Several factors came together on this Saturday afternoon. In the upper levels the remnants from Tropical Storm Blanca passed through the area in a southwesterly flow.
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Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS MAF wrote it up.
Several factors came together on this Saturday afternoon. In the upper levels the remnants from Tropical Storm Blanca passed through the area in a southwesterly flow. At the surface surface dew points were near 70 degrees over much of the region and the dry line was located just east of the mountains.The first storms were generated in the relatively dry air and formed into a NW-SE oriented line. When this line intersected the dry line, storms began to form southward along this convergent area. By 5pm CDT an almost continuous line of storms stretched across the radar screen from Lubbock to east of Ft. Stockton. By about 7:00 pm most of the storms had exited the region to the east.The modified 1200 UTC MAF sounding on the SHARP workstation indicated a mean parcel buoyancy of 2900 J/kg and a best parcel buoyancy of 5200 J/kg.
The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:08 UTC.
3 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
As the line of storms moved eastward, the events began to change from hail events to wind events. In the city of Big Spring 65 mph winds were reported with large tree limbs broken and light aircraft at the airport overturned.
A 60 mph wind gust was estimated as the line moved east of Coahoma.
Farther north downbursting winds knocked down utility lines in Snyder.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, June 1997
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5611515, 5611598, 5611599.