Texas, 2001

High Wind in Texas, May 20 to 21, 2001

May 20 to 21, 2001 · NWS AMA · 10 events in 10 counties and zones

A strong cold front moving south through the Texas panhandle resulted in some high winds during the late evening and early morning hours.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 10 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

  • Tornadoes
  • Tropical storms and surge
  • Floods
  • Wind
  • Hail
  • Winter weather
  • Heat and drought
  • Cold
  • Fire, smoke and dust
  • Marine and coastal
  • Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
10

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.

What happened

The episode as NWS AMA wrote it up.

A strong cold front moving south through the Texas panhandle resulted in some high winds during the late evening and early morning hours.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Amarillo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 20, 8:15 PM CST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 20, 8:15 PM CST, 2 hours 30 minutes before
TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
915 PM CDT SUN MAY 20 2001

ISSUED UPDT TO ZONES...ISSUING WND ADZY FOR ALL ZONES BUT SERN SXNS
OF TX PNHDL.  00Z SFC ANALYSIS INDCD VERY TIGHT PRES GRADIENT BHND
CDFNT...WITH 9 MB PER 3 HR PRES RISES OVR NERN CO.  TIGHT GRADIENT WL
DVLP/MOV SWD INTO FCST AREA DURG REST OF TNGT.  ALSO CALLED FOR AREAL
QUALIFIERS FOR TSTMS TNGT INSTEAD OF UNCERTAINTY TERMS.  PLENTY OF
CNVGNC ACMPYG CDFNT AND NOSE OF INCOMING H8 JETSTREAK.  NO CHANGES TO
LATER PDS.  03

.AMA...
TX...WND ADZY TONIGHT TX ZNS 01>10..11>13..16>18.
OK...WND ADZY TONIGHT OK ZNS 01>03.

COCKRELL/SLATTERY

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

10 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Oldham

When
May 20, 10:45 PM CST
Where
Oldham forecast zone
Measured
36 kt (41 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
35.405, -102.603 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Forty mile per hour sustained wind interpolated at Pampa...Shamrock...Clarendon and Wellington. Forty-one mile per hour sustained wind interpolated at Adrian...Panhandle...Hereford and Claude. Forty-two mile per hour sustained wind measured at Amarillo.

High Wind, Potter

When
May 20, 11:12 PM CST
Where
Potter forecast zone
Measured
36 kt (41 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
35.401, -101.894 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Randall

When
May 20, 11:12 PM CST
Where
Randall forecast zone
Measured
36 kt (41 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
34.966, -101.897 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Carson

When
May 20, 11:15 PM CST
Where
Carson forecast zone
Measured
36 kt (41 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
35.404, -101.354 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Gray

When
May 20, 11:30 PM CST
Where
Gray forecast zone
Measured
35 kt (40 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
35.401, -100.813 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Wheeler

When
May 20, 11:30 PM CST
Where
Wheeler forecast zone
Measured
35 kt (40 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
35.401, -100.270 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Armstrong

When
May 20, 11:50 PM CST
Where
Armstrong forecast zone
Measured
36 kt (41 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
34.965, -101.357 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Deaf Smith

When
May 20, 11:50 PM CST
Where
Deaf Smith forecast zone
Measured
36 kt (41 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
34.966, -102.605 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Donley

When
May 21, 12:00 AM CST
Where
Donley forecast zone
Measured
35 kt (40 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
34.965, -100.814 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Collingsworth

When
May 21, 12:00 AM CST
Where
Collingsworth forecast zone
Measured
35 kt (40 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
34.965, -100.270 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

High Wind
Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Texas in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, May 2001

Sources

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: 5247546, 5247547, 5247548, 5247549, 5247542, 5247544, 5247650, 5247651, 5247543, 5247545.