A large complex of thunderstorms impacted the central South Plains of west Texas during the pre-dawn hours of the 11th. The early morning storms produced extensive lightning that damaged a water control system in Lubbock (Lubbock County).
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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 LUB wrote it up.
A large complex of thunderstorms impacted the central South Plains of west Texas during the pre-dawn hours of the 11th. The early morning storms produced extensive lightning that damaged a water control system in Lubbock (Lubbock County).
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 Lubbock, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 10, 2:33 PM CST, 10 hours 27 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 333 PM CDT SUN AUG 10 2008 .SHORT TERM... ATMOSPHERE IS FINALLY BECOMING UNSTABLE THIS AFTERNOON...ESPECIALLY OVER THE EASTERN PLAINS OF NEW MEXICO INTO THE WESTERN CWFA WHERE LATEST LAPS INDICATES SB CAPES IN EXCESS OF 2000 J/KG. ISOLATED STORMS ARE NOW DEVELOPING JUST WEST OF CLOVIS WITH MORE SCATTERED ACTIVITY FARTHER NORTHWEST FM SANTA FE TO CLAYTON TO TUCUMCARI. WILL CONTINUE TO SEE STORMS INCREASE IN BOTH COVERAGE AND INTENSITY IN THIS AREA THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING..AND ALONG AND JUST BEHIND THE WEAK COLD FRONT FM NEAR HOBBS TO GUTHRIE. GIVEN HIGH CAPES AND INCREASING INSTABILITY...A FEW STORMS MAY BRIEFLY REACH SEVERE LIMITS AND PRODUCE NICKEL TO QUARTER SIZED HAIL AND STRONG WINDS BEFORE SUNSET. MAY THEN HAVE TO CONTEND WITH LOCALIZED HEAVY RAIN OVERNIGHT GIVEN PROGGED PW VALUES RANGING FM NEAR 1.5 INCHES NORTHEAST TO 2.3 INCHES OVER THE SOUTHEAST COUNTIES...AND WITH A VERY WEAK WEST TO NORTHWEST STEERING FLOW. MAY SEE MOST OF THE PRECIP SHIFT JUST SOUTH OF THE CWFA LATE TONIGHT WITH THE COLD FRONT OOZING SLOWLY INTO THE PERMIAN BASIN AND BIG COUNTRY. FOR MONDAY...THE FRONT IS EXPECTED TO BECOME NEARLY STATIONARY ACRS THE I-20 CORRIDOR WITH POST FRONTAL AIRMASS TO REMAIN VERY MOIST OVER THE SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS. BOTH THE GFS AND WRF/NAM DEPICT PRECIP CHANCES ON THE UPSWING BY 18Z AND THROUGH THE AFTERNOON AS A WEAK SHORTWAVE MOVES SOUTHEAST THRU THE TEXAS PANHANDLE INTO SW OKLAHOMA. DO NOT EXPECT ANY SEVERE STORMS ON MONDAY GIVEN QUITE A BIT LESS INSTABILITY WITH ABUNDANT CLOUD COVER THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON. && .LONG TERM... THE LONG TERM PERIOD WILL CONTINUE TO BE HIGHLIGHTED BY INTERMITTENT RAIN/STORM CHANCES AND PERHAPS RELATIVELY COOLER TEMPERATURES. BY MONDAY EVENING...INFLUENCES OF THE WEAK SHORTWAVE TROUGH PROPAGATING THROUGH NORTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT /MENTIONED ABOVE IN THE SHORT TERM SECTION/ WILL BE TRANSLATING AWAY FROM THE SOUTH PLAINS...AND THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY IS PROGGED TO BE POSITIONED SOUTH OF THE FA. THUS WILL DEPICT A DECREASING TREND IN GRIDDED POPS MONDAY NIGHT/EARLY TUESDAY. WE/LL THEN SEE A BIT OF WARMING DRYING TREND THROUGH MID WEEK AS A RIDGE ALOFT BUILDS OVER THE WEST AND RETURN SURFACE FLOW BEGINS. A SYNOPTIC PATTERN SHIFT WILL COMMENCE BY THURSDAY AS THE PATTERN AMPLIFIES FURTHER...SUFFICIENTLY TO PROMOTE A DEEPENING UA TROUGH/ LOW OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS. THIS FEATURE...NOW ADVERTISED WITH AT LEAST SOME CONSISTENCY IN THE MEDIUM RANGE SOLUTIONS...PROMISES TO BRING A CHANCE OF CONVECTION/RAIN TO MUCH OF THE SOUTHERN PLAINS AS THE ASSOCIATED FRONTAL SYSTEM SWEEPS SOUTHWARD. THE MOST LIKELY TIMEFRAME FOR HIGHER POPS LOCALLY APPEARS TO BE LATE FRIDAY/EARLY SATURDAY ATTM. AS SUCH...TEMPERATURES LATE WEEK/WEEKEND PROMISE TO BE SLIGHTLY BELOW CLIMATOLOGICAL AVERAGES. && .AVIATION... SCATTERED STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACRS THE AREA LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND PERSIST THROUGH THE NIGHT AT BOTH THE LUBBOCK AND CHILDRESS TAF SITES. THE BEST CHC FOR STORMS SHOULD BE FM 23-06Z. MVFR CIGS MAY THEN DEVELOP AT BOTH SITES AFT 09Z WITH CIGS POSSIBLY LOWERING TO NEAR 1500 FT AGL EARLY MONDAY MORNING. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... FRIONA 65 85 63 91 65 / 60 30 20 20 20 TULIA 66 86 66 91 66 / 50 30 20 10 10 PLAINVIEW 66 86 66 91 67 / 50 40 20 10 10 LEVELLAND 67 88 65 95 67 / 60 40 20 20 20 LUBBOCK 67 88 68 93 68 / 50 40 20 10 10 DENVER CITY 67 90 66 96 68 / 60 40 20 20 20 BROWNFIELD 68 89 68 95 68 / 60 40 20 10 10 CHILDRESS 70 86 70 93 71 / 50 40 20 10 10 SPUR 70 86 69 94 71 / 60 40 20 10 10 ASPERMONT 73 89 70 93 72 / 60 50 30 10 10 && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 21/20/21
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 236 PM CDT SUN AUG 10 2008 TXZ021>044-111945- PARMER-CASTRO-SWISHER-BRISCOE-HALL-CHILDRESS-BAILEY-LAMB-HALE- FLOYD-MOTLEY-COTTLE-COCHRAN-HOCKLEY-LUBBOCK-CROSBY-DICKENS-KING- YOAKUM-TERRY-LYNN-GARZA-KENT-STONEWALL- 236 PM CDT SUN AUG 10 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE EXTREME SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE...SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT CONVECTIVE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ORGANIZED OR WIDESPREAD SEVERE WEATHER IS NOT ANTICIPATED...BUT A FEW STORMS MAY INITIALLY BECOME SEVERE WITH A LOCALIZED DOWNBURST WINDS AND HAIL UP TO ONE INCH IN DIAMETER. THE SEVERE WEATHER THREAT SHOULD DIMINISH BY LATE EVENING. FLOODING SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO BECOME MORE NUMEROUS BY LATE EVENING AND TONIGHT. THE MAIN THREAT WILL THEN SHIFT TOWARD HEAVY RAINFALL. LOCALIZED FLASH FLOODING MAY BECOME A CONCERN. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... DUE TO THE LIMITED NATURE OF ANY SEVERE WEATHER THREAT...STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.
The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 9 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 07:01 UTC.
1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
Very frequent cloud-to-ground lightning accompanied thunderstorm activity over the Lubbock vicinity during the very early morning hours of the 11th. A lightning strike caused damage to a water control system. The damage resulted in a water outage that impacted a portion of the city through much of the day.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2008Every state in 2008This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, August 2008
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: 123599.