{"id":70207,"date":"2026-05-01T23:05:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T23:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/?p=70207"},"modified":"2026-05-04T15:52:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T15:52:35","slug":"severe-thunderstorms-along-the-south-texas-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cimss.ssec.wisc.edu\/satellite-blog\/archives\/70207","title":{"rendered":"Severe thunderstorms along the South Texas coast"},"content":{"rendered":"
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GOES-19 Visible images (0.64 \u00b5m, left) and Infrared images (10.3 \u00b5m, right) with time-matched (+\/- 5 minutes) plots of SPC Storm Reports (T=tornado; A100=hail 1.00″ in diameter; W=wind damage; W119=wind gust 119 mph), from 1841-2031 UTC on 01 May [click to play animated GIF]<\/p><\/div>\n

5-minute CONUS Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East)<\/em>\u00a0Visible and Infrared images (above)<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0showed a couplet of thunderstorm cells that moved toward the South Texas coast during the afternoon hours on 01 May 2026<\/strong><\/a> — which produced hail, an EF1-rated tornado and damaging wind gusts as high as 119 mph (SPC Storm Reports<\/strong><\/a> | NWS Corpus Christi damage survey<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n

GOES-19 Infrared images (below)<\/em><\/strong> showed 3 METAR sites (Victoria KVCT,\u00a0 Port Lavaca KPKV and Palacios KPSX ) that were directly affected by these thunderstorm cells — and depicted the rapid cooling followed by the warming of cloud-top infrared brightness temperatures over the course of about 1 hour.<\/p>\n

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GOES-19 Infrared (10.3 \u00b5m) images with plots of 15-minute METAR surface reports, from 1856-2006 UTC on 01 May [click to play MP4 animation]<\/p><\/div>\n

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GOES-19 Infrared (10.3 \u00b5m) image at 1931 UTC on 01 May, with a cursor sample of the coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperature [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>\n

The coldest cloud-top infrared brightness temperature exhibited by the northernmost storm was -80.53\u00baC at 1931 UTC (above)<\/strong><\/em> — which represented a ~2.5 km overshoot of the Most Unstable (MU) air parcel’s Equilibrium Level (EL) to near the Maximum Parcel Level (MPL), according to a plot of rawinsonde data from Corpus Christi at 1800 UTC (below)<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Plot of rawinsonde data from Corpus Christi, Texas at 1800 UTC on 01 May [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>\n

GOES-19 Water Vapor images (below)<\/em><\/strong> revealed rather dry middle-tropospheric air (shades of yellow to orange) just west of the severe thunderstorms.<\/p>\n

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GOES-19 Water Vapor (6.9 \u00b5m) images with time-matched (+\/- 5 minutes) plots of SPC Storm Reports (cyan), from 1841-2031 UTC on 01 May; KCRP denotes the location of Corpus Christi [click to play animated GIF]<\/p><\/div>\n

As the dry middle-tropospheric air moved eastward in the wake of the severe thunderstorms, the DCAPE<\/strong><\/a> at Corpus Christi increased from 866 J\/kg at 1800 UTC to 1047 J\/kg six hours later at 0000 UTC (below)<\/strong><\/em> — indicative of an increasing tendency for the downward transport of strong winds aloft toward the surface.<\/p>\n

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Plots of rawinsonde data from Corpus Christi, Texas at 1800 UTC on 01 May and 0000 UTC on 02 May [click to enlarge]<\/p><\/div>\n\n\n

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Today's damage survey from Coleto Creek Rsvr southeast to Placedo and Point Comfort showed a 40 mile long swath of destructive straight-line winds of up to 120 mph as well as an EF-1 tornado southwest of Guadalupe by Jared and York Road. Read more here: https:\/\/t.co\/KQAv2AuDn1<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/lqjLj1sTjl<\/a><\/p>— NWS Corpus Christi (@NWSCorpus) May 3, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote>