3 percent).
2005, Jan 14, Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr., the reputed ringleader of a band of rogue guards at the Abu Ghraib prison, was convicted at Fort Hood, Texas, of abusing Iraqi detainees. He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison. (AP, 1/14/06)
2005, Jan 15, A military court at Fort Hood, Texas, sentenced Army Specialist Charles Graner Jr. to 10 years behind bars for physically and sexually mistreating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison. Graner (42) was released from prison In Leavenworth, Kansas, on Aug 6, 2011. (AP, 1/15/06)(SSFC, 8/7/11, p.A10)
2005, May 4, A military judge at Fort Hood, Texas, threw out Pvt. 1st Class Lynndie England's guilty plea to abusing Iraqi detainees at Abu Ghraib prison, saying he was not convinced the Army reservist knew her actions were wrong at the time. England was later convicted in a court-martial and sentenced to three years in prison. (AP, 5/4/06)
2005, May 16, Army Specialist Sabrina Harman was convicted at Fort Hood, Texas, of six of the seven charges she faced for her role in the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib. She was sentenced to six months in prison after testimony about her acts of kindness toward Iraqis before she became an Abu Ghraib guard. (AP, 5/16/06)
2005, Jun 11, US officials said a cow had tested positive for mad cow disease in November, opening the door to possible changes in testing procedures in the US beef industry. The cow was later identified as being calved in Texas in 1993. (AP, 6/11/05)(WSJ, 6/30/05, p.A1)
2005, Jun 18, Former Texas Congressman J.J. “Jake" Pickle died in Austin at age 91. (AP, 6/18/06)
2005, Aug 11, President Bush expressed sympathy for war protesters like Cindy Sheehan, the mother camped outside his Texas ranch demanding answers for her solider-son's death, but said he believed it would be a mistake to bring U.S. troops home immediately. (AP, 8/11/06)
2005, Aug 31, At least 25,000 of Hurricane Katrina's refugees, a majority of them at the New Orleans Superdome, began traveling in a bus convoy to Houston and will be sheltered at the 40-year-old Astrodome, which hasn't been used for professional sporting events in years. (AP, 8/31/05)
2005, Sep 21, Hurricane Rita intensified into a Category 5 storm with 140 mph winds and threatened to devastate the Texas coast or already-battered Louisiana by week's end. More than 1.3 million people in Texas and Louisiana were evacuated The death toll from Katrina topped 1,000. (AP, 9/21/05)(SFC, 9/22/05, p.A1)(AP, 9/21/06)
2005, Sep 22, Hurricane Rita, weakened to Category 4 status, closed on the Texas coast, sending hundreds of thousands of people fleeing on a frustratingly slow, bumper-to-bumper exodus. (AP, 9/22/06)
2005, Sep 23, Hurricane Rita, dropped to Category 4, moved toward the Texas and Louisiana coast with 135 mph winds, creating monumental traffic jams along evacuation routes and raising fears of a crippling blow to the nation's oil-refining industry. More than 100 people died in the exodus from Houston. (AP, 9/23/05)(Econ, 9/2/17, p.17)
2005, Sep 23, In Texas a bus carrying elderly evacuees from Hurricane Rita caught fire and was rocked by explosions on a gridlocked highway near Dallas, killing 23 people. In 2006 James Maples (65), owner of the bus, was acquitted of a safety violation but convicted on 2 lesser counts. His company Global Limo was found guilty on all charges. (AP, 9/23/05)(SFC, 10/4/06, p.A3)
2005, Sep 24, Hurricane Rita, reduced to Category 3, made landfall east of Sabine Pass, on the Texas-Louisiana line, smashing windows, sparking fires and knocking power out to more than 1 million customers, but largely sparing vulnerable Houston and already reeling New Orleans. Within hours it weakened to Category 2. (AP, 9/24/05)
2005, Oct 28, Rice University professor Richard Smalley (62), who shared a 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry for the discovery of "buckyballs," died in Houston of cancer. (AP, 10/28/05)(Econ, 11/12/05, p.91)
2005, Nov 20, Chris Whitley (45), a chameleon singer-songwriter who oscillated between roots rock 'n' roll, blues and alt-rock, died of lung cancer in Houston. He recorded 11 albums since his 1991 debut, "Living with the Law," including “Dirt Floor" (1998) and this year's "Soft Dangerous Shores." (AP, 11/23/05)
2005, Dec 27, Grass fires burned in drought-stricken Texas and Oklahoma. Over three days, nearly 200 homes were lost and the fires blamed for at least four deaths. (AP, 12/27/06)
2005, Murders in Houston, Texas, for the year totaled 334, many of which were linked to refugees from Hurricane Katrina. (Econ, 9/16/06, p.41)
2006, Jan 12, Houston became the largest school district in the country to adopt a merit pay plan for teachers that focuses on students' tests scores. (AP, 1/13/06)
2006, May 9, Tornadoes swept through two North Texas towns after dark, reducing houses to bare concrete slabs in a path of destruction that left three people dead and 10 injured. (AP, 5/10/06)
2006, Sep 13, Ann Richards (b.1933), former Texas Gov. (1990-1994), died after a battle with cancer. As governor, Richards appointed the first black University of Texas regent, the first crime victim on the state Criminal Justice Board, the first disabled person on the human services board and the first teacher to lead the State Board of Education. Under Richards, the fabled Texas Rangers pinned stars on their first black and female officers. (AP, 9/14/06)(Econ, 9/30/06, p.96)
2006, Oct 16, In southeast Texas heavy rains and a tornado left 3 people dead. (WSJ, 10/17/06, p.A1)
2006, Nov 26, In Mexico bands of youths rampaged through downtown Oaxaca, torching buildings and cars hours after federal police used tear gas to drive off a violent mob of leftists in the latest spasm of protests against the state governor. 30 to 40 armed men entered the La Barranca hunting ranch near the US border and kidnapped five men including 3 Texans. Librado Pina Jr. (49), owns the popular deer-hunting ranch near Hidalgo, was released on Dec 18. His son and 2 others had been released earlier. There was no word on the ranch's Mexican cook, Marco Ortiz. (AP, 11/26/06)(AP, 11/29/06)(AP, 12/18/06)
2007, Jan 17, A US snow and ice storm was blamed for at least 64 deaths in nine states. These included 20 deaths in Oklahoma, 9 in Missouri, 8 in Iowa, 4 in New York, 5 in Texas, 4 in Michigan, 3 in Arkansas, and 1 each in Maine and Indiana. (AP, 1/17/07)(SFC, 1/18/07, p.A3)
2007, Mar, Some 47 bodies of bottlenose dolphins washed up on the shores near Galveston, Texas. Toxins off the Louisiana coast were suspected. (SFC, 3/19/07, p.A2)
2007, Apr 24, A tornado in the Texas border town of Eagle Pass killed at least 10 people and destroyed two schools and more than 20 homes. The storm killed 2 more people in Arkansas and Louisiana. (AP, 4/25/07)(SFC, 4/26/07, p.A3)
2007, May 25, In central Texas two days of storms and flooding left 5 people dead and one missing. (AP, 5/26/07)2007, Jun 11, In Texas 3 National Guardsmen were arraigned on charges of conspiring to transport illegal immigrants. (SFC, 6/12/07, p.A5)
2007, Jun 18, Torrential overnight rainfall flooded a handful of North Texas towns killing at least 4. People and their pets were stranded on the roofs of their homes awaiting rescue. (AP, 6/18/07)(WSJ, 6/19/07, p.A1)
2007, Jul 11, Lady Bird Johnson (b.1912), widow of former US Pres. Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-1969), died in Austin, Texas. (SFC, 7/12/07, p.A2)(Econ, 7/21/07, p.85)
2007, Aug 19, Fierce storms from the upper Mississippi to Texas since last week left 22 people dead. Six people died in floodwaters across Oklahoma after heavy rains from the remains of Tropical Storm Erin drenched the state. As much as 9 inches of rain fell across a wide swath of Oklahoma, leaving roadways under 5 feet of water. 8 people were reported dead in Texas and 6 dead in Minnesota. (Reuters, 8/20/07)(SFC, 8/21/07, p.A6)(AP, 8/22/07)
2007, Aug 22, The death toll across the Upper Midwest and from the remnants of Tropical Storm Erin that swept Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri over the past week rose to at least 26. Three people were electrocuted by lightning at a bus stop in Madison, Wis. (AP, 8/23/07)
2007, Sep 8, In Odessa, Texas, 2 police officers responding to a domestic disturbance were killed and a third was critically wounded by a gunman who led authorities on an hours-long standoff. Gunman Larry White (58) was shot in the abdomen but was in stable condition. (AP, 9/9/07)
2007, Sep 13, Humberto, the first hurricane to hit the US Gulf Coast in two years, sneaked up on southeast Texas overnight and crashed ashore with heavy rains and 80 mph winds. One man died when a carport collapsed on him. (AP, 9/13/07)
2007, Oct 9, In Texas Ronald Taylor (47), who spent a dozen years in prison for a rape he didn't commit, was freed based on DNA evidence. He became the third inmate to be released because of problems with the Houston Police Department's crime lab. (AP, 10/9/07)
2007, Dec 5, It was reported that the world’s largest helium reserve near Amarillo, Texas, was expected to run out by 2015. The Bush Dome, begun as a reserve by the government in 1925, supplied 35% of the world’s current usage. (WSJ, 12/5/07, p.B1)
2007, Dec 23, High wind and ice coated power lines blacked out tens of thousands of people in the Midwest. The storm was blamed for at least 22 deaths. At least 8 people in Minnesota, 5 in Wisconsin, 3 each in Indiana and Wyoming and one each in Michigan, Texas and Kansas were killed in traffic accidents. (AP, 12/23/07)(WSJ, 12/24/07, p.A1)(SFC, 12/25/07, p.A11)
2008, Jan 30, Fr. Marcial Maciel Degollado (b.1920), Mexican Roman Catholic priest who founded the Legion of Christ and the Regnum Christi movement (1941), died in Texas. (www.nytimes.com/2008/02/01/world/americas/01maciel.html)
2008, Mar 4, John McCain clinched the Republican nomination. Hillary Clinton won primaries in Texas, Ohio and Rhode Island, halting Barack Obama's winning streak. Obama won in Vermont. Obama came away with a large share of delegates, too, in counting that continued. (AP, 3/5/08)
2008, Apr 10, Powerful storms brought hail, heavy rain and possible tornadoes to Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma, causing flooding and power outages for thousands of customers and at least one death. (AP, 4/10/08)
2008, Apr 29, James Woodward (55) walked out of a Dallas court after DNA testing overturned his conviction over 27 years ago for the murder and rape of his girlfriend. (Reuters, 4/30/08)
2008, Jul 23, Hurricane Dolly toppled trees and sent billboards flying in the Mexican city of Matamoros, and authorities south of the US border warned of possible flooding. Dolly also hit south Texas, but by evening it had weakened to a tropical storm. (AP, 7/24/08)(SFC, 7/24/08, p.A3)
2008, Jul 25, Texas nurse Chere Lyn Tomayko, wanted by the FBI for international parental kidnapping, was awarded refugee status in Costa Rica and cannot be extradited to the US. In December 1996, a US
2008, Sep 13, Hurricane Ike ravaged the Texas coast with 110 mph winds, flooding thousands of homes and businesses, shattering windows in Houston's skyscrapers and knocking out power to millions of people. Ike left at least 37 people dead in Texas, including 5 on Galveston Island, and 35 more dead across 10 states. Galveston later requested $2.2 billion in disaster relief. This amounted to about $36,000 per resident. Officials later estimated that damages from Ike could exceed $50 billion. (SFC, 9/15/08, p.A6)(SFC, 9/17/08, p.A8)(SFC, 9/23/08, p.A3)(SFC, 10/13/08, p.A2)(Econ, 10/4/08, p.34)
2009, Jan 19, President George W. Bush In his final acts of clemency granted early prison releases to Jose Alonso Compean and Ignacio Ramos, two former Texas-based US Border Patrol agents whose convictions for shooting a Mexican drug dealer in 2005 fueled the national debate over illegal immigration. (AP, 1/20/09)(SFC, 1/20/09, p.A3)
2009, Jan. 20: Barack Obama becomes the 44th President of the United States. Barack Obama was the first African-American president of the United States.
2009, Jan 28, President Barack Obama signed requests from Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear and Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe for federal emergency declarations as crews worked around the clock to resurrect power lines downed by thick ice in both states. Since the storm began building on Jan 26, the weather has been blamed for at least six deaths in Texas, four in Arkansas, three in Virginia, six in Missouri, two in Oklahoma, and one each in Indiana and Ohio. (AP, 1/29/09)
2009, Mar 27, The Texas Board of Education approved a science curriculum opening the door for teachers and texts to raise doubts about evolution. (WSJ, 3/28/09, p.A1)
2009, Apr 29, The WHO raised its alert for swine flu from level 4 to level 5, its 2nd highest alert level. Austria and Germany confirmed cases of swine flu, becoming the third and fourth European countries hit by the disease. US health officials reported that a 23-month-old child in Texas has died from the disease. The World Health Organization called an emergency meeting to consider its pandemic alert level. (AP, 4/29/09)(SFC, 4/30/09, p.A8)
2009, Oct 22, US authorities arrested over 300 people in 38 cities in a sting against Mexico’s La Familia drug operations in the US. At least 84 were arrested in Dallas as part of Operation Coronado. (SFC, 10/23/09, p.A12)(SFC, 12/12/09, p.A4)
2009, Nov 5, At Fort Hood, Texas, Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan (39) shot 13 people dead. Hasan, a psychiatrist, was among 30 people wounded in the shooting spree and remained hospitalized on a ventilator. Kimberly Munley (34), a civilian police officer, shot at Hassan and was herself shot in both thighs and the wrist. Sgt. Mark Todd shot at Hasan and brought him down. Soldiers reported that the Hasan shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — an Arabic phrase for "God is great!" — before opening fire. Hasan was apparently set to deploy soon and had expressed some anger about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. (AP, 11/6/09)(SFC, 11/7/09, p.A10)(AP, 11/13/09)
2009, Dec 12, Houston became the largest US city to elect an openly gay mayor, with voters handing a solid victory to City Controller Annise Parker (53) after a hotly contested runoff. (AP, 12/13/09)
2010, Feb 10, Charlie Wilson (b.1933), former Texas congressman (1973-1996), died. His deal-making funneled millions of dollars in weapons to Afghanistan to back rebels fighting the Soviet Army. He was also known as “Good Time Charlie" for his reputation as a hard-drinking womanizer. In 2003 George Crile authored “Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times." In 2007 the film “Charlie Wilson's War" starred Tom Hanks as Charlie Wilson. (SFC, 2/11/10, p.A8)(Econ, 2/20/10, p.84)
2010, Mar 18, US federal and state agents swept across the El Paso area to round up and question members of the Barrio Azteca gang, which is believed to be behind the recent murder of US consular workers in neighboring Ciudad Juarez. Seven people were arrested. (AFP, 3/19/10)
2010, Apr 11, In Texas more than 20,000 people gathered at tailgate parties and other spots to watch fireworks go off one last time over Texas Stadium before a ton of dynamite lit up the Dallas Cowboys' longtime home and brought it to the ground. The Cowboys played 38 seasons in Texas Stadium, winning five Super Bowls during that time. (AP, 4/11/10)
2010, Jun 23, The Obama administration announced that it will station an unmanned aerial drone in Texas as part of its stepped-up surveillance of criminal trafficking along the Mexican border. (SFC, 6/24/10, p.A6)
2010, Jun 29, Strengthening Tropical Storm Alex was expected to become a hurricane as it swirled toward the Gulf coast of northern Mexico and southern Texas, where authorities were readying emergency shelters and distributing sandbags. (AP, 6/29/10)
2010, Sep 8, Tropical Storm Hermine swept north through Texas and into Oklahoma swamping city neighborhoods and killing 6 people, 5 in Texas and 1 in Oklahoma. (SFC, 9/9/10, p.A7)(SFC, 9/11/10, p.A4)
2011, Jan 4, Cornelius Dupree Jr., a Texas man, was declared innocent after 30 years in prison. He had at least two chances to make parole and be set free, if only he would admit he was a sex offender. Dupree refused to do so, doggedly maintaining his innocence in a 1979 rape and robbery. In the process he serving more time for a crime he didn't commit than any other Texas inmate exonerated by DNA evidence. (AP, 1/4/11)
2011, May 18, Texas officials said the worst state drought in decades has cost $1.5 billion in agricultural losses. (SFC, 5/19/11, p.A6)
2011, Sep 21, In Texas white supremacist and gang member Lawrence Russell Brewer (44) was executed for the infamous June 7, 1998, dragging death slaying of James Byrd Jr. (AP, 9/22/11)
2011, Oct 12, A Texas appeals court formally exonerated Michael Morton, who spent nearly 25 years in prison for his wife's 1986 fatal beating, reaffirming a judge's decision to set him free last week after DNA tests linked the killing to another man. (AP, 10/12/11)
2011, Dec 15, Christopher Hitchens (62), the author, writer and Vanity Fair contributing editor, died in Houston, had been battling esophageal cancer since early 2010. (AP, 12/15/11)
2011, Dec 19, Fierce winds and snow that caused fatal road accidents and shuttered highways in Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas and Utah. The storm was blamed for at least six deaths. (AP, 12/20/11)
2012, Jan 16, Gelareh Bagherzadeh (30), a Texas medical student well-known in her community as an Iranian activist, was mysteriously shot and killed in her car around midnight, just yards from her home in Houston. (AP, 1/18/12)
2012, Feb 27, WikiLeaks said it was publishing a massive trove of leaked emails from the U.S. intelligence analysis firm Stratfor, shedding light on the inner workings of the Texas-based think tank. (AP, 2/27/12)
2012, Apr 3, About a dozen tornadoes rumbled across the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, leveling homes and tossing big-rigs around like toy trucks. (AP, 4/4/12)
2012, Apr 30, In Texas two men who spent nearly 30 years in prison for a brutal sexual assault and attempted murder were declared innocent after DNA evidence pointed to other men. James Curtis Williams (54) and Raymond Jackson (67) had been sentenced to 99 years in prison for the November 1983 assault of a Canadian woman who identified them in a lineup as her attackers. Two other men who were connected to the crime through DNA testing have been charged with attempted capital murder. (Reuters, 4/30/12)
2012, May 10, Carroll Shelby (b.1923), legendary car designer and champion auto racer, died in Dallas. (SFC, 5/12/12, p.A6)
2012, Jun 12, Texas authorities said they arrested seven members of one of Mexico's largest drug cartels and accused them of laundering money in the United States by buying, breeding and racing American racehorses. On July 3 Jose Trevino Morales, the brother of two alleged cartel leaders, was among 15 people charged in what federal prosecutors said was a money-laundering scheme centered on an Oklahoma horse ranch. (Reuters, 6/12/12)(AFP, 7/4/12)
2012, Sep 5, Texas health officials said at least 43 people have died this year in Texas of West Nile virus. Nationwide 87 deaths have been reported to the CDC. (SFC, 9/6/12, p.A10)
2012, Nov 23, Larry Hagman (b.1931), who created one of American television's most supreme villains in the conniving, amoral oilman J.R. Ewing of "Dallas" (1978-1991), died in Dallas. (AP, 11/24/12)
2013, Apr 17, In Texas a fiery explosion hit the West Fertilizer Co. 12 first responders were killed along with 2 residents in an apartment building. A nursing home resident died during an evacuation in West, about 20 miles north of Waco. Damages to the area were later estimated at $100 million. The company had $1 million in liability insurance. In 2016 federal officials said the fire had been intentionally set. (AP, 4/18/13)(SFC, 4/20/13, p.A6)(SFC, 4/25/13, p.A5)(SSFC, 5/5/13, p.A7)(SFC, 5/13/16, p.A10)
2013, May 15, In North Texas at least 6 people were killed in an outbreak of spring tornadoes. (SFC, 5/16/13, p.A6)
2013, May 25, In San Antonio, Texas, torrential rains swamped the city killing 3 people. (SSFC, 5/26/13, p.A12)(SFC, 5/28/13, p.A)
2013, Dec 6, A winter storm that some forecasters say is the worst to hit the United States in years slammed the nation's midsection early today, snarling travel and knocking out power for hundreds of thousands. At least two deaths were reported on roads in Texas and Missouri. (Reuters, 12/6/13)
2013, Dec 7, A cold snap in the US led to at least 6 weather-related deaths in traffic accidents. Over 100,000 people in the Dallas area were without power as were thousands in other states. (SSFC, 12/8/13, p.A12)
2014, Jan 22, TransCanada began delivering oil from Cushing, Oklahoma, to customers in Nederland, Texas, through the southern portion of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline. (SFC, 1/23/14, p.A6)
2014, Aug 3, In southern Texas US Border Patrol agent Javier Vega was killed during an attempted robbery while fishing with his family. Mexican nationals Gustavo Tijerina-Sandoval and an accomplice were soon arrested. (http://tinyurl.com/ydcz454b)(SFC, 5/14/18, p.A4)
2014, Sep 30, The first case of the deadly Ebola virus was diagnosed in the United States after Thomas Eric Duncan, who flew from Liberia to Texas, tested positive for the disease. Duncan died on Oct 8. (Reuters, 10/1/14)(Econ, 10/11/14, p.34)
2014, Oct 11, A health worker in Texas at the hospital treating the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States tested positive for the deadly virus, raising fresh worries about the spread of the disease beyond West Africa. (Reuters, 10/12/14)
2015, Feb 23, An ice storm hit wide parts of Texas and neighboring states knocking out power to thousands of people and leading to hundreds of traffic accidents and caused more than 1,300 flight cancellations nationwide. In Tennessee at least 22 people have been killed in the past few days due to icy, winter conditions. Officials said 11 people have died in Kentucky due to the snow and ice that began pummeling the state on Feb. 16. (AP, 2/23/15)
2015, Apr 30, Blue Origin, a private space company founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, launched an unmanned spaceship. Its New Shepard capsule reached 58 miles and landed in the west Texas desert. (SFC, 5/1/15, p.C2)
2015, May 17, In Texas a shootout among rival motorcycle gangs at a popular restaurant in Waco left 9 bikers dead and 18 injured. At least five rival gangs gathered at Twin Peaks for a meeting that he said focused on turf and recruitment. The next day 177 gang members were arrested and more than 150 were eventually charged. (AP, 5/18/15)(SFC, 5/19/15, p.A6)(SSFC, 11/12/17, p.A6)
2015, May 24, In Texas a five-year drought came to a dramatic end, as a straight month of rain built into a torrent that destroyed more than 1,000 homes. At least 21 people were killed, including 5 in Houston, as spectacular flash flooding hit Texas and Oklahoma. (AFP, 5/25/15)(Reuters, 5/27/15)(SFC, 5/28/15, p.A5)
2015, Jun 13, In Texas bombs were planted outside Dallas Police headquarters in an attack early today that may have involved as many as four gunmen firing automatic weapons. Snipers shot and killed James Boulware in a standoff by the Dallas police headquarters. (Reuters, 6/13/15)(AFP, 6/13/15)
2015, Jul 5, The UNESCO World Heritage Committee approved the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, as a world heritage site. Four other Spanish Roman Catholic sites were also approved. (SFC, 7/6/15, p.A5)
2015, Oct 31, Texas authorities said at least six people have died in storms that lashed parts of the state with heavy rains. (AP, 11/1/15)
2015, Nov 24, A rocket from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin private space company landed upright following a test flight in West Texas. (SFC, 11/25/15, p.C1)
2015, Dec 26, In Texas at least 11 people were killed in the Dallas area from a storm system packing torrential rains and unleashing a string of tornadoes that toppled homes, cut power lines and snarled transport for people returning from the Christmas holidays. (Reuters, 12/27/15)
2016, Jan 25, A Texas grand jury investigating allegations that a US abortion provider sold organs of aborted fetuses instead indicted two anti-abortion activists who secretly filmed the group. (AFP, 1/26/16)
2016, Mar 15, Flooding caused by days of heavy rain forced the closure of a section of I-10, a major east-west US highway on the Louisiana-Texas border along the rising Sabine River. (Reuters, 3/15/16)
2016, May 27, Record rainfall and severe flooding hit hard parts of southeast Texas. By May 30 least 6 people person were reported killed. (Reuters, 5/27/16)(SFC, 5/31/16, p.A5)
2016, Jun 1, The Brazos River in Texas surged to its highest in more than a century in an area outside of Houston. The National Weather Service (NWS) issued a flash flood watch for large parts of the state and said storms lasting until the weekend could send even more rivers over their banks. (Reuters, 6/1/16)
2016, Jun 2, In Texas a new round of storms dumped more rain on flood-hit parts of the state, threatening to aggravate already swollen rivers, deluge homes and force more evacuations. (Reuters, 6/2/16)
2016, Jun 19, In Texas the Blue Origin space company completed its fourth successful unmanned rocket launch and safe landing using the same New Shepard vehicle. (SFC, 6/20/16, p.A4)
2016, Aug 9, Texas reported its first Zika-related death after a baby girl whose mother traveled to El Salvador while pregnant died two weeks ago shortly after birth in a suburban Houston hospital. (AP, 8/10/16)
2016, Nov 16, The US Geological Survey said the Wolfcamp Shale geologic formation in the Midland area of West Texas could yield 20 billion barrels of oil. (SFC, 11/17/16, p.A8)
2016, Nov 20, Ambush-style attacks left a police detective in San Antonio dead and a sergeant in St. Louis critically injured. The suspect in Missouri was killed in a shootout with police. Otis Tyrone McKane, the attacker in Texas, was arrested the next day. (SFC, 11/21/16, p.A6)(SFC, 11/22/16, p.A6)
2017, Jan 16, US astronaut Eugene Cernan (b.1934), the last man to walk on the moon, died in Houston, Texas. Cernan, James Lovell and John Young were the only three astronauts to voyage twice to the moon. (Reuters, 1/17/17)(SFC, 1/17/17, p.A5)
2017, Feb 14, In Texas storms packing heavy rains, lashing winds and tornadoes hit the Houston metropolitan area, ripping roofs off homes, blowing windows out of frames and leaving tens of thousands of people without power. (Reuters, 2/14/17)
2017, Mar 8, Wildfires in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas left 6 people dead along with some 2,500 adult cattle and 1,000 calves. (SFC, 3/9/17, p.A7)
2017, Mar 29, In Oklahoma and Texas six people were killed and nearly 200,000 customers were without electric power after overnight storms brought tornadoes, torrential rain and hail to large parts of the states. (Reuters, 3/29/17)(SFC, 3/30/17, p.A12)
2017, Apr 29, In eastern Texas multiple tornadoes ripped through the town of Canton late today, killing at least four people and injuring dozens of others. Authorities warned the number of casualties could rise. (Reuters, 4/30/17)
2017, Jun 22, Tropical storm Cindy moved inland near the Louisiana-Texas border, bringing heavy rainfall and life-threatening conditions over the northern Gulf Coast. (Reuters, 6/22/17)
2017, Aug 18, Texas authorities said a month long sting operation in Houston has led to the arrest of more than 250 sex buyers and traffickers. (SFC, 8/19/17, p.A5)
2017, Aug 25, Category 4 Hurricane Harvey struck coastal Texas this evening, the most powerful storm to hit the US mainland in more than a decade. (Reuters, 8/25/17)
2017, Aug 27, Hurricane Harvey unleashed catastrophic flooding in Houston, turning streets in Texas' largest city into raging rivers as trapped residents climbed to higher floors and the death toll rose. (AFP, 8/27/17)
2017, Aug 28, In Texas federal engineers released water from Houston area reservoirs in hopes of controlling rushing currents as Tropical Storm Harvey continued to dump more rain on the city. Local officials reported 10 deaths possibly related to the storm. (Reuters, 8/28/17)(SFC, 8/29/17, p.A9)
2017, Sep 1, In Texas rescuers searched painstakingly through flooded neighborhoods across the southeast for people stranded by Hurricane Harvey's deluge as President Donald Trump asked Congress for $7.85 billion in federal disaster relief. 50 people were feared dead from flooding that paralyzed Houston. (Reuters, 9/1/17)
2017, Sep 1, In Texas a raging fire and thick black smoke erupted this evening from Arkema SA's flood-damaged chemical plant, 25 miles (40 km) northeast of Houston, for the second time this week. (Reuters, 9/1/17)
2017, Sep 2, US Pres. Donald Trump returned to Texas for a 2nd time and visited with some of the victims of Hurricane Harvey. At least 44 deaths were blamed on the storm that damaged at least 156,000 dwellings in Harris County. (SSFC, 9/3/17, p.A11)
2017, Sep 4, Officials said the confirmed death toll in southern Texas from Hurricane Harvey rose to at least 60 across 11 counties. The death toll was soon raised to at least 70 with some 200,000 homes destroyed or damaged. (SFC, 9/5/17, p.A4)(SSFC, 9/10/17 p.A13)
2017, Oct 21, In Texas all five of America's living former presidents took the stage at a benefit concert at Texas A&M to raise money for victims of the hurricane-ravaged southern United States and Caribbean. (AFP, 10/22/17)
2018, Jan 5, Astronaut John Young (b.1930) died at his home in Houston. He commanded the Apollo 16 lunar voyage and walked on the moon in April, 1972. (SSFC, 1/7/18, p.C11)
2018, Apr 15, Deadly spring storms that spawned tornadoes in the US South and blizzards in the Plains and Midwest continued to blast across the region. About 70,000 homes and businesses were without power across Michigan, New York, Louisiana, Texas and Mississippi. (Reuters, 4/15/18)
2018, Apr 17, Barbara Bush (92), the wife of former US President George H.W. Bush, died at her home in Houston. (AP, 4/18/18)
2018, Sep 1, In Texas O'Shea Terry (24), a black man, was shot and killed during a traffic stop. In 2019 police Officer Bau Tran was fired and charged with negligent homicide in the case. (SFC, 5/20/19, p.A4)
2018, Nov 17, In Texas a privately owned vintage WWII Mustang fighter crashed in Fredericksburg after participating in a flyover for a museum event. The pilot and a passenger were killed. (SFC, 11/19/18, p.A4)
2018, Nov 30, George H.W. Bush (94), the 41st president of the United States, died in Houston. (AP, 12/1/18)
2019, Jan 25, A Texas official said some 95,000 non-US citizens have been identified on voter rolls going back to 1996 and that some 58,000 are believed to have voted in at least one state election. (SSFC, 1/27/19, p.A12)
2019, Mar 14, In Texas Beto O'Rourke (46), a skateboarding former punk rocker feted as one of the Democratic Party's rising stars, announced he is running for president, joining a crowded field of candidates vying to challenge Pres. Donald Trump in 2020. (AFP, 3/14/19)
2019, Mar 19, The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters announced in Oslo that Karen Keskulla Uhlenbeck of the University of Texas at Austin was this year's winner of the Abel Prize, seen by many as the Nobel Prize in mathematics. (AP, 3/19/19)
2019, Apr 13, In Texas two children were killed and about a dozen people injured after powerful storms spawned at least one tornado in Lufkin. Over the next 24 hours the storm left at least 8 people dead and 90,000 people without power in Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. (SSFC, 4/14/19, p.A12)(SFC, 4/15/19, p.A5)
2019, Apr 30, Peter Mayhew (74), the actor who played Chewbacca in the original Star Wars trilogy and two other films, died at his home in Boyd, Texas. He was born in Barnes, Surrey, England on May 19, 1944. He was 7 ft 2 in height. (SFC, 5/4/19, p.A7)
2019, Jun 20, Potent thunderstorms left more than 200,000 people with power in Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana and Texas. (SFC, 6/21/19, p.A6)
2019, Jul 9, H Ross Perot (89), Texas technology billionaire who rattled US politics with two independent presidential campaigns in the 1990s that struck a chord with disgruntled voters, died of leukemia at his home in Dallas. (SFC, 7/10/19, p.A7)
2019, Sep 10, Daniel Dale Johnston (b.1961), American singer-songwriter and visual artist, died in Waller, Texas. He was regarded as a significant figure in outsider, lo-fi, and alternative music scenes. Most of his work consisted of cassettes recorded alone in his home, and his music was frequently cited for its "pure" and "childlike" qualities. Johnston spent extended periods in psychiatric institutions and was diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He gathered a local following in the 1980s by passing out tapes of his music while working at a McDonald's in Austin, Texas. His cult status was propelled when Nirvana's Kurt Cobain was seen wearing a T-shirt that featured artwork from
2019, Sep 19, All flights into Houston's international airport, were halted as Tropical Depression Imelda inundated southeastern Texas with heavy rains and triggered flash flood warnings. More than 900 flights were cancelled or delayed. Tropical Storm Imelda left four people dead in the Houston area. (Reuters, 9/19/19)(SFC, 9/20/19, p.A6)(SFC, 9/21/19, p.A6)
2019, Sep 22, Tens of thousands of Indian-Americans packed into a Houston stadium for a rally with Indian PM Narendra Modi, joined by US President Donald Trump, in a rare mass show of support for a foreign leader on US soil. (Reuters, 9/22/19)
2019, Oct 3, US scientists said more than 45 million people across 14 Southern states are now in the midst of what’s being called a “flash drought" that’s cracking farm soil, drying up ponds and raising the risk of wildfires. The weekly US Drought Monitor report showed extreme drought conditions in parts of Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina and the Florida panhandle. (AP, 10/3/19)
2019, Dec 29, In Texas Keith Thomas Kinnunen (43) pulled out a shotgun at a church service and fired on worshippers at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement, killing two people before he was shot to death by congregants who fired back. Church members Richard White and Anton “Tony" Wallace were killed. Kinnunen was fatally shot by Jack Wilson, a member of the church's volunteer security team, within seconds of the attack. (AP, 12/29/19)(AP, 12/31/19)
2010 - 2019
2020, Jan 11, Severe storms sweeping across southern portions of the US and up into the Midwest were blamed in the deaths of at least 11 people, including two first responders, as high winds, tornadoes and unrelenting rain battered large swaths of the country. Hundreds of thousands of people were left without power from Texas to Ohio, parts of highways were closed in Oklahoma and Arkansas due to flooding and hundreds of flights were canceled at Chicago's international airports. (AP, 1/11/20)
2020, Feb 16, In Texas an implosion failed to bring down the core of former 11-story, Affiliated Computer Services building in Dallas. A wrecking ball continued the demolition of the "Leaning Tower of Dallas" on Feb 24. (SFC, 2/25/20, p.A5)
2020, Feb 26, John Denton (26), a former neo-Nazi leader in Texas, was arrested and charges with a series of phony bomb threats made in Virginia. (SFC, 2/27/20, p.A5)
2020, Mar 4, Texas confirmed its first case of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). The man had man recently traveled abroad. (AP, 3/5/20)
2020, Mar 5, Houston officials confirmed the first three cases of coronavirus in Harris County, the nation's third-largest county. (AP, 3/6/20)
2020, Mar 17, Texas confirmed its first death due to coronavirus. (The Independent, 3/17/20)
2020, Mar 18, In Texas Apollo 15 astronaut Al Worden (88), who circled the moon alone in 1971 while his two crewmates test-drove the first lunar rover, died at a rehab center in Houston. (AP, 3/18/20)
2020, Apr 22, At least three people were killed when apparent tornado touched down in southeast Texas. (AP, 4/22/20)
2020, Apr 23, Severe weather moved through the South after killing at least seven people in Oklahoma, Texas and Louisiana, including a worker at a factory hit by an apparent tornado. (AP, 4/23/20)
2020, Apr 24, A handful of Texas businesses reopened in defiance of state guidance in the fight against the coronavirus, which allows retailers to offer “to go" service but leaves other restrictions in place. (AP, 4/25/20)
2020, May 6, Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick said he would cover a fine owed by Dallas salon owner Shelley Luther, who is serving a seven-day jail sentence. Luther, owner of Salon A La Mode, was sentenced a day earlier after judge Eric Moye said she violated statewide stay-at-home orders when she reopened her business nearly two weeks ago. (CBS News, 5/7/20)
2020, May 7, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott removed jail as a punishment for violating his coronavirus restrictions. (SFC, 5/8/20, p.A6)
2020, Jun 12, William S. Sessions (90), an FBI chief (1987-1993) under three US presidents, died at his home in San Antonio, Texas. He had won praise for bringing more diversity to the agency, but was fired after being investigated for ethical lapses. (Reuters, 6/13/20)
For more information about The History of Texas, visit the following sites:
Monthly average highs and low temperatures and the average amount of precipitation for Matador, TX. Data from WT_Meso Roaring Springs 3N, Roaring Springs.
Month
Jan.
Feb.
March
April
May
June
July
Aug.
Sep.
Oct.
Nov.
Dec.
Annual
Avg. High
63.1 °
58.2 °
66.6 °
75.4 °
82.6 °
90.2 °
94.8 °
92.7 °
85.3 °
76.2 °
63.5 °
54.8 °
74.5 °
Avg. Low
27.3 °
31.6 °
38.4 °
47.0 °
56.5 °
65.4 °
69.6 °
68.2 °
60.7 °
50.1 °
38.0 °
29.7 °
48.5 °
Mean
40.2 °
44.9 °
52.5 °
61.2 °
69.6 °
77.8 °
82.2 °
80.5 °
73.0 °
63.2 °
50.8 °
42.3 °
61.5 °
Avg. Prec.
0.67 in
0.90 in
1.21 in
1.81 in
3.16 in
3.60 in
2.10 in
2.41 in
3.11 in
2.09 in
0.99 in
0.85 in
22.90 in
The climate in Matador, TX, is hot during summer when temperatures tend to be in the 80's and cold during winter when temperatures tend to be in the 40's. The yearly mean is 61.5° Fahrenheit.
The warmest month of the year is July with an average maximum temperature of 94.80° Fahrenheit, while the coldest month of the year is January with an average minimum temperature of 27.30° Fahrenheit.
Temperature variations between night and day tend to be moderate during summer with a difference that can reach 25° Fahrenheit, and moderate during winter with an average difference of 26° Fahrenheit.
Rainfall in is fairly evenly distributed throughout the year. The wettest month of the year is June with an average rainfall of 3.60 Inches. The annual average precipitation at Matador is 22.90 Inches.[32]
Cold semi-arid climates (type "BSk") tend to be located in elevated portions of temperate zones, typically bordering a humid continental climate or a Mediterranean climate. They are typically found in continental interiors some distance from large bodies of water. Cold semi-arid climates usually feature warm to hot dry summers, though their summers are typically not quite as hot as those of hot semi-arid climates. Unlike hot semi-arid climates, areas with cold semi-arid climates tend to have cold winters. These areas usually see some snowfall during the winter, though snowfall is much lower than at locations at similar latitudes with more humid climates. Areas featuring cold semi-arid climates tend to have higher elevations than areas with hot semi-arid climates, and tend to feature major temperature swings between day and night, sometimes by as much as 20 °C (36 °F) or more in that time frame. These large diurnal temperature variations are seldom seen in hot semi-arid climates. Cold semi-arid climates at higher latitudes tend to have dry winters and wetter summers, while cold semi-arid climates at lower latitudes tend to have precipitation patterns more akin to subtropical climates, with dry summers, relatively wet winters, and even wetter springs and autumns. Cold semi-arid climates are most commonly found in Asia and North America. However, they can also be found in Northern Africa, South Africa, Europe, sections of South America and sections of interior southern Australia and New Zealand. [Ref]
“Texas has a climate as diverse as the land 10 climatic divisions and 4 physiographic regions. Because of its great areal extent and long coastline along the Gulf of Mexico, the weather conditions in various parts of the State differ greatly. Temperatures are most diverse in the winter. Northern parts of the State may have snow and ice and daily high temperatures that do not rise above freezing, while southern parts have daily high temperatures that may be well above freezing. This temperature range in winter can be attributed in part to the large north-to-south extent of Texas about 800 miles from the northwest corner of the panhandle to the southern tip of the State on the Rio Grande downstream from Brownsville Temperatures are most stable in the summer. Daily maximum temperatures in July and August in most of the State are in the high 90's and low 100's. ”
“Temperatures vary more in the spring and fall than in the summer but less than in the winter. This variation is caused by the changing of the seasons and the large distance from north to south in the State. Early fall frontal systems, which typically are cold fronts, tend to stall or diminish before reaching the southern part of the State, thus creating a sizable temperature difference between northern and southern parts. This pattern in late winter and early spring is about the same as in the fall. As cold fronts begin to lose their ability to move southward, each successive frontal system affects a smaller part of the State. ”
“The Jetstream (upper atmospheric winds) greatly affect the largescale weather patterns over Texas (Bomar, 1983). The polar Jetstream, which generally crosses Texas from the late fall to mid-spring, affects the movement of cold, arctic air masses through the State in December, January, and February. As spring arrives, the subtropical Jetstream, which is most prevalent during fall and spring and consists of moist, subtropical air, enters the State from the southwest and carries moisture from the eastern Pacific Ocean. ”
“The average annual precipitation ranges from less than 8 inches at El Paso in the extreme western part of the State to about 56 inches in the extreme southeastern part. More than one-half of the State receives less than 30 inches of precipitation per year. ”
“Spring is the wettest season in most of Texas, with April and May being the wettest months. Summers are dry in most of the State. In late summer and early fall (September and October), a secondary peak of rainfall is received. This pattern of rainfall can be attributed to thunderstorms in spring and tropical cyclones, which include hurricanes and tropical storms, in late summer or early fall. The spring thunderstorms generally are caused by successive weak frontal systems that attempt to move through the State. These cool air masses are overtopped by warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico, which causes thunderstorms along the line of contact between the two systems. Tropical cyclones originate in weather systems that have their beginning in the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico. Rainfall quantities that result from tropical cyclones can differ greatly because of the different conditions in each storm. Remnants of some hurricanes reaching landfall have produced large quantities of rainfall over wide areas of the State. ”
“Droughts are caused mainly by activities of the extensive subtropical high-pressure cell (the Bermuda High) that drifts latitudinal with the passing of the seasons. When the Bermuda High becomes entrenched over the southern United States, the possibility of drought becomes more likely.” [Ref] pp 514
Objective Short and Long-term Drought Indicator Blends (Percentiles)
D0
Abnormally
Dry
Going into drought: short-term dryness slowing planting, growth of crops or pastures. Coming out of drought: some lingering water deficits; pastures or crops not fully recovered
-1.0 to -1.9
21-30
21-30F
-0.5 to -0.7
21-30
D1
Moderate Drought
Some damage to crops, pastures; streams, reservoirs, or wells low, some water shortages developing or imminent; voluntary water-use restrictions requested
-2.0 to -2.9
11-20
11-20
-0.8 to -1.2
11-20
D2
Severe
Drought
Crop or pasture losses likely; water shortages common; water restrictions imposed
-3.0 to -3.9
6-10
6-10
-1.3 to -1.5
6-10
D3
Extreme Drought
Major crop/pasture losses; widespread water shortages or restrictions
-4.0 to -4.9
3-5
3-5
-1.6 to -1.9
3-5
D4
Exceptional Drought
Exceptional and widespread crop/pasture losses; shortages of water in reservoirs, streams, and wells creating water emergencies
-5.0 or less
0-2
0-2
-2.0 or less
0-2
1913; Extreme droughts conditions existed in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and South Dakota. The drought in Texas ended by a major storm lasting from September 8 to 13, 1913.
1916; Extreme droughts conditions existed along the Texas coast. A Major Storm lasting from March 31 and ending April 2, 1916 in South-Central and South Texas ended the drought.
1918; Research shows that in 1918 the surface waters over vast stretches of the eastern Pacific Ocean were unusually warm. This quasiperiodic climate pattern is called
El Niño, and was the strongest of the 20th century.
[20] The drought of 1918 was one of the worst drought in Texas modern history.
1930 - 1936; The American Midwest and the
Canadian prairie are in the gripes of the
Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties. This period of severe dust storms,
causes major ecological and agricultural damage.
The Dust Bowl affected 100,000,000 acres and is centered on the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, and adjacent parts of New Mexico, Colorado, and Kansas.
Many Americans migrated west looking for work and were often known as "Okies",
since so many came from Oklahoma. Some residents of the Plains, especially in Kansas and Oklahoma fall ill and die of dust pneumonia
or malnutrition.[18]
1950's; The 1950s drought was characterized by both low rainfall amounts and excessively high temperatures. Texas rainfall dropped by 40% between 1949-1951 and by 1953, 75% of Texas recorded below normal rainfall amounts. Excessive temperatures heated up cities like Dallas where temperatures exceeded 100°F on 52 days in the summer of 1953. Kansas experienced severe drought conditions during much of the five-year period, and recorded a negative Palmer Drought Severity Index from 1952 until March 1957, reaching a record low in September of 1956.
Between 1949 and 1951, Texas rainfall dropped by 40% with75% of Texas recorded below normal rainfall amounts. Temperatures were also extremely high temperatures exceeded 100°F on 52 days in the summer of 1953. By 1954, the drought encompassed a ten-state area reaching from the mid-west to the Great Plains, and southward into New Mexico. The drought maintained a stronghold in the Great Plains, reaching a peak in 1956. The drought subsided in most areas with the spring rains of 1957.[21]
2011; Most of Texas and Oklahoma, as well as parts of Louisiana, Kansas and New Mexico are suffering from extreme draught conditions. In 2011, the across the equatorial Eastern Central Pacific Ocean, as La Nina, is the sixth-strongest in records dating back to 1949.
Between 1950-01-26 - 2014-12-27 Texas has had 8247 tornadoes killing 562 people and injuring 8487 people. The greatest loss of live occurred on May 11, 1953 when an EF 5 touchdown at 4:10 pm killing 114 and injuries 597. [Ref]
1896, May 15 - 27; The May 1896 tornado outbreak sequence produced at least two, or perhaps three F5 tornadoes as well as the third deadliest tornado ever in United States history. A total of 484 people were killed during the entire outbreak sequence that lasted from May 15 to May 27, 1896, at least 38 different tornadoes which struck Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kentucky and Michigan killing 484 people. On May 15 a tornado struck Sherman, TX, killing 73 people and injuring 200. Four people were killed and 1 injured in Oklahoma.
1900, May 5-6; The Plains tornado outbreak occurred between May 5 and 6, 1900 and affected areas from Nebraska to Texas and Missouri. The press dubbed May 6th as the "day of the cyclones". There were at least 19 significate tornadoes and two that killed people.
1902, May 18; The 1902 Goliad, Texas tornado outbreak, 1 violent, 3 killer tornadoes, killed 114 people and injured 250. At least 50 people were in the black United Methodist Church, none survived.
1917, May 25 - June 7; The 1917 May-June tornado outbreak sequence was an eight-day tornado event that killed at least 382 people, mostly in the Midwestern and parts of the Southeastern United States. The states affected by this tornado outbreak were Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas.
1922, May 4; The twin tornadoes that ripped through Austin, Texas on May 4, 1922 left thirteen dead and fifty people injured. The storm originally had one funnel cloud, that separated into two tornadoes. The east tornado tore through East Austin, Travis Heights, St. Edward's University, Penn Field, St. Elmo, and Manchaca. The western tornado thrashed the University of Texas campus, the State Institute for Deaf Dumb and Blind Colored Youths, Deep Eddy, and Oak Hill.(see 1922 Austin twin tornadoes
1947, April 9-10; The 1947 Glazier-Higgins-Woodward tornadoes affected Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas on April 9, 1947. As many as 181 were killed and 970 injuring in this outbreak. The outbreak was responsible for the deaths of 17 in Glazier , TX, and another 51 in Higgins, Texas, on the Texas-Oklahoma border. An estimated 107 people were killed in Woodward, OK. The damage track in Woodward, OK, was two miles wide and destroyed 100 city blocks.
1949, May 15; The 1949 Amarillo Tornado was an F4 tornado that moved across the south side of Amarillo, Texas, and then to the airport. There were 7 fatalities, 82 injured. Two-hundred (200) homes were damaged or destroyed with damages totaling $5 million. An all-time maximum wind of 84 mph was clocked at the NWS office at English Field (now Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport).[Ref]
1953, May 9-11; The 1953 Waco tornado outbreak was a series of 33 tornadoes, over a three day period affecting Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin. The storm killed 144 and injuring at least 780. An EF5 struck the downtown area of Waco, TX, killing 144 and injuring 597. Thirteen more died and 159 were injuries when a EF4 devastated a 15-block area of San Angelo, TX.[Ref]
1957, April 2-5; The April 1957 Dallas tornado outbreak struck most of the Southern United States from April 2 to April 5, 1957, producing 57 tornadoes. Twenty-one (21) people were killed by this outbreak in four states, 1 in Mississippi, 2 in Georgia, 6 in Oklahoma and 12 in Texas. On April 2, a F3 tornado hit a densely populated area of the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, killing 10 people and injuring 200 or more. The states affected by the Early-April 1957 tornado outbreak sequence were Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
1957, April 21; During the 1957 Lubbock tornado outbreak, there were six tornadoes (4 significant, 2 violent). No deaths were caused by this outbreak.
1957 May 15; During the 1957 Silverton, Texas tornado outbreak there were 9 tornadoes (6 significant, 1 violent, 2 killer), killing 21 people and injuring 80. A eight-block-long swath was cut through the town of Silverton, TX.[23]
1957, May 24-25; The Late-May 1957 tornado outbreak produced 37 confirmed tornadoes, 1 F4 and 3 F3. There were 4 fatalities south of Lawton, Oklahoma. The states affected were Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming.[Ref]
1960, May 4-6; The May 1960 tornado outbreak sequence affected the southeast High Plains, the southern Ozarks, and parts of the Midwestern and Southern United States. There were 71 confirmed tornadoes across 10 states. On May 5, a F5 was traveled 71.8 miles from north of Tecumseh to south of Oakhurst, Oklahoma killing 5. This outbreak affected Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Alabama, Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and Mississippi.[Ref]
1964, April 3 The 1964 Wichita Falls Tornado hit the north and northwest portions of Wichita Falls along with Sheppard Air Force Base during the afternoon of April 3, 1964. The tornado killed 7 people, injured 111, destroyed 225 homes and inflicted major damage at Sheppard Air Force Base. This was the first tornado ever captured on live television.[24]
1965, May 5-6; The early-May 1965 tornado outbreak sequence a major severe weather event that affected much of the Central United States. There were 72 confirmed tornadoes, 1 F5 and 8 F4s. Four (4) of the F4s touchdown on May 4 in Minnesota, killing 13. The F5 traveled from east of Wewela moving to northeast of Winner, South Dakota, coving 30.1 miles. The states affected were Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.[Ref]
1970, April 17-19; The 1970 tornado outbreak sequence affected 9 counties across the south central portion of the Texas Panhandle during the 2-day event killing 22 and injuring 132. There were 3 F3 tornadoes on April 17 killing 6 and injuring 88. One of the F4s passed through Plainview, Texas. This tornado traveled 96.6 miles on the ground; killing 5 and injuring 51. Another of the F4s was on the ground for 130 miles, killed one and injured 13. On April 18 another F4 touched down in the panhandle region. There were 16 fatalities and 42 injuries. In addition to the F4 in the panhandle, there were 5 other tornadoes in the state of Texas on April 18.[Ref1][S-2][S-3]
1970, May 11; On May 11, 1970, two tornadoes struck Lubbock, TX, a F1 and a F5. The F5 tornado hit the central business district. Twenty-six people were killed and approximately were 500 injured.
1975, January 10; The Great Storm of 1975 (also known as the Super Bowl Blizzard, Minnesota's Storm of the Century, or the Tornado Outbreak of January, 1975) was an intense storm system that impacted a large portion of the Central and Southeast United States from January 9 to January 12, 1975. The storm produced 45 tornadoes in the Southeast U.S. resulting in 12 fatalities, while later dropping over 2 feet (61 cm) of snow and killing 58 people in the Midwest. This storm remains one of the worst blizzards to ever strike parts of the Midwest, as well as one of the largest January tornado outbreaks on record in the United States A total of 7 tornadoes struck Mississippi on January 10, 1975. An F4 tornado moving from southwest of McComb, MS, to southwest of Pinola, MS, caused 9 deaths and 210 injuries. Tornadoes also struck Alabama (1 death), Arkansas, Florida (1 death), Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana (1 death), North Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas. [34]
1979, April 10-11; The 1979 Red River Valley tornado outbreak affected Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Nebraska, Mississippi, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee and Alabama. Fifty nine tornadoes touched down during this outbreak including two F2´s and killing 58. On April 10, 1979 (known locally as "Terrible Tuesday") a F4 touched down in Wichita Fall, TX, killing 42 and injuring 1,800. The tornado left 20,000 people homeless. The 1979 Red River Valley tornado outbreak affected Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Nebraska, Mississippi, Kentucky, Indiana, Tennessee and Alabama. Fifty nine tornadoes touched down during this outbreak including two F2´s and killing 58. On April 10, 1979 (known locally as "Terrible Tuesday") a F4 touched down in Wichita Fall, TX, killing 42 and injuring 1,800. The tornado left 20,000 people homeless.[25]
1980, August 1; Hurricane Allen spawned a tornado that hit Austin, Texas, and caused $100 million in damage. This was costliest tropical cyclone-spawned tornado in recorded history.
1982, May 11-12; The May 1982 Tornado Outbreak affected Oklahoma, and Texas. There were a total of 70 confirmed tornadoes, 14 that were significant. There were 2 fatalities due to this outbreak.
1987, May 22; There were 3 tornadoes during the 1987 Saragosa, Texas tornado event, one was a F4. The F4 struck the Catholic Hall of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, where a graduation ceremony for preschoolers was taking place killing 22. Eight others were killed elsewhere across the town.[Ref]
1987, November 15-16; The 1987 Arklatex tornado outbreak affected the Southeastern United States. There were 50 confirmed tornadoes, four rated as F3´s, killing 11, 10 in Texas.[Ref]
1991, April 26-27; The 1991 Andover, Kansas tornado outbreak was a violent outbreak of 55 that affected Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, Iowa, and Missouri. There were 4 F4´s and 1 F5. Thenf5 struck Sedgwick, Butler, Kansas killing 17. There were two deaths in Oklahoma, and 19 in Kansas.
1992, Nov. 21-23; The November 1992 tornado outbreak struck large parts of the eastern and Midwestern. The storm spawned 95 tornadoes, 6 of them F4s. There were 26 fatalities and 641 injuries in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. The tornado outbreak began on November 21 with a cluster of 6 tornadoes (ranging from F1 to F4) intensities that struck parts of the Houston, TX, area. There were 12 fatalities and 122 Injuries on Nov. 21, when devastating, long-tracked (128 miles), violent F4 tornado began near Hopewell, MS, and moved northeast and ending west of Sherwood. During this outbreak, there were 15 confirmed tornadoes in Texas.[Ref][S-2]
1994, April 25-27; The April 1994 tornado outbreak affected Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, New York and Kentucky. There were 101 tornadoes with two F2 and 6 fatalities, 3 of which were in the Lancaster/Hutchins, TX area.
1995, May 1-31;The May 1995 tornado outbreak sequence produced 393 tornadoes during the month, 279 tornadoes between May 6 and May 19, 1995. There were 13 fatalities during the outbreak sequence. In Texas, there were 4 fatalities and 144 injured.[Ref]
May 7, there were 20 tornadoes, 2 fatalities and 36 injured. The system produced 10 F0, 5 F1, 3 F2 and 2 F3. A F2 that struck SW of Amarillo claimed one life while an F3 that struck NE of Saint Jo Killed one in Texas before crossing in to Oklahoma were there were two more fatalities, there were 36 injured.[Ref]
May 14-15, there were 9 tornadoes, one was an F3.
May 18, there were 5 tornadoes, injuring 12 people.
May 26, there were 6 tornadoes, all rated at F0. Two tornadoes touched down near Burkburnett, TX, Killing 2 and injuring 30.[Ref]
1995, June; During the June Tornado Outbreak of 1995, over 70 tornadoes reported across the panhandle for the season, 20 tornadoes occurred on June 8th, across the Texas panhandle with 3 more in Oklahoma, the most ever reported in one day. Three (3) were classed as F4s. An F4 hit the industrial section of Pampa, Texas, destroying or damaging 200 homes and 50 businesses resulted in $30 million in damage which is the costliest tornado on record. There were 7 injured during the Pampa tornado but no fatalities. [Ref1][Ref2]
1996, April 19-22; The April 1996 Tornado Outbreak Sequence affected Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Oklahoma, Ontario, Missouri, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, Louisiana, Quebec and Arkansas. There were 117 confirmed tornadoes with 11 F3s and six people were killed. In Arkansas there 2 deaths, 8 homes and a mobile home destroyed and a church was also damaged. Six people were injured. In the Ft. Smith, Oklahoma, area 2 people were killed, 498 homes were destroyed while 620 had major damage and 1275 had minor damage, 98 businesses were damaged or destroyed and 246 apartment units were damaged. 89 people were injured
1997, May 27; The 1997 Central Texas tornado outbreak that affected Central Texas. There were 20 confirmed tornadoes, including 1 F4 and 1 F5. The F5 began as a weak pencil-like tornado near the Bell-Williamson County line, the funnel rapidly intensified into a 3/4 mile wide multi-vortex storm that struck the Jarrell, TX, area. There were 27 fatalities caused by the storm. The twister ripped asphalt off the roads and pulled grass and soil from the ground to a depth of 18 inches (46 cm) before dissipating near a wooded area outside Jarrell. This outbreak also claimed the lives of two others, one in the Cedar Park area and another in south of Lake Travis.
1999, April 3; The Easter weekend 1999 tornado outbreak affected Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. There were 17 confirmed tornadoes, 3 F3s and 1 F4. The F4 traveled from northwest of Shreveport, LA, to north of Midway killing 7 people.
1999, May 2-8; The 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak was a significant tornado outbreak that took place across much of the Central and parts of the Eastern United States. There were 50 fatalities and 889 injured during this event. There were 40 fatalities in Oklahoma, 6 in Kansas, 3 in Tennessee and one in Texas. On May 3, an F5 formed over Grady County near Amber, OK, and tracked northeast for 37 miles eventually into the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, killing 12 and injuring 39.[Ref] A second F5 touchdown WSW of Moore, OK. This tornado traded 10 Miles, killing 11 and injuring 293.[Ref] The states most affected where Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas, and Arkansas.[Ref]
2000, March 28; The Great 2000 Fort Worth Tornado moved eastward through the downtown area of Fort Worth, Texas. During the outbreak there were ten confirmed tornadoes, 2 of them were F3s. There were 2 deaths west of downtown Fort Worth and seven buildings collapse when a F3 struck the area. Another F3 caused $27 million damage in the Arlington/Grand Prairie area. The worst damage was at the municipal airport.
2001, April 10-11; The April 10-11, 2001 tornado outbreak was a large tornado outbreak which affected eight states in the central Great Plains. There were 79 tornadoes across Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois and Michigan. There were four fatalities, 18 injured, and more than $23 million in damage was reported.[Ref]
2006, May 9; The May 2006 North Texas tornado affected Oklahoma and Texas. There were seven reported tornadoes, two of them severe, one of which was a killer that caused 3 fatalities.
2007, April 20-26; The April 20-26, 2007 tornado outbreak sequence were a deadly pair of tornadoes that struck the border cities of Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, and Eagle Pass, Texas. There were 93 confirmed tornadoes, 2 EF3s and one EF4. There were seven fatalities in the US and three in Coahuila, Mexico. The states affected were Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
2007, May 4-6; The May 2007 Tornado Outbreak affected Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Colorado, Nebraska and Illinois there were 129 confirmed tornadoes, 5 EF3s and one EF5. The EF5 struck Greensburg, Kansas killing eleven and destroying 95 ‰ the town. One other person was killed during this outbreak.
2008 May 1-2; The May 1-2, tornado outbreak took place across the Southern and Central US. There were 75 tornadoes across Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. There were Six deaths, 45 injuries and $ 81.111 million in property damage. There were 3 F3 tornadoes, 2 in Arkansas and one in Missouri. On May 2, a 4 year-old girl and her grandparents were killed, when their house was destroyed in Damascus, Arkansas.[Ref][S-2]
2008, May 22-31; The Late May 2008 tornado outbreak sequence affected Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, North Dakota, Texas, Minnesota, Ontario, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, New Mexico, Nebraska, Missouri, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Manitoba. There were 235 confirmed tornadoes 11 EF3, 1 EF3 and 1 EF4. There were 12 fatalities during this outbreak. There were 114 confirmed tornadoes in Kansas, 70 on May 23. Oklahoma had 14 tornadoes and there were 10 tornadoes in Texas.
2009, February 10-11; The February 2009 tornado outbreak affected Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Tennessee, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky, Michigan, Iowa, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. There were 15 confirmed tornadoes, one EF4. The EF4 struck SE of Grady, Oklahoma, killing 8 people.
2009, April 9-10; The April 2009 tornado outbreak affected Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Kentucky, South Carolina and North Carolina. There were 85 confirmed tornadoes, 9 EF3s and 1 EF4. There were 5 deaths caused by this outbreak two in Tennessee and 3 in Arkansas. An EF3 tornado hit the Mena, Arkansas, area killing three people; an EF4 tornado hit Murfreesboro, Tennessee, killing two people.
2010, April 22-24; The Tornado outbreak of April 22–25, originally starting in the High Plains on April 22, 2010 and continuing through the Southern Plains on April 23, and the Mississippi and Tennessee Valleys on April 24. The most severe activity was on April 24, particularly in Mississippi. There were a total of 88 tornadoes, 56 EF0, 17 EF1, 9 EF2 4 EF3 and 2 EF4. On April 24, a tornado peaked at EF4 with maximum winds around 170 mph and a maximum width of 1.75 miles. On the south side of Yazoo City, several buildings, including a church and several businesses, were totally destroyed. In Mississippi, there were 10 fatalities and 131 injured. [Ref 1] [Ref 2]
2010, April 30 - May 2; The Tornado outbreak of April 30 – May 2, 2010 tornado outbreak affected the Midwest, U.S. South, including Texas, Colorado, Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. There were 60 confirmed tornadoes with 4 EF3s. Five people were killed from the tornadoes, three in Mississippi, one in Pocahontas, Tennessee and one in Scotland, Arkansas.[Ref]
2010, May 10-13; The Tornado outbreak of May 10–13, 2010 affected Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri and Arkansas. There were 91 confirmed tornadoes, 4 EF3s and 2 EF4s. An EF4 in the Moore, Oklahoma, area, killed two and injured 49. Another EF4 in the Norman, Oklahoma, area killed one and injured 32.[Ref]
2010, Dec 31 - Jan 1, 2011; The 2010 New Year's Eve tornado outbreak affected Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Louisiana and Mississippi. There were 36 confirmed tornadoes with 7 EF3s and 9 fatalities. An early morning EF-3 tornado touched down near Stilwell, Oklahoma, and lifted near Tontitown, Arkansas, killing 3 elderly people near Cincinnati, Arkansas. Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, took a direct hit from an EF-3 tornado, destroying 41 houses and damaging 118. Another EF-3 tornado killed 2 elderly women near Rolla, Missouri. An EF-1 tornado killed two women near Lecoma, Missouri. [Ref]
2011, April 14-16; The April 14-16, 2011 tornado outbreak affected Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Missouri, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia. There were 162 confirmed tornadoes, 14 EF3s and 43 fatalities.
2011, April 19-24, The April 19-24 tornado outbreak affected the Midwest and Southern United State. There were 130 tornadoes, zero fatalities, 14 injured and $43.864 million in property damage. On April 22, an EF 4 touchdown in the St. Louis, Missouri area, injuring 5. The states affected were Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma and Texas.[Ref]
2011, April 25-28; The April 25-28, 2011 tornado outbreak affected Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. There were 334 confirmed tornadoes, 22 EF3s, 11 EF4s and 4 EF5s. There were 328 fatalities, 237 in Alabama, 6 in Arkansas, 14 in Georgia, 31 in Mississippi, 32 in Tennessee, and 4 in Virginia
2011, May 21-26; The May 21-26, 2011 tornado outbreak was a six day event that affected Kansas, Texas, Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, Indiana, Illinois, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Tennessee, Colorado, California, Louisiana, Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Alabama. There were 292 tornadoes, 178 fatalities, 1,629 injured and $3 billion in property damage. The state of Missouri was struck by 41 tornadoes, killing 158 statewide. On May 22, a large, devastating EF5, multiple-vortex tornado in excess of 1 mile (1.6 km) wide, tracked through Joplin, Missouri (see 2011 Joplin tornado), leaving behind catastrophic damage. Mainly the southern part of the city was affected, there were 158 fatalities, 1150 injured and 2.800 billion in damages.[Ref]. In addition to the 158 killed in Missouri, there were 5 killed in Arkansas, 3 in Kansas, 11 in Oklahoma and 1 in Minnesota.[Ref]
2011, Nov 14-16; The tornado outbreak of November 14–16, 2011 was a relatively small but deadly tornado outbreak. The outbreak produced a total of 23 tornadoes, 6 EF0, 10 EF1 and 7 EF2. The outbreak affected Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. On March 16, an EF2 damaged dozens of homes and businesses in Auburn, Alabama. Damage was also reported on the Auburn University campus, where a veterinary school was damaged and two horses were fatally injured. The tornado crossed into Georgia where damage occurred to numerous homes, the Harris County School Complex, the county's 911 center, and several other structures. Three people were injured. Two deaths were caused by an EF2, east of Linwood, North Carolina and 3 deaths occurred south west of Rock Hill, South Carolina. [Ref]
2014, April 18; The Tornado East Texas Never Saw Coming was a EF1 with that struck Lovelady, Texas with an estimated maximum winds of 100 miles per hour based on uprooted trees and damaged mobile homes. Lovelady, TX, happens to be in the middle of a “blind spot”, meaning that there was no radar close enough to detect anything within 12,000 feet of the ground.[Ref][S-2]
1527, November; One of only two known tropical cyclones to have made landfall in Texas in November, a tropical cyclones destroys a merchant fleet on Galveston Island, killing at least 162 people and possibly up to 200.
1553; During the year, a hurricane affects a Spanish treasure fleet near the coastline, quickly capsizing three vessels and displacing or wrecking thirteen others.
1554; Another Spanish treasure fleet is affected by a hurricane, with three ships lost during the storm near South Padre Island, TX.
1590, November; Thousands aboard ships are killed by a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico; it is unknown if the storm affected Texas, though meteorologist David Roth included the storm in his publication on Texas Hurricane History.
1600, September 12; An offshore hurricane causes 60 fatalities.
1615, August 30, 1615; A storm capsizes a ship offshore, killing all passengers aboard.
1631, October 21; More than 300 lives are lost during a hurricane that moves through the Gulf of Mexico; it is unknown if the storm affected Texas, though meteorologist David Roth included the storm in his publication on Texas Hurricane History.
1766, September 4; Galveston is struck by a hurricane which washes five treasure ships ashore. The storm produces a storm surge of around 7 feet (2.1 m), which causes flooding near the coastline. A mission on the lower Trinity River is destroyed.
1791; Moving ashore along the southern Texas coastline, a hurricane floods South Padre Island and other surrounding areas. About 50,000 cattle are killed due to the flooding.
1818, September 12; A hurricane floods Galveston Island up to 4 feet (1.2 m) deep, and also severely damages all but six buildings on the island. All ships near the island are seriously damaged or destroyed. The hurricane is the first known storm to affect the region in 21 years; the majority of the Texas coastline is uninhabited, until 1817 when privateer Jean Lafitte settles near Galveston for about five years. See: 1818 Atlantic hurricane season.
1829, September 10; The southern coastline of Texas experiences heavy damage and flooding when a hurricane strikes near the mouth of the Rio Grande. This is the first tropical cyclone to affect the state in 11 years; throughout much of the 1820s, the region near the coastline becomes more populated, though most settlements are inland. None of the locations report a destructive storm during the time period. See: 1829 Atlantic hurricane season.
1830, June ?; A hurricane struck S of Brownsville, Texas.[Ref]
1831, August 18; A hurricane hits near the mouth of the Rio Grande, causing further damage to areas affected by the storm two years prior.
1834, September; A tropical cyclone affects the region near the mouth of the Rio Grande.
1835, August 18; Considered among the severest storms on record in the region, a hurricane moves ashore in extreme southern Texas, which washes all ships ashore along Brazos Island. A ship in Matagorda Bay capsized during the storm, causing 14 deaths.
1837, October; The Racer's Storm becomes the first hurricane on record to affect the entire Texas coastline. It first strikes near Brownsville on October 1, where it destroys most of the ships on Brazos Island. Turning northeastward into the Gulf of Mexico, the hurricane approaches Galveston on October 6, bringing a storm tide of at least 6 ft (1.8 m) which floods all of Galveston Island. The storm destroys most of the buildings in Galveston, and across the coast, ships are washed ashore up to 3 miles (5 km) inland. It continues northeastward and leaves the state near Sabine Pass, after causing at least two deaths in the state.
1838; A tropical cyclone is accompanied with high tides as it moves ashore near the mouth of the Rio Grande.
1839, November 5; A hurricane makes landfall near Galveston, becoming one of only two hurricanes in November to hit Texas.
1840; A tropical cyclone produces flooding and destroys buildings near the mouth of the Rio Grande.
1842, September 8; After moving across the Gulf of Mexico, a storm moving ashore near the mouth of the Rio Grande brings heavy rainfall along its path.
1843, September 17; A strong tropical storm hits near Galveston, which wrecks several buildings and houses from storm surge flooding. The storm kills 40 cattle when a house blows down. Damage is estimated at $10,000 (1842 USD, $220,000 2008 USD).
1842, October 5; Galveston, is struck by another hurricane, with several buildings damaged or destroyed. The storm floods most of the island, though no lives are lost.
1844, August 6; Moving ashore in the extreme southern portion of the state, a hurricane causes heavy damage, destroying most of the buildings near the coastline. On Brazos Island, the storm kills 70 people.
1848, October 17; Another hurricane makes landfall near the mouth of the Rio Grande, which floods Brazos Island and causes above normal tides.
1849, September 13; Southern Texas is struck by a hurricane, with some ships damaged by the storm.
1875, September 16; The Great Indianola Hurricane of 1875 was first observed September 1 to the southwest of Cabo Verde by the ship Tautallon Castle. The storm made a few landfalls on September 13 on the southern coast of Cuba before moving inland over Sancti Spíritus Province. The system emerged into the Gulf of Mexico near Havana, Cuba. On September 16, the hurricane became a Category 3 hurricane with winds peaking at 115 mph (185 km/h), based on land observations, and made a second landfall near Indianola, Texas. The storm quickly weakened and turned northeastward, before dissipating over Mississippi on September 18. Only eight buildings left undamaged in the town of Indianola, three-quarters of the buildingswere washed away and the remaining structures were in a state of ruin. Old Velasco, Texas, was completely leveled.[Ref] There were 800 Fatilites, 176 in Texas. [Ref]
1886, October 12; Hurricane Ten of the 1886 Atlantic hurricane season made landfall near the border between Louisiana and Texas. It caused 175-200 deaths due to the heavy rainfall and storm surge, with $250,000 in damage occurring.
1900 - 1949
1900, September 8; The 1900 Galveston hurricane formed in the Atlantic in late August 1900. It tracked across the islands of Hispaniola and Cuba as a tropical storm, emerging into the Florida Straits on September 5. The hurricane gained strength over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and made landfall in Galveston, Texas, on September 8 as a category 4 storm. In 1900 the highest point in the city of Galveston was only 8.7 feet (2.7 m) above sea level. The storm surge of 15 feet (4.6 m) washed over the entire island of Galveston destroying over 3600 homes. The death toll from this hurricane was estimated between 6,000 to 12,000 people, the number most cited is 8,000. The 1900 Galveston hurricane was one of the deadliest natural disasters ever to strike the United States. The areas affected by this hurricane were the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Cuba, Turks and Caicos Islands, Bahamas, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan, New York, and Eastern Canada.
1912, October 16; The sixth storm of 1912 was first reported on October 11, southeast of the Cayman Islands. The storm made its first landfall near Cancún, Quintana Roo, early on October 13th. After crossing the Yucatán Peninsula the storm reentering the Gulf of Mexico. The storm made its second landfall just south of Corpus Christi, Texas as a Category 1 late on October 16 with winds of 100 mph (155 km/h). Fifteen people died and damage came to over $28,000.
1915, August 17; The 1915 Galveston hurricane was detected as a tropical storm on August 5, 1915. On August 10 the storm was centered north of Barbados and on August 11 the hurricane passed south of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The storm rapidly intensified, and was located near Isle of Pine, Cuba, on August 15 as a category 4 storm with winds of 145 mph. The storm continued on a northwesterly course making landfall southwest of Galveston, Texas, on August 17, 1915, as a category 4 storm. The storm continued inland passing Houston as a category 1 hurricane before dropping to tropical storm status later that day. The storm moved through the Missouri and Ohio Valleys before becoming an extra tropical storm on August 23. There were 400 fatalities caused by the 1915 Hurricane,[Ref] 275 in the Galveston area. The death toll in the city of Galveston was only 11 due to a recently built Galveston Seawall. In addition to the 11 in town, 42 were killed on Galveston Island and 69 were killed off-shore on the tug Helen Henderson and dredges Houston and San Barnard.[Ref] Rainfall from the storm peaked at 19.83 inches (504 mm) at San Augustine, Texas. Total damage was $56 million (1915 USD).
1919, September 14; The 1919 Florida Keys hurricane formed on east of Guadeloupe. It became a category 4 hurricane on September 9, and passed south of Key West, Florida in the Florida Straits. The system made landfall on the Dry Tortugas at peak intensity with winds of 150 mph (240 km/h) extending as far as 17 mi (28 km) outwards, Crossing the Gulf of Mexico, the system made its final landfall near Baffin Bay, Texas, as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 115 mph. Winds dropping below hurricane-force on September 15 and then below tropical storm-force the next day. Heavy rains were common across southern Texas, with numerous locations recording 6 inches (150 mm) to 12 inches (300 mm) of rainfall within 24 hours. The storm surge and abnormally high tides resulted in extensive damage. About 23 blocks of homes were destroyed or washed away in Corpus Christi. A total of 284 bodies were recovered in the city and damage totaled at least $20 million. In Matagorda, Palacios, and Port Lavaca, wharves, fish houses, and small boats were significantly impacted. The docks and buildings in Port Aransas were swept away, while school building remained standing. Houses and crops were also flattened in Victoria. At least 310 deaths were reported in Texas, but there may have been as many as 600 fatalities.[Ref]
1943, July 26; The 1943 Surprise hurricane began forming in the Eastern Gulf of Mexico as early as July 23 but was not observed until July 25. The storm strengthened becoming a category 1 hurricane on July 26 and later that day strengthened into a category 2 storm. On July 27 the first ever reconnaissance aircraft flight into a hurricane occurred, the eye was measured with a width of 9 to 10 miles. The hurricane made landfall on the Bolivar Peninsula in Texas with wind speeds of 105 mph (165 km/h). Early on the 28th the system weakened to a category 1 hurricane and then a tropical storm about six hours later. By July 29 the storm weakened into a tropical depression and dissipated near Whitt, Texas, the following day. There were 19 fatalities caused by the storm and damages of $17 million (1943 USD).[Ref]
1945, August 28 ; The fifth hurricane of the 1945 season landfall near Port Aransas in central Texas as a 140 mph (230 km/h) Category 4 hurricane. Towns from Freeport to Brownsville were subjected to hurricane force winds, causing around $20 million (1945 US dollars) in damages, and three deaths.
1950 - 1999
1957, June 27; Hurricane Audrey made landfall near Sabine Pass, Texas on June 27, 1957, as a 145 mph (233 km/h) Category 4 hurricane. Audrey's 12-foot (3.7 m) storm surge devastated Cameron, Louisiana and Sabine Pass, TX, causing $150 million in damage. Audrey was responsible for at least 390 deaths, although other sources claim the number could be over 500. Audrey is ranked as the sixth deadliest hurricane to hit the United States mainland.
1959, July 23-28; Hurricane Debra made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast. Hurricane Debra was a Category 1 storm with highest winds were 85 mph (140 km/h) and it caused 7 million in damage. Torrential rains were produced in southeastern Texas, which caused widespread flooding on highways. In Oklahoma, torrential rainfall produced floods in small areas of the state and two tornadoes where reported. There were heavy rainfall in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio. [Ref]
1960, June 22-29; The 1960 Texas tropical storm produced localized flooding to southeastern Texas, its highest sustained winds where 45 mph. There were 18 fatalities and $3.6 million (1960 USD) in property damages. The storm affected Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois.[Ref]
1961, September 11; Hurricane Carla made landfall near Port Lavaca as a Category 4 hurricane. With an estimated central pressure of 931 mb at landfall, Carla was one of the largest and most intense hurricanes to strike the United States, and the strongest ever to hit Texas. Gusts as high as 170 mph (270 km/h) were estimated at Port Lavaca. Carla killed 31 people in Texas. The low death toll is credited to what was then the largest peacetime evacuation in United States history up until that time. One half million residents headed inland from exposed coastal areas. Carla caused a total of $325 million ($2.03 billion in 2005) in damage.
1963, September 16-20; Hurricane Cindy was a Category 1 hurricane with sustained winds reaching 80 mph (130 km/h). There were 3 fatalities and $12.5 million (1963 USD), most of the damage was due to flooding. Cindy made landfall at High Island, Texas. In Guthrie, Oklahoma, inundated 25 businesses and 35 homes were flooded, up to 2.5 ft (0.76 m) of water forced 300 residents to flee. A Major Disaster Declaration declared on September 24, 1963 for Texas (DR-159)[Ref]
1967, September; Hurricane Beulah made landfall just north of the mouth of the Rio Grande as a Category 3 storm. highest sustained wind was reported as 136 MPH, recorded in South Padre Island, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Port Isabel. The lower Rio Grande Valley, the four county region that comprises deep south Texas, was inundated with torrential rains and strong winds. Gusts of over 100 MPH were recorded as far inland as the towns of McAllen, Edinburg, Mission, and Pharr, some fifty miles from the gulf coast. Beulah was a record tornado-producer (a record that would stand until 2004) that destroyed homes, commercial property, and inflicted serious damage on the region's agricultural industry. The Rio Grande Valley's citrus industry, based on cultivation of the famous "Ruby Red" grapefruit, was particularly hard hit. Padre Island, just off the Texas gulf coast, suffered significant devastation, and the island's sensitive ecosystem was altered by the storm. Within a 36 hour period it dropped almost 30 inches of rain in Beeville, Texas. Hurricane Beulah caused an estimated $1.1 billion (in 2000 dollars) in damage. Sources report 58-59 deaths from the storm.
1970, September 12-17; Tropical Storm Felice lightly impacted parts of the Gulf Coast with highest sustained wind of 70 mph (110 km/h). Felice made landfall northeast of Galveston, Texas. The storm caused scattered power outages and minor tree damage, while heavy rainfall totaling over 6 in (150 mm) triggered some street flooding. [Ref]
1974, August 29-September 10; Hurricane Carmen was a Category 4 with sustained winds of 150 mph (240 km/h) and gust as high as 175 mph (280 km/h). There were 8 fatalities and the storm caused $162 million (1974 USD). The system affected the Lesser Antilles, Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, Louisiana and Texas. Light to moderate rainfall extended as far east as Florida and Georgia and as far west as Oklahoma and Texas. [Ref]
1978, August 1; Tropical Storm Amelia amde lanfall in Corpus Christi, TX, with flooding rains, which led to the deaths of 30 people in Texas in late July 1978.
1979, July 24-27; Tropical Storm Claudette produced torrential rains in both Texas and Louisiana when it made landfall. The highest total was reported in Alvin, Texas where 42 inches (1,100 mm) of rain fell. This remains the twenty-four hour rainfall record for any location in the United States.
1980, August 10; Hurricane Allen made landfall near Brownsville, Texas as a category 3 hurricane. A wind gust of 140 miles per hour (230 km/h) was reported in Port Mansfield and up to 20 inches (510 mm) of rain fell in Kingsville. Allen caused seven deaths and an estimated $600 million (1980 ).
1983, August 18; Hurricane Alicia made landfall near Galveston as a category 3 hurricane causing $5.4 billion (2007 ) in damage and twenty-one fatalities. Rainfall totals of at least 7 inches (178 mm) were reported in Southeast Texas with a maximum of 9.5 inches (241 mm) of rain in Liberty. The peak wind gust in Galveston was 102 miles per hour (164 km/h). Alica also caused twenty-three tornadoes. In the south-central portions of Oklahoma, the rain amounted to 5.51 in (140 mm). The storm affected Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri and Illinois. A Major Disaster Declaration declared on August 19, 1983 for Texas (DR-689)
1983, October 11-19; Hurricane Tico was at Category 4 hurricane with highest sustained winds of 130 mph (215 km/h). Tico made landfall very near Mazatlán, Mexico, and moved north east across the South Central United States. The storm dropped heavy rainfall in Oklahoma, before moving continuing to the northeastward to near Lake Michigan as a low pressure system. There were 141 fatalities. In the US, flooding was reported in parts of southern Kansas, Texas, and Oklahoma. Chickasha, Oklahoma, recorded 16.95 inches of rain while Lubbock, Texas, recorded 7 in (180 mm) inches of rain.[Ref]
1986, September 28-October 2; Hurricane Paine was a Category 2 hurricane that made landfall near San José, Sonora, Mexico, with winds of 90 mph. The highest sustained winds were 100 mph (155 km/h), and there were at least 10 fatalities. Paine dropped moderate to heavy rainfall in regions that already received above normal rainfall. Some locations in Texas, northern Oklahoma, and southeastern Kansas recorded over 10 inches of rain. [Ref]
1988, September 17; Hurricane Gilbert makes landfall in northern Mexico and causes tides up to 5 feet (1.5 m) above normal. Isolated locations in West Texas received 7 inches (178 mm) of rain. Twenty-nine (29) tornadoes were recorded across Texas with the worst damage being in San Antonio. Gilbert caused three deaths in Texas, with all three caused by tornadoes in San Antonio.
1989, July 30-Aug. 2; Hurricane Chantal was a Category 1 hurricane with highest sustained winds of 80 mph (130 km/h). There was 13 fatalities and $100 million (1989 USD) in property damage. Chantal affected Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Midwestern United States. Chantal made landfall near High Island, Texas and eventually dissipated over western Oklahoma on August 3. [Ref]
1989, September 25-October 5; Hurricane Raymond was a Category 4 hurricane with highest sustained winds of 145 mph (230 km/h). There was one fatality and $1.75 million (1989 USD) in property damage. Raymond affected the Baja California Peninsula, northeastern Mexico, Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Missouri. Raymond made landfall on the Baja California Peninsula as a tropical storm late on October 4 and a second landfall in Sonora, Mexico. Tucson, Arizona recorded 4.5 in (110 mm) of rain that caused flash flooding and landslides. [Ref]
1995, July 28-Aug. 2; Tropical Storm Dean's highest sustained winds were measured at 45 mph (75 km/h). There was one fatality in Oklahoma and $500,000 (1995 USD) in property damage. Dean made landfall near Freeport, Texas, bringing 6 to 18 inches of rain across large part of Texas. Monroe City, Texas recorded 17.4 inches (426 mm). In Oklahoma, Great Salt Plains Dam, reported 12.07 inches.[Ref]
1998, September 8-13; Tropical Storm Frances had sustained winds measured at 65 mph (100 km/h). There was 1 direct, 1 indirect fatalities and $500 million (1998 USD) in property damage. Frances made landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas. Texas, western Louisiana and the Midwestern United States were affected. Southwest Louisiana received 10 to 15 inches (250 to 380 mm) of rain, over 23 inches (580 mm) was measured near New Orleans, Louisiana. The Houston, Texas metropolitan area received of 21.46 inches (545 mm) of rain while at Sea Rim State Park recorded wind gust of 66 miles per hour (106 km/h). [Ref]
1995, September 12-16; Hurricane Ismael was a Category 1 hurricane with highest sustained winds measured at 80 mph (130 km/h). There were 116 fatalities and $26 million (1995 USD) in property damage. Ismael made landfall near Topolobampo, Sinaloa, Mexico. Ismael moved northeast bringing heavy rainfall to the New Mexico/Texas border. Hobbs, New Mexico recorded 8.53 inches (217 mm) of rain, while in Lubbock, Texas, the rainfall led to flash flooding, closing many intersections and roads. In southwestern Oklahoma and northern Arkansas, the remnants of the storm produced over 3 inches (76 mm) of rain. [Ref]
1998, August; Tropical Storm Charley made landfall near Port Aransas. Serious inland flooding occurred in and around Val Verde County, Texas, and thirteen people reportedly died. Del Rio recorded 17 inches (43 cm) of rain in 24 hours from the storm, a record for the city and the most rainfall from a tropical cyclone in Texas since Tropical Storm Claudette in 1979.
1999, August; Hurricane Bret made landfall as a Category 3 hurricane at Padre Island on August 23, becoming the first major hurricane to hit Texas since Hurricane Alicia in 1983.
2000 - 2014
2001, September 30; Mid-level moisture from Tropical Depression Juliette spread across portions of southeastern Arizona, southern New Mexico, and western Texas.[Ref]
2002, September 7-9; Tropical Storm Fay was a moderate tropical storm which caused flooding in parts of Texas and Mexico. The storm made landfall on Sept. 7, near Matagorda, TX. The storm caused extremely heavy rainfall i with damage totalled $4.5 million (2002 USD; $5.2 million USD in 2007); nine counties in Texas were declared disaster areas [Ref]
2003, July 8-17; Hurricane Claudette began as a tropical wave in the eastern Caribbean. Claudette moved through the Gulf of Mexico and became a hurricane late on July 14. Claudette made landfall near Port O'Connor, Texas, on July 15 as a Category 1 hurricane. On July 17, the storm lost its low-level circulation over Chihuahua, although its rainfall and upper-level circulation continued into the Pacific Ocean. The rainfall restored the flow of the Rio Grande at Big Bend National Park, which had ceased in the area due to lack of rainfall. There was 1 fatality and $180 million (2003 USD) in property damage.[Ref] Tilden, TX, received 6.50 inches of rain. Other rainfall totals were 5.63 inches in Refugio, 4.50 inches in Campbellton, and 4.89 inches in Dilley, Texas.[Ref] On July 16, the remnants of the storm produced beneficial rainfall in the southeastern portion of New Mexico.[Ref]
2003, August 30-September 2; Tropical Storm Grace had sustained winds measured at 40 mph (65 km/h). There were no reported fatalities and $113,000 (2003 USD) in property damage. Grace made landfall San Luis Pass on the southwestern portion of Galveston Island. Texas, Oklahoma, Ohio Valley, Mid-Atlantic States were affected by Grace. The storm dropped heavy rainfall in Texas, causing minor flash flooding damage. Some areas of Oklahoma, received as much as 8.98 inches (228 mm) of rain. [Ref]
2003, September 22; The remnants of Hurricane Marty brought locally heavy rains to extreme southwestern Arizona; there were no reports of flooding from the storm. The highest rain total was 2.83 inches (72 mm) at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Rainfall extended eastward into New Mexico and Texas. Glenwood, New Mexico, received 1.06 inches (27 mm) and 3.09 inches (78 mm) of rain occurred in Tankersly, Texas.[Ref 1] [Ref 2]
2004, October 8-11; Tropical Storm Matthew had sustained winds measured at 45 mph (75 km/h). There were no reported fatalities and $305,000 (2004 USD) in property damage. Matthew made landfall at Cocodrie, Louisiana. Matthew affected Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, Missouri and the Ohio Valley. Portions of Texas and Oklahoma experienced over 5 inches (127 mm) of beneficial rain, while southern Arkansas received over 10 inches (255 mm) of rain.[Ref]
2005, July 11-22; Hurricane Emily formed on July 10, 2005, in the central Atlantic Ocean. The system subsequently made landfall in the Yucatán Peninsula as a Category 4. Quickly crossing the peninsula, Emily emerged into the Gulf of Mexico and reorganized. On July 20, the storm made landfall near San Fernando, Tamaulipas, as a Category 3 hurricane. and rapidly dissipated within 24 hours. Rainfall from the storm peaked at 5.2 inches in Mercedes, Texas. Additionally, eight tornadoes touched down in Texas as a result of Emily, damaging or destroying several homes. Agricultural losses in Texas amounted to $4.7 million, and property losses reached $225,000.[Ref]
2006, September 2; The remnants of Hurricane John, an East Pacific storm, cause moderate to heavy rainfall. In northern Texas, moisture from the storm combined with cold front produce moderate amounts of rainfall across the southwest United States, including a total of 8 inches (200 mm) in Whitharral, Texas, and more than 3 inches in El Paso, Texas. The rainfall flooded many roads in southwestern Texas, including a ½ mile portion of I-10 in El Paso.
2007, August 15-20; Tropical Storm Erin had sustained winds measured at 65 mph (100 km/h). There were 21 fatalities and $248.3 million (2007 USD) in property damage. Erin made landfall at near Lamar, Texas. Erin affected Texas, Oklahoma and the central US. Erin produced heavy rainfall near and to the or northeast of its path. Lockwood, Texas reported 11.02 inches (280 mm) of rain. There was severe flooding due to the heavy rainfall in Oklahoma. Watonga, Kingfisher and Geary were the hardest-hit. In Caddo County, OK, a nursing home was damaged by high winds. [Ref]
2007, August 30 - September 7; Hurricane Henriette was a minimal Category 1 hurricane that affected portions of Mexico. Henriette made landfall east of Cabo San Lucas on the afternoon of September 4. After crossing the Gulf of California, Henriette made a second landfall near Guaymas in the state of Sonora. The storm's remnants moved northeast across Mexico, entering the United States near El Paso, Texas. The system brought abundant moisture to west Texas and southeastern New Mexico resulting in flash flooding and severe thunderstorms. [Ref 1] The system spawned a landspout near Tyrone, New Mexico. [Ref 2]
2008, July 23; Hurricane Dolly was a category 2 hurricane that made landfall as a tropical storm on the Yucatán Peninsula near Cancún, Mexico, early on July 21, 2008. The storm moved into the Gulf of Mexico and strengthened to become a Category 2 hurricane, before weakening and making landfall as a Category 1 storm on July 23, 2008, in South Padre Island, Texas. There were no deaths as a result of Hurricane Dolly in Texas. Damage is estimated at $1.05 billion. The remnants of the storm caused two deaths in New Mexico. [Ref]
2008, September 11; The remnants of Tropical Storm Lowell from the eastern Pacific produced a series of mid-level shortwave troughs embedded in southwest flow aloft that moved across southwest Texas and southeast New Mexico. Heavy rainfall, including multiple 24-hour records, occurred from West Texas northeast to Kansas and northern Illinois and Indiana. Lubbock, Texas, received 7.80 inches of rain in a 24 hour period.[Ref] Flash flooding occurred near Hobbs, NM. A EF0 touched down near Vaughn, NM.[Ref 1] [Ref 2]
2010, June 25 - July 4; Hurricane Alex originated from an area of disturbed weather on June 25, 2010, slowly developing in the western Caribbean Sea and struck Belize as a strong tropical storm. June 30, the cyclone attained hurricane status as it approached northeastern Mexico. Alex came ashore near Soto la Marina as a Category 2 hurricane. Starting on June 30, feeder bands on the northern side of the hurricane began producing tropical-storm-force winds throughout Cameron, Willacy and Kenedy Counties in Texas. Brownsville Airport had 6.80 inches (173 mm) of precipitation in a 36-hour period. [Ref] Hurricane Alex spread northward within the persistent tropical moisture plume and began to impact the west Texas South Plains during the late evening hours of July 4. The most adversely impacted areas were portions of Terry, Lubbock, Lynn, and Garza Counties, where isolated locations received more than one foot of rain through the early morning hours of July 4. Local and state officials estimated losses to approach $16.5 million. The State of Texas declared several South Plains counties a Disaster Area. Reported storm rainfall measurements included: 9.25 inches (235 mm) at Wolfforth, 7.88 inches (200 mm) at Lubbock's Science Spectrum, 6.12 inches (155.4 mm) at Lubbock's Preston Smith International Airport. [Ref]
2012, September 28; Hurricane Miriam formed in the eastern pacific on September 22 and became a Category 3 on September 24. Miriam quickly lost strength and became a tropical depression on the 27th. Moisture from Hurricane Miriam drifted over the Baja California Peninsula, and into Texas. In New Mexico, heavy rain in Eddy County produced flash flooding in Carlsbad.[Ref 1][Ref 2]
2014, September 18-20; The remnants of Hurricane Odile brought heavy rainfall to southwestern New Mexico. Floods from the remnants killed a 39 year old oil field worker when the vehicle he was a passenger in was washed off of Whites City Road about 0.9 miles east northeast of Carlsbad Caverns Visitor Center.[Ref] The highest storm total from Hurricane Odile was 15.26 inches (388 mm) in Gail, Texas. In Houston, heavy rains resulted in minor flooding. In all, two people were killed across Texas. A sheriff died after she became trapped by flood waters near the shores of Lake Austin while she was checking a low water crossing. The Lower Colorado River Authority Rain gauge network reported rains in the area of Marshall Ford totaling nearly 4 inches in 30 minutes. [Ref] The second fatality occurred September 24 when over 5 inches of rain fell in about 4 hours in El Paso. A 64-year-old woman drowned in the flash flooding that occurred. [Ref 1][Ref 2]
For a list of the Most Intense Hurricanes to hit the mainland of the United States between 1900-2000, visit the NOAA website; or link to the full report.
1853, June; Concho River Basin: The town of San Angelo was almost totally inundated by this flood, which probably produced the highest known peak on the Concho River at San Angelo.
1869, July 3; Austin Vicinity: The greatest rain known in Austin (at least until 1921) began July 3 and lasted about 64 hours. Lower Austin, the towns of Webberville and Bastrop, TX, were inundated. Several people drowned.
1880, May 27; South Texas: This storm caused the largest flood ever known in Brackettville; it inundated all of the city except parts of two hills. More than 20 people drowned.[Ref]
1880, August 14; South Texas: Extremely heavy rains rendered all streams impassable between San Antonio and the Rio Grande. The storm was centered in Bexar Co., San Antonio.
1880, September; West Texas: This storm caused severe flooding near Mason, Texas, and the largest known peak occured on the
Frio River at Uvalde, Texas. The town of Frio was inundated. The storm was centered in Uvalde, County.
1881, November; Rio Grande Basin: This storm caused the highest flood on the Rio Grande since 1848 and disastrous damage in Brackettville, Brownsville, and Matamoras. The storm was centered in Brackettville, Kinney Co. and rownsville, Cameron Co.[Ref]
1882, August 23 to 24; Tom Green and Erath Counties: Substantial rainfall caused the South Concho River to crest 45 feet above normal. San Angelo was inundated and the town of Ben Ficklin was washed away except for the courthouse and jail. More than 50 people were reported drowned.
1884, May 20 to 21; North-Central, Texas: Substantial rainfall caused the Trinity River at Fort Worth to overflow, inundating the bottomlands for a mile on either side and washing away a few cabins. The crest was the highest known since 1866. At Waco, the Brazos Rivers crested at 32 feet as recorded by the USGS. Thirteen inches of rain were recorded.
1884, June; Rio Grande Basin: This storm caused severe flooding from El Paso to Fort Quitman and caused $1 million in damage to railways. The storm was centered in El Paso Co., El Paso.
1885, May 27 to 28; North-Central, Texas: Heavy rains from the 27th to the 28th caused extensive flooding on the Bosque and Brazos River in Bosque and McLennan Counties. Bridges were washed out and homes and farmlands were inundated. The storm was centered in McLennan Co., Waco.
1889, July 10; Del Rio Area: Heavy rainfall caused flooding in the Del Rio area and caused the Rio Grande to swell to over a mile wide at Del Rio. The storm was centered in Val Verde Co., Del Rio.
1894, April 29 to May 1; Central Texas: A narrow band of 5-6 in. of rain from vicinity of Bandera, Kendall, Blanco, and Travis Counties to Lamar County caused minor flooding.
1896, January 29 to February 2; Central and East Texas: The storm was centered at College Station in Brazos County where 10.34 in. of rainfall was recorded. The city of Marshall in Harrison County recorded 9.4 in.
1896, September 25 to 27; About 7-9 in. of rain in the area of Goliad, Blanco, and Hearne caused major flooding in those areas.
1889, June 28 to July 1; Central and East Texas: Rainfall centered over the Brazos Rivers Basin averaged 17 in. over an area of about 7,000 miles². One storm center was in Robertson County near the city of Hearne, and another was in Coryell County. Hearne reported 34 in. of rain, and Turnersville reported 33 in. Long-time residents in the area described the flood on the Brazos River as the worst in their lifetime. As many as 35 people died, and damage was estimated at $9 million. . read more...
1900 - 1949
1900, April 5 to 8; Panhandle and Central Texas: Substantial rainfall from the Rio Grande to the High Plains caused damage in the Colorado, Brazos, and Guadalupe River Basins. McDonald Dam on the Colorado River in Austin was destroyed. A wall of water claimed 23 lives and caused $1.25 million in damage in Austin
.
1900, July 13 to 18; Central Texas: Heavy rainfall in the Guadalupe River Basin caused about a 75-year flood peak near Comfort, Texas. Galveston Co. recived 15.85 in. of rain while Kerr Co. received 13.28 in. The storm was centered in the Galveston Co. and Kerr Co., Kerrville area.
1900, September 8 to 10; Galveston area; A destructive hurricane left no buildings untouched, and more than one-half of the city was demolished. Barometric pressure measured 27.64 mm Hg at 7:30 p.m. September 8. All rain and wind gages in the Galveston area were swept away. As many as 6,000 people lost their lives. The hurricane caused the Nation's greatest natural disaster. More information - 1900 Galveston hurricane.
1900, September 20 to 23; North Texas: Storm was centered in Coleman County near the city of Coleman where 11.25 in. of rain was recorded in 48 hours. There was some loss of life and about $300,000 in property damage in the Brazos, Trinity, and Colorado River Basins.
1913, December 1 to 6; Central and East Texas: Rainfall for the last 10 days of November averaged 4.21 in., Guadalupe River Basin; 3.74 in., Colorado River Basin; 3.53 in., Brazos Rivers Basin; 2.98 in., Trinity River Basin; and 4.05 in., San Antonio River Basin. These rains laid the foundation for floods greater than any known at that time. Rains for first few days of December were more or less continuous but were heaviest Dec. 2-4. Rainfall Dec. 1-6 averaged 4.78 in., Guadalupe River Basin; 3.95 in., Colorado River Basin; 5.37 in., Brazos River Basin; 5.30 in., Trinity River Basin; and 2.94 in., San Antonio River Basin. About 85 percent of the rain fell Dec. 2-4. Flooding resulted in 177 deaths, and losses exceeded $8.5 million.
1921, September 8 to 10; Central Texas: Heavy rainfall over a large area in Central Texas September 8-10 produced peak discharges at several streamflow-gaging stations. Taylor in Williamson County recorded 23.98 in. during 35 hours, with 23.11 in. during 24 hours. Bucket surveys determined that Thrall had 32 in. of rain in 12 hours. Flooding caused the loss of at least 224 lives and resulted in property damage of more than $19 million. The storm was centered over Williamson Co., Taylor.
1927, April - May; Flood of 1927 - Rain begain in the summer of 1926. On Christmas Day of 1926, the Cumberland River at Nashville, TN, exceeded 56.2 feet, a record high level. By May 1927, the Mississippi River below Memphis, Tennessee, reached a width of 60 miles. There were 246 fatalities due to the flood and over $400 million in damages. The flood affected Arkansas, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Tennessee, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Arkansas had 14% of its territory covered by floodwaters.[Ref]
1932, June 30 to July 2; Central Texas: Heavy rain June 30-July 3 on parts of the Nueces and Guadalupe River Basins produced historically significant peak discharges at several streamflow-gaging stations. Very heavy rain fell on the upper Guadalupe River Basin west of Kerrville June 30-July 2. This rain amounted to more than 35 in. during about 36 hours at the State Fish Hatchery above Ingram. Heavy rainfall also was recorded in the Frio and Medina River Basins. Rainfall of 14 in. was measured at Bandera, Lima, and Medina in the Medina River Basin. Vanderpool, at the headwaters of the Medina River, measured 33.5 in. July 1-2. The floods in the Frio River were the highest known at that time. The heaviest rainfall on the Frio River Basin was at Rio Frio in Real County, where 24 in. was recorded July 1-2. Flash floods were responsible for seven deaths.
1932, August 30 to September 5; Most of Texas: Flooding was disastrous over much of Laredo, Piedras Negras, and Eagle Pass. Freestone Co. received 19.50 in of rain.
1935, May 31; Seco Creek Basin: Heavy rainfall over the Seco Creek Basin above D'Hanis in early morning May 31 caused the creek to rise rapidly and reach the highest historical stage for D'Hanis. There were no rain gages in the basin during the storm, and receptacles ordinarily used for measuring rainfall ran over or were washed away. Bucket surveys estimated that 22-24 in. of rain fell over a small area, and that 12-14 in. fell at other points during 3 hours or less. The National Weather Service reports that a maximum of 22 in. of rain fell in 2 hours and 45 minutes. An average amount of more than 9 in. fell on the entire 80-mi² watershed.Four children and one woman drowned. Damage to railroad and highways was estimated at $48,500.
1935, June 10 to 15; Central Texas: Heavy rain over the Colorado and Nueces River Basins caused flooding greater than any known before. The Llano and West Nueces Rivers experienced extraordinary floods. There were few official rain gages in the area, but unofficial records were compiled from many sources. Heavy rain of 4-12 in. fell during 24 hours.
1936, June 30 to July 4; Texas: Rain fell June 30-July 4 on parts of the Rio Grande Basin and the Nueces, Guadalupe, Colorado, and Neches River Basins. The rain produced large peak discharges at several streamflow-gaging stations. Heavy rain, amounting to 17 in., was recorded at Eagle Pass in the Rio Grande Basin. Rainfall of more than 10 in. was recorded in the Neches River Basin at Rockland in Tyler County. The heaviest recorded rainfall was in central Guadalupe River Basin. Maximum recorded storm rainfall was 21.0 in. at Bebe in Gonzales County 1:00 a.m. June 30 to 1:00 p.m. July 1. Severe flooding in central Guadalupe River Basin caused 26 deaths and estimated property damage of more than $2 million.
1936, September 13 to 18; Sandy and Walnut Creeks in the Colorado River Basin reached the highest stages known at the time. Rainfall exceeded 30 in. September 13-18 at some locations in a large part of the Concho River Basin. In the vicinity of Fort McKavett in Menard County, more than 10 in. of rain fell September 13-16. At the headwaters of Terrett Draw, about 10 mi south of Fort McKavett, 21-25 in. fell noon September 15 to noon September 16. A very heavy rain of 8-30 in., with 14 in. during about 2.5 hours at one location, fell on the North Llano River Basin September 13-16. The maximum storm rainfall of 30.0 in. was recorded at Broome in Sterling County from 1:00 a.m. September 15 to 7:00 p.m. September 17. San Angelo in Tom Green County had extensive damage-about 300 buildings were washed away. Much of the business district and 500 homes in San Angelo were flooded.
1936, September 16 to 17; Sterling County: The storm was centered over Broome in Sterling County. Broome recorded 23.5 in. during the 18-hour period 9:00 p.m. September 16 to 3:00 p.m. September 17
1938, July 16 to 25; Middle Colorado River Basin: Floods were caused by heavy rains that centered over the San Saba River, South Concho River, and Brady Creek watersheds. Maximum recorded rainfall was 13 in. July 23 at two places, 8 and 10 mi north of Eldorado in Schleicher County. Eldorado recorded 30 in. July 16-25. About 70 locations had 20 in. or more. Parts of 12 counties were inundated. Six people were reported drowned, and property and crop losses were estimated at $5 million.
1948, June 23 to 24; Rio Grande Watershed: Intense storms were centered along the divide between the Devils River and the tributaries lying immediately to the east June 23-24. The rain began during the morning June 23 and continued into the next day, with the most intense rain early morning June 24. The storm had three separate storm centers, each receiving 24 in. or more rain in less than 24 hours.
1950 - 1999
1952, September 9 to 11; Guadalupe and Lower Colorado River Basins: Two to 26 in. of rain fell on a 25,000-mi2 area that formed a 100-mi-wide belt extending from Corpus Christi northwestward for 250 mi. Storm totals of 20-26 in. were concentrated in a small area in Blanco and Kendall Counties. Hye in Blanco County recorded 23.55 in. during 48 hours, with 20.70 in. during one 24-hour period. Five people were killed and the flood caused an estimated $17 million in damage.
1954, June 24 to 29; Lower Rio Grande Basin: Hurricane Alice ( Category 1) moved inland from the Gulf of Mexico June 24. The heaviest rainfall recorded was on the Pecos River below Sheffield and its tributary, Howards Creek. On Johnson Draw (a tributary of the Devils River), a large part of the town of Ozona was severely flooded, and several people drowned. As much as 34 in. of rain was observed at two centers 22 and 40 mi north of Langtry. An unknown number of lives were lost in the floodwaters, particularly at Piedras Negras, Mexico, opposite Eagle Pass, Texas.
1957, April to June; Texas and Adjacent States; Total rainfall on much of the eastern two-thirds of Texas for the 3-month period exceeded that normally recorded for a 12-month period. These rains effectively broke the infamous 1950s drought.
1961, September 10 to 12; Gulf Coast: The eye of Hurricane Carla (Category 5) crossed the Texas coastline at 3:00 p.m. September 11. Relatively low-intensity rain fell the entire 3-day period. Storm rainfall was 15.32 in. at Galveston, and 11.66 in. at Conroe. At least 32 people lost their lives. Damage from this destructive storm was an estimated $408 million.
1966, April 22 to 29; Northeast Texas: The storm produced 20-26 in. of rain in parts of Wood, Smith, Harris, Upshur, Gregg, Marion, and Harrison Counties during the 8-day period Apr. 22-29. Most of the rain fell during a 72-hour period Apr. 22-25. The heaviest rains were centered over the Gilmer-Harleton area. At Gladewater, 22.74 in. fell during 60 hours. At least 25 persons lost their lives in the flood. Total damage was estimated at $12 million.
1967, September 19 to 25; South Texas: Rainfall produced by Hurricane Beulah (Category 5) caused floods of record-breaking magnitude on many streams in a 50,000 mi2 area of southern Texas and northeastern Mexico in September and October. The hurricane crossed the Texas coastline near Brownsville about daybreak September 20 and dissipated in the mountains of northern Mexico September 22. During September 19-25, as much as 25.5 in. of rain was measured at Falls City in Karnes County. Unofficial measurements were as much as 34 in. on the Nueces River Basin. The rains produced historically significant peak discharges at several streamflow-gaging stations. The storm covered about 39 counties in Texas, causing 44 deaths and $145 million in damages.
1970, May 14 to 15; San Marcos Vicinity: This storm produced at least 18 inches and caused two deaths and about flooded 400 homes in the San Marcos area... Read More ..
1972, May 11 to 12; New Braunfels: During a 4-hour period, 16 in. of rain fell in the San Marcos area in Hays and Caldwell Counties.The National Weather Service reports that about 12 in. of rain fell in about 1 hour. Seventeen lives were lost to the rampaging floodwaters that inundated 400 homes and caused about $17.5 million in damages.
1973, June 12 to 13; Southeast Texas: massive storm in the area of Houston, Liberty, and Conroe produced 10-15 in. of rain. About 10 deaths occurred and about $50 million in damages.
1976, June 15; South Houston: The majority of rain fell on a small area. Hunting Bayou at Loop 610 recorded 10.2 in. during 6 hours. Floodwaters caused eight deaths and damages exceeded $25 million.
1978, August 1 to 4; Central Texas: Rain initiated by the remnants of Tropical Storm Amelia fell over Central Texas Aug. 1- 4. Rainfall of more than 48 in. near Medina in Bandera County established a U.S. record of extreme point rainfall for a 72-hour period. A second storm resulted from the interaction of a cold front with a maritime air mass producing 32.5 in. at Albany in Shackelford County, with 23 in. during the 8 hours ending 2:00 a.m. Aug. 4. Major flooding occurred on the Medina and Guadalupe Rivers. Thirty-three lives were lost, and total damages reportedly exceeded $110 million.
1979, April 18 to 21; Parts of Upper Coast: Some of the worst flooding ever to hit Montgomery County resulted from rains Apr. 18 that totaled 12 in. or more in less than 12 hours. About 10 in. was recorded during 3 hours at Splendora. As much as 14 in. was recorded in the vicinity of Conroe during an 8-hour period beginning just before dawn. Almost 2,000 residents were evacuated from their homes. The storm caused $50 million of damages in Conroe and another $50 million in other parts of Montgomery County.
1979, July 24 to 28; East Texas and Upper Coast: Continuous, torrential rains fell in the eastern upper coast and southeastern Texas for almost 48 hours causing major flooding that closed streets and highways and forced hundreds of residents from their homes. Rainfall totals of 10-20 in. for 2 and 3 days were common. Alvin in Brazoria County recorded the maximum 24-hour rainfall on record for the United States of 43 in.
1980, August 5 to 12; Southeast Texas: Almost all of the southern one-fourth of Texas had at least 5 in. of rain from Hurricane Allen. Three-day rainfall totals exceeding 15 in. were reported in parts of Jim Wells and Hidalgo Counties and around Aransas Pass. Three people drowned in the storm surge, and damage to property was estimated at $650-700 million.
1980, September 5 to 10; Central and East Texas: Tropical Storm Danielle produced torrential rains over a large part of Texas. Jefferson and Orange Counties had 12-16 in. of rain. In Kimble County, downpours of 25 in. caused massive flooding along the Llano River. The San Angelo area in Tom Green County had 5-9 in. of rain. The effects of Danielle were felt as far west as Big Bend National Park, where 4-8 in. fell. Floodwaters damaged about 900 homes, 175 businesses, and hundreds of automobiles. Kimble, Mason, Menard, and Llano Counties had damages totaling $20 million.
1981, May 24 to 25; Austin Vicinity: A short-duration, intense rainfall caused the worst flooding since 1935 on many of the small watersheds in and around Austin. The rainfall began at 9:30 p.m. May 24 and ended shortly before midnight May 25. Some locations had more than 10 in. of rain during 4 hours. Thirteen people drowned in flash flooding, and property damage was reported at $35.5 million. .. read more...
1981, October 10 to 14; North-Central Texas and Oklahoma: The storm extended in a southwest-to-northeast direction from near Abilene to near McAlester, Okla. Maximum recorded rainfall was 23 in. during 34 hours about 5 mi north of Clyde, Tex. Numerous areas reported rains exceeding 10 in. Six lives were lost, and damage was about $115 million.
1984, October 19; Jim Wells, Nueces, Refugio, and San Patricio Counties: Strong thunderstorms along a stationary front north of Corpus Christi produced heavy downpours October 19 that resulted in serious flash flooding. Odem in San Patricio County had an unofficial total of 25 in. during a 3.5-hour period, making the event one of the largest depths for this duration in the United States. .. read more...
1987, May 29 to June 13; South-Central Texas: Two weeks of intense rainfall in south-central Texas caused flooding in the Medina, Colorado, Guadalupe, and San Antonio River Basins. ...read more...
1987, July 16 to 17; Hill Country: During the evening July 16 and early morning July 17, storms produced flash floods across seven counties north and northwest of San Antonio. Heavy rains in Kerrville began at 4:00 a.m., and by dawn 3.3 in. had fallen. As much as 11.50 in. of rain fell at Hunt, with 5-10 in. on surrounding areas. Flooding caused tragic loss of life when a church bus filled with 39 teenagers and 4 adults was swept into a raging river. Ten persons drowned and the remaining 33 were rescued by helicopter. ...read more...
1989, May 16 to 19; Upper Coast and North Texas: Houston Intercontinental Airport recorded 10.28 in. May 17-18. Spring recorded more than 15 in. during a 24-hour period May 17-18. Widespread rains caused flooding that resulted in five deaths and total damages of about $50 million. ...read more...
1989, June 26 to July 7; Southwest Texas: Tropical Storm Allison caused torrential rains of 10-15 in. from Houston to Beaumont. Houston Intercontinental Airport recorded 10.34 in. during 24 hours.
1991, December 18 to 23; Central Texas: Record-breaking peak discharges were recorded at several streamflow-gaging stations in a large area of central Texas Dec. 18-23. Daily rainfall totals exceeded 4 in. at numerous locations. Maximum recorded 24-hour rainfall was 8.6 in., and maximum recorded 12-hour rainfall was 7.3 in., both at Evant in Coryell County. Medina had 15.59 in. during 5 days. Ten deaths were attributed to the flooding. The Federal Emergency Management Agency dispensed about $43 million. ...read more...
1994, October 15 to 19; Southeast Texas: A tropical, mid-latitude rainfall of unusual proportion on a 30 to 35 county area of southeast Texas resulted in catastrophic flooding. The intense rainfalls totaled more than 25 in. at several locations and more than 8 in. on much of southeast Texas. Flooding caused 18 deaths and property damage was estimated to be about $700 million.
1995, May 29; Montgomery County: Up to 19 in. of rainfall caused flooding on Cypress and Spring Creeks and the West and East Forks of San Jacinto River. About 16,000 homes were damaged and 22 flood deaths were reported. ...read more...
1998, October 17 to 18; South-Central Texas: Up to 30 in. of rainfall occurred in a 2-day period-about 5,000 mi2 in parts of 19 counties received at least 8 in. of rain. Thirteen streamflow-gaging stations in the Guadalupe and San Antonio River Basins recorded peak discharges equal to or greater than the 100-year peak and record-breaking peak discharges were recorded at 11 of the stations. Thirty-two lives were lost and property damage was estimated to be $500 million. ...read more...
2000 - 2001
2001, June 6 to 9; Southeast Texas: Twenty-seven counties were declared federal disaster areas after as much as 36 inches of rainfall from Tropical Storm Allison fell on the area. Twenty-three deaths occurred. Damages claimed at least 5,000 buildings, about 10,000 homes, and were assessed at about $5 billion dollars.
1886, Jan 6-11 - The January 1886 Blizzard was caused by a strong extratropical cyclone which initially dropped southeast across Texas before strengthening while it moved through the South and East, near the Eastern Seaboard through New England. Across the Texas Panhandle, at least five die due to exposure on January 6. A mix of rain, sleet, and snow fell in Jasper, AL, on January 8 and 9. Savannah, GA, reported a light snowfall for the first time in six years. On January 8, Fort Macon, NC, registered winds up to 62 miles per hour (100 km/h) from the southwest. A significant chunk of arctic air from the north filtered down into the South in the wake of this system. Portions of North Carolina saw temperatures fall well below 0 °F (-18 °C) from Jan 11 through 14, with readings as low at -18 °F (-28 °C) in Wilkes County, NC, on Jan 12.[33]
1899, Feb. 11 - The Great Blizzard of 1899 was an unprecedented winter storm that affected the southern United States. Record low temperatures for February were reported across the US. Atlanta, Ga: -9 °F (-23 °C) all-time record low, Fort Logan, MT: -61 °F (-51 °C), Dallas, TX: -8 °F (-22 °C), all-time record low, Gainesville, FL: 6 °F (-14 °C) all-time record low, Harrison, AK: -24 °F (-31 °C), all-time record low, Raleigh, NC: -2 °F (-19 °C), Santuc, SC: -11 °F (-24 °C) and Marienville, PA: -40 °F and C.[Ref]
1905, Feb 1-15, During the 1905 Arctic Outbreak the average high was 21° F with an average low of 4° F, there were 7 days when the high was less the 20° F. The lowest high was -2° F. The coldest recorded temperature was -15° F, the coldest wind chill was -43° F.[Ref]
1933, February; The Siberian Express of 1933 began on the steppes of Russia with the coldest temperatures ever recorded in the Northern Hemisphere. In Seneca, Oregon the temperature fell to -54° F on Feb. 10, Seminole Texas recorded a low of -
23° F on Feb 8, and Riverside R.S., Wyoming fell to -66° F on Feb. 9, 1933.[Ref1][Ref2]
1938, April 6-8; The Blizzard of 1838, also known as the 84-hour blizzard (3-1/2 days), occurred across the eastern half of the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. There were 8 fatalities, 7 in Pampa, Texas, and 1 in the Oklahoma Panhandle. Pampa experienced sustained winds of 77 mph and true white out conditions brought all transportation to a standstill.[Ref]
1940, Nov 23-25; The 1940 Great Ice Storm was considered the worst ice storm in the nation through 1940. Freezing rain (heavy at times) or drizzle fell for 2 ½ days coating power lines with ice from 2 to 6 inches in circumference. The power lines weighed as much as 13 lbs per linear foot. Communications and power failed completely in the panhandles for up to 3 days. The Amarillo, Texas, city water supply was down for 3 days.
[Ref]
1956, Feb 1-8; The snowstorm of February 1956 saw the largest “unofficial” snow totals occurred in the Panhandles. Vega, Texas, reported 43 inches, Hereford recorded 24 inches and Amarillo reported 14 inches of snow. There were 23 fatalities numerous injuries. Hundreds of cattle died due to the storm, feed and supplies for cattle had to be airlifted in.[Ref]
1957, March 22-25; The 1957 Blizzard was the worst spring blizzard in record and caused 11 fatalities in the panhandle. There were numerous injuries, $6 million in damage. The Texas Panhandle reported 30 foot drifts while the Oklahoma Panhandle reported 15 foot drifts. Twenty percent of the panhandles cattle were killed by the storm.[Ref]
1978, Dec 29 - 1979, Jan 11; During the Arctic Outbreaks, The average high was 20° F with an average low of 5°, there were 6 days when the high was less the 20° F. The lowest high was 6° F. The coldest wind chill was -45° F. The longest continuous period of below freezing was 13 days, 5 hours. January 1979 was the coldest month on record with an average temperature of 37.2° F.[Ref1][Ref2]
2007, Dec 8 - 18 - The Mid-December 2007 North American winter storms were a series of winter storms that affected much of central and eastern North America. The systems affected areas from Oklahoma to Newfoundland and Labrador with freezing rain, sleet, snow, damaging winds, blizzard-like conditions, thunderstorms and Tornado in Georgia and Florida. Vinita, Oklahoma reported 1.25 in (3.2 cm) inches of ice, while Spearman, Texas reported up to 0.50 inches. On Dec 15-16, 8 confirmed Tornado were reported in Georgia and Florida resulting in 1 death in GA.[Ref]
2007, Jan 11-24 - The January 2007 North American ice storm was a severe ice storm that affected a large of North America from the Rio Grande Valley in Texas to New England and southeastern Canada. The first wave occurred between Jan 11, 2007 through January 16. This was followed by a second wave in the Southern United States from Texas to the Carolinas from January 16 through January 18 and a third one that hit the southern Plains and mid-Atlantic states as well as Newfoundland and Labrador from January 19 to January 24. The storm resulted in at least 74 deaths across 12 U.S. states and 3 Canadian provinces, and caused hundreds of thousands of residents across the U.S and Canada to lose electric power. In Oklahoma, 40,000 customers lost power on Jan 12. After additional waves of ice and sleet, 120,000 customers were without power (60 000 of them for over a week). Freezing rain hit the Carolinas on Jan. 17th and 18th, leading to school closures in both states. In North Carolina police reported over 600 traffic accidents, including two resulting in fatalities. [Ref]
2007, April 13-17 - The Spring Nor'easter of 2007 was a nor'easter that affected mainly the eastern parts of North America. The combined effects of high winds, heavy rainfall, and high tides led to flooding, storm damages, power outages, and evacuations, and disrupted traffic and commerce and resulted min at least 13 fatalities. There were 36 confirmed tornadoes in the Southern States, 15 EF0, 16 EF1, 4 EF2 and 1 EF3 in Sumter County, SC. Tornadoes struck Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas.[Ref]
2008, March 6-5 - The North American blizzard of 2008 was a winter storm that struck most of southern and eastern North America. The storm produced heavy snow fall, rain and 13 confirmed tornadoes In Florida, Georgia and Texas. Ottawa, ON received 19 inches of snow between March 7 and 9. Memphis, TN received 5 to 7 inches while Sherman, Texas received 9 inches (230 mm), and Collinsville, Texas, got 8 inches. Some areas of Arkansas received up to a foot of snow.[Ref]
2009, Dec 22-28 - The 2009 North American Christmas blizzard was powerful winter storm and severe weather event that produced snow fall, Freezing rain, flooding and 15 confirmed tornadoes in Louisiana and Texas. Little Rock, Arkansas reported 6.89 inches of rain. Oklahoma declared a state of emergency after blizzard conditions killed 3 people and dropped 19 inches of snow.[Ref]
2010, Feb 1-6 - The February 5-6, 2010 North American blizzard formed on February 1, 2010 and moved ashore on the West Coast near Baja California Sur, Mexico, and moved north east. The storm moved off the east coast on Feb 6, 2010. The storm brought a mixture of snow, sleet, freezing rain, and flooding, in Mexico the heavy rains resulting in at least 15 fatalities. The storm affected Arizona and New Mexico from February 1 to 4 with up to 1 foot of snow in the mountains east of Albuquerque, New Mexico. On February 4, Oklahoma and northern Texas saw rain and snow, with severe thunderstorms further south. Feb. 4 brought widespread rainfall totals of 1 inch to 4 inches of rain were reported in portions of Central and Southern Mississippi. Jackson, MS, broke a daily rainfall record with 2.51 inches (6.4 cm) of rainfall. On Friday Feb, 5., power outages effecting about 40,000 customers, were reported in the North Carolina's mountain counties as the winter storm brought a mixture of snow, sleet and freezing rain to much of the state. A drenching rain fell early Friday in the Charlotte, NC, and in Atlanta, GA, which transitioned to a few inches of snow later in the day, while several inches of snow accumulated farther north. To the north, Howard, MD, received 38.3 inches of snow, while Washington Dulles International Airport measured 32.9 inches. Fatalities occurred in to Mexico, New Mexico, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Maryland. The storm was classed as a Category 3 (“major”) nor'easter and severe weather event. [Ref]
2010, Oct 23 - Nov 5 - The October 2010 North American storm complex was a Extratropical cyclone, Blizzard and Tornado outbreak. The storm brought a major serial derecho stretching from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes, a widespread tornado outbreak across the Southeast United States and Midwest and a blizzard across portions of the Canadian Prairies and the Dakotas. The heaviest snow fell in St. Louis County, Minnesota where 9 inches (22.5 cm) of snow fell. The storm produced 69 tornadoes, 8 rated as EF2s. Tornadoes struck Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia and Wisconsin. No fatalities where reported.[Ref]
2011, Jan 8 - 13; The January 8-13, 2011 North American Blizzard was a major nor'easter, winter storm, and a New England blizzard. The storm also affected the Southeastern regions of the United States. Jan 8 through Jan 10, the storm dropped snow and ice across Eastern Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. Savoy, Massachusetts reported 40.5" of snow. Portions of Connecticut received 20 to 30" of snow.[Ref]
2011, Jan 31 - Feb 2 - The January 31 - February 2, 2011 North Americanwinter storm was situated around the US and Canada on Groundhog Day. The storm was rank as a Category 5 on the Regional Snowfall Index. The heavy snowfall, along with sleet and some freezing rain, began developing over Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle on the evening of January 31. The storm brought cold air, heavy snowfall, blowing snow, and mixed precipitation on a path from New Mexico and northern Texas to New England and Eastern Canada. The cold wave behind the storm's cold front left temperatures plunging to -18 °C (0 °F) in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, and in the mountain area plunging to -9 °F, resulting in the deaths of at least six people in the coldest temperatures recorded in the area in at least half a century. In Chihuahua City, the temperature dropped to -1 °F. In New Mexico, up to two feet of snow fell in the Sangre de Cristo, and the Central Mountain Chain, while up to 6 inches fell in Albuquerque. Temperatures across Oklahoma on February 1st and 2nd hovered in the single digits to mid-teens with winds gust to near 60 miles per hour at times creating ground blizzard conditions across the eastern half of the state. In Texas, Dallas and Houston, experienced significant snowfall or ice accumulation. The state of Texas also experienced rolling blackouts due to the high demand for electricity.[Ref]
2012, Dec 25-26; The December 25-28, 2012 North American storm complex was a massive Extratropical cyclone, Blizzard and Tornado outbreak across the southern and eastern United States. On Christmas Day 2012, 30 confirmed tornadoes occurred in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Two of the tornadoes were rated as EF3. On Dec 26, an EF1 tornado touchdown north of Beaufort, NC. This tornado outbreak occurred in conjunction with a much larger winter storm event that brought blizzard conditions to much of the interior United States. There were 16 fatalities as a result of the related blizzard, and thousands were without power.[Ref1]
2014, Jan. 27-31; The January 2014 Gulf Coast winter storm was a winter storm that impacted the eastern and southeastern United States, as well as Mexico. Freezing rain and sleet were recorded in cites along the Gulf Coast including Houston, TX, New Orleans, LA, Mobile, AL and Tallahassee, FL. On Jan 27, warnings were issued for Atlanta'a south metro area, while the central region (from east to west) was placed under a winter weather advisory. At 3:38 AM, on Jan. 28, the winter storm warning was expanded northward. A tweet issued by the NWSFO in Peachtree City at 3:08 pm and repeated on the local news read: “Winter precip will make travel risky across GA midday Tues into Weds. Not a bad idea to stay off the roads if you're able!”. Many believed that the storm would not occur until midday and planned accordingly. The NWSFO was correct in its forecast, but the roads became slippery faster than anyone anticipated. Thinking they would have time to get home before the road condition deteriorated, many business and school systems planned to work a half day. The results was a higher than normal volume of traffic on the Atlanta roads and with the slippery conditions and hilly terrain in Atlanta, traffic stooped. Many people were not able to reach their homes and had to find shelter where they could. Coastal South Carolina got some of the freezing rain that closed bridges around Charleston, SC. The Outer Banks of North Carolina and the Tidewater region of southeastern Virginia received significant snows.[Ref]
2014, Feb. 11-17; The North American winter storm of 2014, was a snow and ice storm that affected the American South and East Coast. Damage was estimated at $15 million+ and there were 22 fatalities. Four people died in traffic accidents in Texas due to ice, and in Round Rock, TX, on February 11, a single accident resulting from ice on a bridge affected 20 vehicles. Mississippi had two deaths attributed to the weather. Several tractor-trailers jackknifed on Interstate 65 in northeast Alabama. Catoosa County, GA, reported 11 inches of snow from the storm.[Ref]
