Kopperl is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Bosque County

Bosque County, Texas

Bosque County is a county located on the Edwards Plateau in the U.S. state of Texas. As of 2000, the population is 17,204. Its county seat is Meridian. Clifton, however, is the largest city and the cultural/financial center of the county. Bosque is named for the Bosque River, which runs through...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It lies on the northwestern end of Lake Whitney

Lake Whitney (Texas)

Lake Whitney is a flood control reservoir on the main stem of the Brazos River in Texas. It is located on River Mile Marker 442 and controls drainage for of Texas and parts of New Mexico. The reservoir encompasses a surface area of more than 23,500 acres and of shoreline. The area consists of...

, and has an estimated population of 225.

History

Kopperl was founded in 1881. Named after Galveston

Galveston, Texas

Galveston is a coastal city located on Galveston Island in the U.S. state of Texas. , the city had a total population of 47,743 within an area of...

 banker and railroad tycoon Moritz Kopperl, the town was established as a regional shipping point along the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway. The population peaked at 329 in 1904 before declining to 225 by the 1970s, a figure it has maintained fairly consistently since.

Shortly after midnight on June 15, 1960, a freak meteorological

Meteorology

Meteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere. Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the 18th century. The 19th century saw breakthroughs occur after observing networks developed across several countries...

 phenomenon struck the community when a dying thunderstorm

Thunderstorm

A thunderstorm, also known as an electrical storm, a lightning storm, thundershower or simply a storm is a form of weather characterized by the presence of lightning and its acoustic effect on the Earth's atmosphere known as thunder. The meteorologically assigned cloud type associated with the...

 collapsed over Kopperl. The storm had rained itself out, and with little to no precipitation

Precipitation (meteorology)

In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation In meteorology, precipitation (also known as one of the classes of hydrometeors, which are atmospheric water phenomena is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity. The main forms of precipitation...

to cool the resulting downdrafts, superheated air was expended upon the community in the form of extremely hot wind gusts of up to 75 MPH. The temperature increased rapidly, peaking near 140° Fahrenheit (60° Celsius); twenty degrees above the official all-time high for the state of Texas. The storm, known as "Satan's Storm" by locals, soon became part of local folklore.