HOUSTON — What's the deal with April 18th?
My personal opinion: what about it?
The above image was sent out last year by the National Weather Service and I saved it (and of course forgot about it). I came across it again almost exactly a year later and felt I'd do a write up on it.
While it seems impressive that so much has happened on that particular date, the same can be said for just about any date if you look back far enough.
April can be an active weather month as the seasons are in transition from cold and dry to warm and humid. Those colliding airmasses create an environment favorable for severe weather. This is normally the time of year we see large tornado outbreaks across tornado alley and dixie alley.
As we've seen over the past few years, heavy rain and floods aren't uncommon here. In fact the only thing that really stands out to me in the list above is the EF-3 tornado that developed near Lake Jackson in 1996. Tornadoes of that strength or stronger are very rare due to our more maritime environment. The only other tornado off hand that was stronger was the November 1992, F4 (before the advent of the EF-Scale) tornado that moved through Channelview leveling many homes.
That said, we are in the prime for severe weather as cold fronts come to Texas to die this time of year and any boundary that stalls out near us can focus heavy rain in our area causing flooding concerns. Always be weather aware, especially this time of year and be ready to act if warranted.
