Storms fired in the mountains of New Mexico and west Texas and moved eastward into better moisture. Dew points near the dry line (in the central Permian Basin) were too low to support severe convection, but farther east dew points were high enough to further intensify the storms to severe levels.
Every event with a place to put it. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
Storms fired in the mountains of New Mexico and west Texas and moved eastward into better moisture. Dew points near the dry line (in the central Permian Basin) were too low to support severe convection, but farther east dew points were high enough to further intensify the storms to severe levels.
The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 63 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:59 UTC.
3 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
This storm developed near the Pecos River in southern Crane County, moved to the ENE and became a multicell severe storm as it crossed Upton County. The hail fell out of a cell that had just passed maturity. This cell rapidly dissipated as the cluster continued to the east.
An off-duty patrol officer reported dime size hail and 65-75 mph winds from a storm near the Sterling County line. The storm was in a multicell cluster that had developed in southwestern Glasscock County along an outflow boundary from storms to the south.
Strong winds knocked down utility poles in Snyder. An outflow boundary moving eastward across the South Plains and northern Permian Basin exploded into a line of severe storms as the boundary moved into rich moisture. The line that affected Snyder developed rapidly as it moved into Scurry County from Borden County.
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, May 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: 5611390, 5611391, 5611392, 5611393, 5611394.