On Thursday afternoon, August 25th 2011, portions of the Coastal Bend of South Texas experienced strong to severe thunderstorms. Several clusters of thunderstorms moved southwest across the Coastal bend and produced winds between 40 and 70 mph. Isolated pockets of wind damage were the result. There was also a brief EF-0 tornado which touched down near Alamo Beach.
An upper level disturbance originating from Northeast Texas and Arkansas the day before had pushed into Southeast Texas by the morning of the 25th. This disturbance then moved southwestward into South Texas during the afternoon of the 25th. Meanwhile, the atmosphere across South Texas became increasingly moist and unstable throughout the afternoon as this disturbance moved into the area.
By 115 PM CDT, the first wave of thunderstorms begain moving into Victoria and Calhoun Counties from the northeast. Reports of winds up to 63 mph along with wind damage were reported shortly thereafter in Victoria county. As two boundaries collided in northern Calhoun county, a weak tornado developed in Alamo Beach. The tornado had winds up to 75 mph which damaged four homes. No injuries were reported with the tornado. The tornado had a path length of 1/4 mile and a path width of 100 yards. More information on the tornado can be found in a Public Information Statement.
Several intensifying clusters of thunderstorms then moved southwest into Refugio County by 230 PM CDT and into San Patricio County by 320 PM CDT. Although little damage was reported in these counties, the potential for severe straight-line winds was observed on Doppler radar from just to the north of Refugio to east of Sinton and then to Nueces Bay. A 67 mph wind gust at 250 feet was recorded on a wind turbine in San Patricio County as the storms pushed southward. A line of severe thunderstorms moved south into Nueces County by 4 PM CDT. A 59 mph wind gust was recorded at the Corpus Christi International Airport along an outflow boundary which was located just ahead of the actual rain and thunderstorms. Although no hail was reported during this event, large hail may have been present aloft as this hail spike indicates. The storms began to slowly weaken after 500 PM CDT as daytime heating began to wane.
Damage was fairly minimal throughout the region, although 3,000 customers did lose power during the storms. The storms did bring beneficial rainfall to most of drought-stricken South Texas.
Alamo Beach |
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON... ..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE.... ..REMARKS.. 0125 PM TORNADO 4 SE PORT LAVACA 28.57N 96.57W 08/25/2011 F0 CALHOUN TX NWS STORM SURVEY AN NWS SURVEY CONCLUDED A SHORT LIVED TORNADO TOUCHED DOWN IN ALAMO BEACH. MAXIMIMUM WINDS OF 75 MPH WERE ESTIMATED ALONG WITH A PATH LENTH OF 1/4 MILE AND PATH WIDTH OF 100 YARDS. THREE HOMES WERE OBSERVED TO HAVE MINOR ROOF AND SHINGLE DAMAGE. A FOURTH AND POORLY CONSTRUCTED TWO STORY MOBILE HOME SUSTAINED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE...WITH THE TOP STORY TAKEN OFF. NO INURIES OCCURRED WITH THIS TORNADO. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION PLEASE SEE THE PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT. 0130 PM TSTM WND DMG VICTORIA 28.82N 96.98W 08/25/2011 VICTORIA TX TRAINED SPOTTER ROOF DAMAGE...SEVERAL TREES DOWN AND SMALL TRAVEL CAMPER BLOWN OVER...2500 BLOCK OF LONE TREE STREET 0140 PM TSTM WND DMG 3 N VICTORIA 28.87N 96.98W 08/25/2011 VICTORIA TX LAW ENFORCEMENT TELEPHONE WIRES KNOCKED DOWN IN VICTORIA AT THE 1100 BLOCK OF SALEM ROAD AND 1000 BLOCK OF VIRGINIA 0147 PM TSTM WND GST INEZ 28.88N 96.78W 08/25/2011 M63.00 MPH VICTORIA TX TRAINED SPOTTER MEASURED THUNDERSTORM WIND GUST OF 63 MPH REPORTED IN INEZ,TX 0200 PM TSTM WND DMG SW VICTORIA 28.82N 96.98W 08/25/2011 VICTORIA TX PUBLIC PINE TREE 8 TO 10 INCHES IN DIAMETER DOWNED. TIME IS APPROX. 0200 PM LIGHTNING VICTORIA 28.82N 96.98W 08/25/2011 VICTORIA TX COUNTY OFFICIAL TWO SEPARATE HOUSE FIRES IN VICTORIA CAUSED BY LIGHTNING WITH STRUCTURAL DAMAGE AND ELECTRICAL PANELS BLOWN OUT. REPORTED BY RED CROSS. 0315 PM TSTM WND DMG 6 ESE BEEVILLE 28.37N 97.66W 08/25/2011 BEE TX TRAINED SPOTTER TREES DOWN NEAR CHASE FIELD. TIME IS APPROX. 0320 PM TSTM WND DMG BEEVILLE 28.41N 97.75W 08/25/2011 BEE TX TRAINED SPOTTER POWERLINES AND WIRES BLOWN DOWN INTO TREES IN ALMOST MIDDLE OF TOWN. TIME IS APPROX. 0330 PM TSTM WND DMG 3 NW TAFT 28.01N 97.43W 08/25/2011 SAN PATRICIO TX PUBLIC POWERPOLE BLOWN DOWN ON RAILROAD TRACK. 0357 PM TSTM WND GST 1 W CORPUS CHRISTI 27.77N 97.52W 08/25/2011 M59.00 MPH NUECES TX ASOS 59 MPH GUST RECORDED AT CORPUS CHRISTI ASOS. CORRECETED FOR LAT/LONG. 0358 PM WATER SPOUT 5 N CORPUS CHRISTI 27.78N 97.29W 08/25/2011 GMZ230 TX TRAINED SPOTTER BRIEF WATERSPOUT REPORTED ON CORPUS CHRISTI BAY. REPORT STATED IT HAD LIFTED. 0406 PM MARINE TSTM WIND 4 NNE CORPUS CHRISTI 27.83N 97.49W 08/25/2011 M44.00 MPH GMZ230 TX MESONET NUECES BAY TCOON STATION REPORTED GUST TO 38 KTS...44 MPH.