Texas Almanac, 1986-1987 Page: 69
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WEATHER IN TEXAS 69
May 3, 1948: Tornado, McKinney, Collin County; 3
killed, 43 injured; S2,000,000 damage.
May 15, 1949: Tornado, Amarillo and vicinity. Six
killed, 83 injured. Total damage from tornado, wind
and hail, 55,310,000. Total destruction over one block by
three block area in southern part of city; airport and 45
airplanes damaged; 28 railroad boxcars blown off
track.
Oct. 3-4, 1949: Hurricane, Freeport. Maximum wind
speed at Freeport estimated at 135 miles per hour.
Maximum wind measured at the Houston airport, 90
miles per hour. Tide at Freeport reached 11.5 feet mean
sea level; 2 killed; damage in Texas $6,500,000.
Sept. 8-10,. 1952: Rainstorm. Heavy rains over the
Colorado and Guadalupe River watersheds in south-
western Texas caused major flooding. From 23 to 26
inches fell between Kerrville, Blanco and Boerne. Highest
stages ever known occurred in the Pedernales River; 5
lives lost, 3 injured; 17 homes destroyed, 454 damaged.
Property loss several million dollars.
March 13, 1953: Tornado. Jud and O'Brien, Haskell
County; and Knox City, Knox County; 17 killed, 25 in-
jured; damage $600,000.
May 11, 1953: Tornado. Near San Angelo, Tom Green
County. Eleven killed, 159 injured; damage $3,239,000.
May 11, 1953: Tornado. Waco, McLennan County; 114
killed, 597 injured; damage $41,150,000. One of two most
disastrous tornadoes; 150 homes destroyed, 900 homes
damaged; 185 other buildings destroyed; 500 other
buildings damaged.
June 26-28, 1954: Tropical Storm. Hurricane Alice
moved in from the Gulf south of Brownsville up the Rio
Grande. Heaviest rains were in the Langtry-Shef-
field-Ozona area, where as much as 27.10 inches of rain
fell in 48 hours near Pandale. This resulted in the great-
est flood on the middle Rio Grande since June, 1865.
Rises of 50 to 60 feet, or 30 to 40 feet above flood stage,
within 48 hours, occurred at Eagle Passand at Laredo. An
86-foot wall of water in the Pecos River canyon washed
out the highway bridge that had been erected 50 feet
above the river. The international bridge at Laredo was
washed out. Most of the deaths and severe property
damage were in Mexico.
Feb. 1-5, 1956. Blizzard. Northwestern Texas. On
Feb. 1, a blizzard moved into the Panhandle and South
Plains, disrupting all transportation. Snow and wind
continued through Feb. 5. The snowfall was the heaviest
on record in Texas. Hale Center received a total of 33.0
inches, Feb. 2-5, the greatest for a single storm. Twenty
deaths.
March 22-25, 1957: Blizzard. Texas Panhandle. The
storm caused heavy livestock losses. All transportation
facilities halted and about 4,000 persons were ma-
rooned. Ten persons died.
April 2, 1957: Tornado. Dallas, Dallas County; 10
killed, 200 injured; damage 4,000,000. Moving through
Oak Cliff and West Dallas, it damaged 574 buildings,
largely homes.
April-May, 1957: Torrential Rains. Excessive flooding
occurred throughout the area east of the Pecos River to
the Sabine River during the last 10 days of April; 17 lives
were lost, and several hundred homes were destroyed.
During May,' more than 4,000 persons were evacuated
from unprotected lowlands on the West Fork of the
Trinity above Fort Worth and along creeks in Fort
Worth. Twenty-nine houses at Christoval were damaged
or destroyed and 83 houses and furnishings at San An-
gelo were damaged. Five persons were drowned in
floods in South Central Texas.
May 15, 1957: Tornado. Silverton, Briscoe County; 21
killed, 80 injured; damage 5500,000.
June 27, 1957: Hurricane Audrey. Center crossed the
Gulf coast near the Texas-Louisiana line. Orange was in
the western portion of the eye between 9 and 10 a.m. In
Texas, nine lives were lost, 450 persons injured; proper-
ty damage was 58,000,000. Damage was extensive in Jef-
ferson and Orange Counties;with less in Chambers and
Galveston Counties. Maximum wind reported in Texas,
85 m.p.h. at Sabine Pass, with gusts to 100 m.p.h.
March 31, 1959: Tornado. Vaughan and Bynum, Hill
County. Six killed, 31 injured; Vaughan was almost com-
pletely destroyed.
Oct. 28, 1960: Rainstorm. Rains of 7-10 inches fell in
South Central Texas; 11 died from drowning in flash
floods. In Austin about 300 families were driven from
their homes. Damage in Austin was estimated at
52,500,000.
Sept. 8-14, 1961: Hurricane Carla. Port O'Connor;
maximum wind gust at Port Lavaca estimated at 175
miles per hour. Highest tide was 18.5 feet at Port Lavaca.Most damage was to coastal counties between Corpus
Christi and Port Arthur and inland Jackson, Harris and
Wharton Counties. In Texas, 34 persons died; 7 in a tor-
nado that swept across Galveston Island; 465 persons
were injured. Property and crop damage conservative-
ly estimated at 5300,000,000. The evacuation of an esti-
mated 250,000 persons kept loss of life low. Hurricane
Carla was the largest hurricane of record.
TEXAS DROUGHTS, 1892-1984
The following table shows the duration and extent
of Texas droughts by major areas, 1892-1984. For this
purpose, droughts are arbitrarily defined as when the
division has less than 75 per cent of the 1931-1960 aver-
age precipitation. The 1931-60 average precipitation is
shown at the bottom of the table for each area, in
inches. A short table which follows shows the frequency
of droughts in each area and the total years of droughts
in the area. No climatic subdivision had less than 75 per
cent of average rainfall in 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969,
1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981,
1982,. 1983 or 1984.
-
> I .J zu wl- -a wa U 0 >
1892 ..... ... ... 68 ... ... .73 .
1893.... .... 67 70 ... 49 56 64 53 59
1894. ... .......... 68 ................
1897. . .. ... ... ..... . ... 73 ... 72 .
1898 . .. .. .. .. ... ... ... ... .... 69 51
1901 .. .. 71 70... ... 60 62 70 44 .
1902... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 65 73
1907 ... .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 65
1909... .. ... . 72 68 67 74 70 ... ... ...
1910 ... 59 59 64 69 43 65 69 74 59
1911 . . .. ... . .. .. . . ... .. . .. . .. 70
1916... .. 73 ... 74 70 ... 73 69 .
1917 ... 58 50 63 59 44 46 42 50 32 48
1920... .. ... .. .... . . ... ... ... .... 71
1921... . ... ... . .. 72 ... .... .... ... 73
1922....... ......68 ...............
1924 ....... 73 73 ... 1 71 . 72 .
1925 ... .. 72 ... . ... ... 72 ... ... ...
1927..... ... ... ... ... ... ... .. 74 ... 74
1933... 72 ... ... ... 62 68 .... ... ..
1934... 66 ... ... .... 46 69 ....... ... ..
1937. .. .. ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 72 .
1939... .. ... ... .. ... .. . 69 .. .. ... 72
1943:.. .. ... 72 .....................
1948... .. ... 73 74 62 ... 73 67 ...
1950... .. ... ... ... ... ... 68 .. 74 64
1951... .. ...1 ...53 .... 61 .... ....
1952... 68 66 ... ... 73 ... ... .... 56 70
1953... 69 ... ... ... 49 73 ....... ... ..
1954... 70 71 68 73 ... 50 50 57 71 .
1956.. 51 57 61 68 44 43 55 62 53 53
1962.... . ... ... ... ... 68 ... ... 67 65
1963... .... ..63 68 ... 65 61 73.
1964... 74 ... ... ... 69 ... ... ... .... 63
1970... 65 63 ...... .....72 ....... ... ..
1931-1960 Normal (inches) - 18.51, 22.99, 32.93, 45.96,
12.03, 25.91, 33.24; 46.19, 22.33, 24.27.
1941-1970 Normal (inches) - 18.59, 23.18, 32.94, 45.37,
11.57, 23.94, 33.03, 46.43, 21.95, 23.44.
1951-1980 Normal (inches) - 17.73, 22.80, 32.14, 44.65,
11.65, 23.52, 34.03, 45.93, 22.91, 24.73.
DROUGHT FREQUENCY
This table shows the number of years of drought
and the number of separate droughts. For example, the
High Plains has had 10 drought years, consisting of five
1-year droughts, one 2-year .drought and one 3-year
drought, for a total of seven droughts.
Years
1 ......... .5 6 8 6 5 7 10 8 9 13
2.........1 1 2 2 4 4 2 2 2 1
3 ......... 1 1 .. .
Total
Droughts . 7 10 8 10 11 12 10 11 14
Drought
Years ....10 8 12 16 5 14 12 13 15
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Texas Almanac, 1986-1987, book, 1985; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth113818/m1/71/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.