Tornados, days and days of scorching heat, ferocious winds, dangerous ice and wily microbursts.

West Central Texas typically has no shortage of weather events, but 2023 was especially noteworthy in the Big Country and the Concho Valley.

This swath of Texas endured so much weather in 2023 that National Weather Service meteorologists and forecasters keeping watch over the San Angelo and Abilene areas doubled their annual list of top weather events, according to a media release from Mike Castillo, warning coordination meteorologist.

The 2023 list has 10 events, instead of five, to accurately reflect the number of significant events.

1. Widespread wind damage June 21 in the Big Country

A small complex of severe thunderstorms moved quickly southeast across the Big Country. The highestrecorded wind gust was 95 mph in Fisher County five miles west of Rotan.

Wind damage occurred in several communities including Abilene, Sweetwater, Rotan, Roby, McCaulley, Hawley and Hamby.

The main supercell within this storm complex was the same storm that produced the EF-3 tornado in Matador to thenorthwest of our county warning area.

2. May 23 Funston tornado

A tornado occurred two to three miles east-northeast of Funston, in east-central Jones County.

This tornado, rated an EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, caused significant damage to some homes at the intersection of County Road 376 and County Road 364.

3. San Angelo’s all-time record-breaking heat mid-to-late-June

A new all-time record high temperature of 114 degrees was set June 20 at the San Angelo Regional Airport and tied the following day.

The previous record high of 111 degrees for the city was tied just the previous day, June 19.

What’s more, this record was previously set on four separate dates: 1960, 1944, 1943 and 1933. In the month of June alone, San Angelo racked up daily high temperatures at or above 111 degrees for five days.

Climate records for San Angelo date back to 1907.

4. Prolonged record heat from mid-June into late September

West Central Texas experienced scorching prolonged record heat mid-June into late September. Indeed, the average daily high temperature of 1010 degrees for June at the San Angelo Regional Airport was the second highest on record.

This was in addition to all-time high temperature records set in San Angelo in the middle of June. The month of July was the third warmest on record for San Angelo and the fifth warmest on record for Abilene.

In July, four days in San Angelo had temperatures with lows of 80 degrees or higher, tying with 1912 for the second highest number of days in July with lows 80 degrees or above.

The average August temperature for Abilene was 90.8 degrees, the warmest of any month on record.

Abilene tied the all-time record high temperature — and month of August record high — of 111° onAug. 17.

The average high temperature for August was the warmest of any month on record with SanAngelo at 104.4 degrees and Abilene at 104.5 degrees.

San Angelo tied the record high for the month of August with 111 degrees Aug. 10. And there was a new record for highest number of August days with low temperatures 80 degrees or above: 10 days for San Angelo and 13 days for Abilene.

In addition, a new record high temperature for September was set at Abilene, 108 degrees on Sept. 8.

A new record for highest number of days in September with highs 100 degrees or more was set at both SanAngelo, 12 days, and Abilene, 11 days.

Finally, Abilene tied its warmest September on record with a monthly average temperature of 84 degrees

5. Massive hail in Brown County May 6

Clusters of severe thunderstorms struck the northern half of the region, affecting the Big Country northern, Concho Valley and northern Heartland areas. Giant large hail accompanied some of these storms.

Near Brownwood, Lake Brownwood, Early, Owens and Brookesmith, golf ball-sized hail of 1.75 inches to teacup-sized hail of near 3 inches hammered down. And 70 mph to 75 mph winds accompanied these storms.

6. June 17 Hamlin tornado

A tornado hit June 17 near Hamlin. Storm chasers’ video indicated it traveled across mostly farmland just outside of Hamlin.

7. Ice storm Jan. 30 to Feb. 2

Temperatures hovered below freezing and generally in the 20s. Freezing drizzle and light freezingrain fell off and on as a series of upper-level disturbances moved over the region in the southwest flow aloft.

A mix of sleet and light freezing rain fell at times, causing a glaze of ice to form on roads, bridges and overpasses, tree branches and elevated objects.

Travel conditions were extremely hazardous across the area. Ice accumulation was worse on rural roads and more spotty on San Angelo and Abilene roads.

8. June 19 microburst in Christoval

A thunderstorm microburst extensively damaged trees and some structures around Christoval. A weather service storm damage survey indicated an estimated wind gust of 95 mph hit the area.

9. March 2 high wind and severe weather

With the approach of a strong upper-level storm system, an large band of thunderstorms developedalong a cold front moving quickly east across the area.

Strong, damaging winds accompanied the thunderstorms, mainly across central and eastern parts of the county warning area.

Behind the cold front, strong west winds blasted dust over western and central parts of the area.

Mesonet observation sites across the Concho Valley reported wind gusts of 50 mph to 60 mph,and a 59 mph wind gust was recorded at the San Angelo Regional Airport.

10. June 9 microburst in San Angelo

A small line of thunderstorms moved across the San Angelo area, bringing damaging winds. Gusts of 58 mph and 66 mph were recorded. Radar-estimated winds reached up to 75 mph and 85 mph.

Tree damage was reported throughout San Angelo, along with some property damage.

Officials in the NWS Office in San Angelo, who monitor the weather for the Concho Valley and the Big Country, expressed their gratitude to first responders who save lives when hazardous weather strikes.

Weather services workers are also thankful to their partners in emergency management, fire departments, lawenforcement, amateur radio operators, county judges, the Texas Department of Public Safety, the U.S. Geological Survey, Texas Department of Transportation, Farm Safety Service, radio, TV and social media, officials said in the media release.

The same gratitude goes out to NWS Cooperative Observers, rainfall observers and trained spotters assisting withreal time reports and local emergency officials.

Trish Choate, enterprise watchdog reporter for the Times Record News, covers education, courts and breaking news and sometimes helps out other newspapers. Contact Trish with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Read her recent work here. Her X handle is @Trishapedia.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: NWS top 10 weather events in Abilene and San Angelo areas