A very active evening with a cold front sagging into the region and southeast surface winds flowing into the mountains to help initiate deep convection. Dew point temperatures were near 60 degrees with surface temperatures in the upper 80s to lower 90s.
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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.
A very active evening with a cold front sagging into the region and southeast surface winds flowing into the mountains to help initiate deep convection. Dew point temperatures were near 60 degrees with surface temperatures in the upper 80s to lower 90s. The observed MAF sounding from this evening using the best (mean) parcel showed a lifted index of -10 (-8) and a CAPE of 3420 (2710) J/kg with no cap.In Gaines County hail destroyed over 6000 acres of cotton.
The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 131 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:26 UTC.
7 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
This storm was one of a series of storms that formed along a cold front that was moving southward through the southern parts of the Texas South Plains. The storm first developed in the northwest corner of Gaines county and moved little as it intensified into a multicell cluster.
Another storm that formed along the cold front and moved southward into Scurry County.
The Higginbotham storm began to move southward and dropped hail in the Paynes Corner area. Cotton in the area was heavily damaged.
Tornado formed about 4.5 miles west of the intersection of U.S. Highway 385 and FM 1967. Reported by SKYWARN spotter. This storm entered from Gaines County and became a supercell. The storm was moving to the right of the upper flow, partly due to its dependence on the front for a low-level focus.
A strong storm moving over the frontal boundary to the northeast in rural Gaines County.
Roof blown off a structure 1-2 miles east of State Highway 214 on State Highway 83. Strong outflow winds in a slightly bowing multicell complex.
Baseball size hail and larger smashed the windshield of a Police cruiser and shattered windows in several homes. Power was knocked out around town as well. Autos and roofs of houses were smashed by the large hail and accounted for much of the damage total. A local insurance agent said the damage was the worst in 20 years in Seagraves.Storms that were moving eastward into the Seagraves area had been a multicell cluster, but just before arriving at Seagraves one cell developed briefly into an HP Supercell.
Hail up to baseball size and very heavy rains and high winds combined to cause problems in the southwestern parts of Odessa. A mobile home had its roof blown off by high winds, and windows were knocked out in several houses. Also hail was carried into low spots by running water and formed drifts that had to be scooped up by front-end loaders. Some street flooding was reported as well.The storm came from a multicell cluster of showers moving eastward into the Permian Basin. As the cluster entered Ector County there was rapid intensification as the cluster intersected the southward moving cold front. An HP Supercell structure was noted briefly over southwestern Odessa that produced the large hail and high winds.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 1997Every state in 1997This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 1997Warnings 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: 5612773, 5612774, 5612775, 5612776, 5612777, 5612778, 5612843, 5612842, 5612844, 5612845.