Hail — Hidalgo, Texas

2012-03-29 · near Edinburg Muni Arpt, Hidalgo, Texas

Event narrative

Up to an hour of continuous hail, driven by frequent winds estimated at 70 to 75 mph, knocked at least one window out of every north'facing home, defoliated nearly every tree, left up to a half foot of accumulated hail on the ground, and produced hail drifts up to 4 feet high. Numerous tree limbs were blown down, many homes had roof damage, and broken glass and water littered the north facing rooms and apartments. Hundreds of vehicles left outdoors were severely damaged by golf ball to baseball size hail dents, including many shattered windows.

Preliminary data estimate that 1100 homes and more than 60s businesses were affected by the wind and hail in McAllen, according to preliminary numbers released by the city commission. Included in these damage estimates are 26 city facilities, including McAllen's new public library and civic center. The City of McAllen's early estimates of cost to the city include: $187,000 to remove debris from neighborhood streets; $90,000 on repairing dozens of traffic signals; $13,000 on McAllen police overtime; $24,000 on McAllen Civic Center Auditorium's roof ' due to roof damage that allowed water to pour into the theater. During the first week after the storm, more than 40,000 cubic yards of debris was removed. That is 4 times the normal monthly amount for the city. The Urban Forestry Department of McAllen was forced to saw through more than 130 trees that line the city streets. McAllen Fire Department had two fire engines, two ladder trucks and one command vehicle damaged by hail. Strong winds peeled the roof off of part of a Hidalgo Police Department building, leading to minor flooding inside. Many school districts in the area were forced to close the following day/s due to flooding, these included: McAllen ISD, Sharyland ISD, and Mission ISD.

Insured and uninsured damages may tally $200 million ' or more; thousands of auto and home insurance claims had been made by the 1st of April. At Bert Ogden BMW dealership in McAllen, nearly 100% of the dealerships inventory was destroyed (77 cars), with the average vehicle cost of $50,000. The dealership building also suffered nearly $200,000 in damage. An estimated 2000 to 3000 acres of watermelons were wiped out.

Wider weather episode

Intense thunderstorms raked the highly populated McAllen/Edinburg/Mission area of Hidalgo County during the mid-evening of March 29th. The storms dumped hail up to the size of baseballs for more than half an hour, drove that hail with 70 to 75 mph winds, added 4 to 6 inches of torrential rains, and produced frequent cloud to ground lightning. Initial storms developed across the King Ranch during the mid afternoon of March 29th, and spread west into northern Hidalgo and Starr County by early evening. The storms, fed by warm, humid air near the surface, colder air aloft, and boundaries (providing lift) from earlier storms which moved across the Coastal Bend, appeared to have intensified further as they approached the highly populated Edinburg/McAllen/Mission area. One possibility why the storms intensified is the interaction with an upper level disturbance moving across northeast Mexico. This disturbance spawned dangerous storms in Nuevo Lon and Tamaulipas, and boundaries from these cells may have been the ultimate trigger to a night hundreds of thousands will not forget.

Damage totals have reached an estimated $200 million in property and crop damage. Updated tallies will be provided as information is received.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (26.2790, -98.2441)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 373680. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.