Scattered thunderstorms developed over the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle and the northwestern South Plains of west Texas during the afternoon and evening hours of the 13th. Several storms became severe and produced large hail up to the size of quarters and wind gusts measured up to 73 mph.
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 LUB wrote it up.
Scattered thunderstorms developed over the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle and the northwestern South Plains of west Texas during the afternoon and evening hours of the 13th. Several storms became severe and produced large hail up to the size of quarters and wind gusts measured up to 73 mph. At least one irrigation pivot was destroyed by the strongest winds near Amherst (Lamb County). In addition, a tree was blown onto a home in Tahoka (Lynn County) and caused minor damage to the structure.
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 13, 2:00 PM CST, 1 hour earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 300 PM CDT WED AUG 13 2008 .SHORT TERM... REMNANTS OF OVERNIGHT CONVECTION FINALLY MOVING OUT OF THE SE TX PNHDL WHILE WEAKENING AND THIS WILL HAVE A MAJOR INFLUENCE ON FORECAST FOR TONIGHT. OUTFLOW BOUNDARY AS DEPICTED BY SFC ANALYSIS...SATELLITE IMAGERY...AND RADAR DATA WAS LOCATED GENERALLY ALONG AN AMARILLO...TULIA...FLOYDADA...SPUR...TO ASPERMONT LINE AND WILL LIKELY SERVE AS A FOCUS FOR FURTHER THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT. ONLY MAJOR CONCERN IS DEWPOINTS IN THE LOW 50S ACROSS THE CENTRAL SOUTH PLAINS WHICH HAS DRASTICALLY REDUCED SFC BASED INSTABILITY. ALREADY GETTING NEW TSRA DEVELOPMENT ACROSS THE FAR SRN TX PNHDL BTW AMARILLO AND PLAINVIEW SO THIS LACK OF INSTABILITY MIGHT NOT BE A MAJOR PLAYER. EXPECT FURTHER DEVELOPMENT THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE SOUTH PLAINS AS ATMOSPHERE DESTABILIZES AND THEN CONTINUES THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS AS THE NEXT SHORTWAVE...ALREADY AIDING IN NEW CONVECTION OVER NE NM...MOVES OVER THE REGION. SHOWERS WILL LIKELY LINGER THROUGH SUNRISE TOMORROW ACROSS THE NORTHWEST AND ADJUSTED POPS ACCORDINGLY. ALSO LOWERED MIN TEMPS JUST A TAD AS RAIN COOLED AIR RESULTED IN COOLER MINS LAST NIGHT. ONCE AGAIN WILL HAVE TO SEE WHERE OUTFLOW BOUNDARIES WILL BE LOCATED BEFORE MAKING MAJOR CHANGES TO POPS FOR TOMORROW BUT DID INCREASE POPS FOR THE 18 TO 00Z PERIOD AS DAYTIME HEATING WILL LIKELY HELP TO GET ISOLATED SHOWERS AND STORMS GOING BY LATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON. MAX TEMPS TOMORROW SHOULD BE ABOUT THE SAME AND WILL ALSO DEPEND ON HOW MUCH THE ATMOSPHERE IS WORKED OVER TONIGHT. && .LONG TERM... MCS POTENTIAL AGAIN THURSDAY NIGHT GIVEN CONTINUED NWLY FLOW ALOFT TEND TO FAVOR NRN ZONES ATTM. HOWEVER BEST POTENTIAL FOR PRECIP THIS CYCLE WILL BE FRIDAY INTO SUNDAY. COLD FRONT STILL EXPECTED IN THE FCST AREA FRIDAY WITH SOME TIMING DIFFERENCES AMONGST THE MODELS. SHORT WAVE ENERGY ALOFT STILL PROGGED TO CUT OFF OVER THE CNTL ROCKIES/PLAINS MAY CONTRIBUTE SOME LIFT THROUGH THE WEEKEND WHILE THE FRONT PROVIDES INITIAL LOW LEVEL FOCUS FRIDAY AFTN FOLLOWED BY POST-FRONTAL UPSLOPE LOW LEVEL FLOW FROM THE ENE. DEEP LAYER MOISTURE EXPECTED TO INCREASE AS WELL WITH PROGGED PRECIPITABLE WATERS TOWARD 1.4 TO 1.6 INCH RANGE. ALL THIS POINTS TO POTENTIAL FOR SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT BEFORE UPPER LOW BEGINS TO PULL AWAY FROM THE PLAINS AS EARLY AS SUNDAY. INCREASED CLOUD COVER WILL PUT DAMPER ON HIGH TEMP POTENTIAL. GUIDANCE A REASONABLE FIRST GUESS ATTM. SHOULD TREND TOWARD DRIER BY MONDAY NIGHT AT THE LATEST...BUT GIVEN TIMING DIFFERENCES IN HANDLING OF UPPER LOW WILL HANG ONTO INHERITED SLIGHT CHC POPS THROUGH MONDAY. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... FRIONA 61 90 62 83 57 / 50 20 40 20 50 TULIA 65 91 64 84 58 / 40 20 30 20 50 PLAINVIEW 65 91 65 86 61 / 30 20 30 30 50 LEVELLAND 64 95 67 87 61 / 30 20 20 20 40 LUBBOCK 65 92 67 88 63 / 30 20 20 20 40 DENVER CITY 65 95 68 92 63 / 30 20 20 20 30 BROWNFIELD 64 95 68 88 63 / 30 20 20 20 40 CHILDRESS 67 91 70 90 65 / 30 20 40 30 50 SPUR 68 95 69 90 64 / 20 20 20 30 50 ASPERMONT 68 97 71 93 67 / 20 20 20 20 40 && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 14/07
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 551 AM CDT WED AUG 13 2008 TXZ021>044-141100- PARMER-CASTRO-SWISHER-BRISCOE-HALL-CHILDRESS-BAILEY-LAMB-HALE- FLOYD-MOTLEY-COTTLE-COCHRAN-HOCKLEY-LUBBOCK-CROSBY-DICKENS-KING- YOAKUM-TERRY-LYNN-GARZA-KENT-STONEWALL- 551 AM CDT WED AUG 13 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE EXTREME SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE...SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT CONVECTIVE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP FROM NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO INTO THE WESTERN PANHANDLES AND NORTHWEST SOUTH PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THERE WILL BE A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE WEATHER WITH THESE STORMS. THE GREATEST RISK AREA WILL BE GENERALLY NORTH AND WEST OF A LINE FROM MULESHOE TO TULIA. LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WINDS WILL BE THE PRIMARY THREATS WITH THE STORMS. ADDITIONALLY...ONE OR MORE THUNDERSTORMS CLUSTERS MAY ENDURE WELL AFTER DARK AND MOVE SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA. THE THREAT FOR SEVERE WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE BUT BECOME MORE ISOLATED WITH THESE STORMS OVERNIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY SHOWER AND THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL INCREASE FRIDAY AND SATURDAY AS A COLD FRONT AND UPPER LEVEL STORM SYSTEM APPROACH THE SOUTH PLAINS. SOME OF THE STORMS MAY PRODUCE HEAVY RAINFALL AND A THREAT FOR LOCALIZED FLOODING CONCERNS. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED SUNDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT.
The Cannon AFB radar (KFDX), 96 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:01 UTC.
4 hail, 3 thunderstorm wind, 1 heavy rain, 1 lightning. Local standard time, as filed.
An anemometer located at the Muleshoe Warren Airport recorded a severe thunderstorm wind gust of 65 mph at 15:00 CST. No damage was reported.
The public reported quarter size hail northeast of Earth.
Thunderstorms produced heavy rainfall in the Morton vicinity during the late afternoon hours of the 13th, including a deluge of 0.35 inches in a five minute period per the Texas Tech University West Texas Mesonet. The heavy rain caused ponding of minor flood waters over a number of streets and caused a dam to wash out at the Morton Country Club.
The public estimated that thunderstorm wind gusts near 70 mph accompanied very heavy rainfall in Amherst around 16:15 CST. These estimates were confirmed by a nearby Texas Tech University West Texas Mesonet station which measured a 73 mph gust just east of the town. At least one irrigation pivot was destroyed by the winds north of Amherst.
The broadcast media relayed reports of penny size hail in Easter.
Lubbock Fire Department officials and the local broadcast media reported that lightning initiated three different house fires in the city during the 17:00 CST hour. Damages to two of the homes was classified as moderate to severe. No injuries were reported.
Skywarn storm spotters reported that large hail up to the size of quarters covered the ground along Farm to Market Road 3215 west of Dimmitt.
A local newspaper article showed pictures of a large tree that was blown down by thunderstorm winds and caused minor damage to a home in Tahoka. A nearby Texas Tech University West Texas Mesonet site recorded a peak gust of 43 mph just before 19:00 CST.
A storm chaser reported that pea size hail was accompanied by a few stones up to the size of pennies just south of Summerfield.
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: 120895, 120903, 123602, 120905, 120909, 120906, 120912, 123600, 120913.