April 2011 Review

April 2011 Review

From wildfires and drought to tornadoes and hail, there were numerous weather headlines during April 2011.

A severe weather event began the evening of April 10. During the early morning hours April 11, two tornadoes were spotted in Johnson County, including one in Alvarado. There were also confirmed tornadoes in Forney (Kaufman County) and in Hunt County.

Another severe weather event followed on April 14 with numerous hailstorms. Hail as large as 2 inches in diameter impacted portions of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The strong cyclone that produced the severe weather brought strong gusty winds to North Texas the following day.

On April 15, wind gusts in excess of 50 mph spread numerous large wildfires across hundreds of square miles. (The image below shows the smoke being carried by the strong winds.) The massive wildfire at Possum Kingdom Lake charred nearly 150,000 acres. The blaze consumed 166 homes and 2 churches before finally being contained nearly 2 weeks later.

Consecutive days of severe weather ended with one of the more prolific tornado outbreaks in recent years. On April 23, a tornado was spotted in Comanche County. Several more tornadoes were reported on April 25. This included twisters in Erath, Somervell, Johnson, Ellis, and Hill as well as tornadoes in Limestone, Freestone, and Leon. The tornado outbreak continued on April 26 with the tornadic storms shown below.

Perhaps lost amidst the fires and tornadic storms were the consistently warm temperatures during the month.

DFW Temps - April 2011 Waco Temps - April 2011

April 2011 ranks among the warmest on record for both Dallas/Fort Worth and Waco. Waco recorded its warmest average high temperature on record.

Dallas/Fort Worth - April Temperatures

Rank	Temperature	Year
Highest Maximum
1	83.2	2006
2	83.0	1948
3	82.7	1930
4	82.4	1925
5	82.3	2011
6	82.1	1972
7	81.3	1963
8 (tie)	81.0	1967
8 (tie)	81.0	1954
10	80.7	1955

Rank	Temperature	Year
Highest Average
1	72.2	1925
2	72.0	2006
3 (tie)	71.1	1967
	71.1	1948
	71.1	1930
6	70.8	2011
7	70.7	1954
8	70.4	1963
9	70.1	1972
10	69.6	1955

Rank	Temperature	Year
Highest Minimum
1	62.0	1925
2	61.2	1967
3	60.8	2006
4	60.3	1954
5 (tie)	59.5	1963
5 (tie)	59.5	1930
7	59.4	2002
8	59.2	2011
9	59.1	1948
10	59.0	2001

Waco - April Temperatures

Rank	Temperature	Year
Highest Maximum
1	86.1	2011
2	85.6	1925
3	85.4	1902
4	84.4	2006
5	84.1	1930
6	83.4	1948
7	83.1	1954
8 (tie)	82.9	1972
	82.9	1967
	82.9	1963

Rank	Temperature	Year
Highest Average
1	75.1	1925
2	74.0	1967
3	72.8	2006
4	72.5	2011
5 (tie)	72.0	1963
5 (tie)	72.0	1954
7 (tie)	71.9	1965
7 (tie)	71.9	1930
9 (tie)	71.7	1929
9 (tie)	71.7	1902

Thunderstorms Across the Southeast U.S.; Elevated to Locally Critical Fire Weather in Colorado

April 2011 Review