The Texas Storm So Scary People Called It “Satan’s Storm”

When it rains, it can pour & it can pour HARD in Texas. There's a reason why we take rain seriously because it can cause property damage and, depending on where you live, it can cause headache inducing amounts of flooding. The thunderstorms that come with it can sometimes be beautiful but it can be deadly too. So deadly, it's almost like Satan himself has brought the wrath upon us.

That's not a hyperbole either. There really is a phenomena that occurs during thunderstorms that some people have nicknamed it a "Satan's Storm"; that includes the state of Texas.

What exactly are "Satan's Storm" and what causes it?

On rare occurrences, near the end of a thunderstorm's life span (usually during the night), sometimes the temperatures outside can spike upwards to several degrees (usually 10 to 30 degrees higher). These are called "heat bursts". As explained by the Weather Channel, this occurs when the rain inside a storm cloud evaporates and the cool air around sinks, then as its being squeezed by pressure, it heats up QUICKLY. This causes the pressure that reaches the ground to be very windy & very hot.

Because of the intense & rapid heat waves that can occur, some people have called heat bursts ""Satan's Storms", even though there's a scientific reason behind this.

As I mentioned, these are very rare but the one that people remember the most happened in a small town in Texas, just outside of Austin, in the summer of 1960.

The story of the 1960 Texas' "Satan Storm" .

On 15 June 1960, the town of Kopperl, Texas experienced a heat burst with temperatures reaching as high as 140 degrees Fahrenheit that occurred after a thunderstorm just after midnight. While no one was hurt, it certainly left an impact of the locals of this small town.

While the equipment to measure weather isn't as advanced as it is today, most weather experts will agree that this was one of the first (if not THE) documented cases of a heat burst in history.

Over 60 years later, it's still a talking point on various YouTube channels like Swegle Studios & as well as news stations. In fact you can even see some of the damage caused to crops & property the day afterwards.

Today heat bursts are STILL a thing; the most recent one to make the news was the 2012 Georgetown, SC heat burst where temperatures rose to over 100 degrees Fahrenheit and winds as high as 80 mph.

While the 1960 heat burst is the most well known, other notable heat bursts in state history include the 2018 Breckenridge heat burst (where temperatures reached from 86 to 99 degrees Fahrenheit) & the 2024 Lubbock heat wave (temperatures raised from 74 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit).

So next time you're outside in a thunderstorm, keep yourself from the wrath of Mother Nature (or in some extreme cases, the wrath of "Satan").

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