Scattered thunderstorms developed along a southward advancing cold front over the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle and the northwestern South Plains during the afternoon hours of the 5th. An isolated storm became severe and produced hail up to the size of nickels near Hart (Castro 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.
Scattered thunderstorms developed along a southward advancing cold front over the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle and the northwestern South Plains during the afternoon hours of the 5th. An isolated storm became severe and produced hail up to the size of nickels near Hart (Castro 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 Sep 5, 2:03 PM CST, 1 hour 24 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 303 PM CDT FRI SEP 5 2008 .SHORT TERM... FORECAST CONTINUES TO FOCUS AROUND STRONG/SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CHANCES LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING...PRIMARILY ACROSS THE NORTHERN ZONES. A COLD FRONT...ROUGHLY FROM KHHF TO KAMA TO KHEG AT 19Z...CONTINUES TO ADVANCE SOUTHWARD. THIS IS AHEAD OF MOST MODEL GUIDANCE WHICH SUGGESTS THE FRONT TO STALL OUT THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE CENTRAL TEXAS PANHANDLE. GIVEN WEAK PRESSURE RISES STILL NOTED BEHIND THE FRONT IN THE WAKE OF THE DEPARTING UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE...BELIEVE FRONT WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE SOUTHWARD INTO AT LEAST THE NORTHERN ZONES THIS EVENING. ALONG AND AHEAD OF THE FRONT MODERATE AMOUNT OF INSTABILITY ARE IN PLACE...WITH VERY LITTLE CIN REMAINING /SUPPORTED BY THE 18Z KAMA SOUNDING/. THUS...EXPECT SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS TO DEVELOP ON THE FRONT OVER THE NEXT COUPLE OF HOURS AND MOVE/DEVELOP EAST-SOUTHEAST OVER THE SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE AND INTO THE NORTHERN SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS THIS EVENING. 18Z SPC MESO-ANALYSIS PAGE SHOWS 0-6 KM BULK SHEAR DECREASING RAPIDLY OVER SAID AREA /BELOW 30 KTS/ SO STORMS MAY BE PRIMARILY OF MULTICELL MODE. HOWEVER...MODELS DO SUGGEST DEEP LAYER SHEAR WILL INCREASE TO AROUND 30 KTS THIS EVENING OVER THE EXTREME NORTHERN ZONES...SO AN ISOLATED SUPERCELL WILL NOT BE OUT OF THE QUESTION. THE PRIMARY THREATS WITH THE STRONGER CONVECTION WILL BE LARGE HAIL AND STRONG WINDS. THE CONVECTION SHOULD DIMINISH AND SHIFT NORTH OF THE CWA BY EARLY SATURDAY. MODELS SHOW FRONT QUICKLY LIFTING NORTHWARD OUT OF THE CWA EARLY SATURDAY...WITH HOT CONDITIONS AND DRIER SOUTH TO SOUTHWEST DEVELOPING DURING THE DAY. THINK THE FRONT WILL START OUT WELL SOUTH OF MODEL DEPICTIONS EARLY SATURDAY...BUT WILL LIKELY STILL LIFT OUT NORTH OF THE CWA BY/DURING THE AFTERNOON. STILL...GIVEN THE SLOWER EXIT OF THE COOLER AIR /AND LOW CLOUD OVER AT LEAST THE NORTHWEST ZONES/...HAVE GONE BELOW GUIDANCE FOR HIGHS SATURDAY. && .LONG TERM... FRONT LIKELY TO BE CLOSE TO IF NOT IN THE AREA THROUGH THE WEEKEND BUT WILL CONTINUE TO SIDE WITH MODEL GUIDANCE OF KEEPING FAR ENOUGH NORTH OF THE AREA TO KEEP POPS OUT OF THE EQUATION UNTIL MONDAY WHEN IT SHOULD GET A DECENT ENOUGH PUSH TO GET IT THROUGH THE FCST AREA...ALBEIT BRIEFLY. CONVECTION ALONG THE FRONT POSSIBLE AS IT MOVES THROUGH MONDAY THEN BEHIND IT MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY WITH A BIT OF AN ISENTROPIC LIFT PATTERN BEHIND THE FRONT AND A HINT AT SOME DEEPER MOISTURE ADVECTING INTO THE AREA. POPS INITIALLY FAVORED ACROSS THE WRN ZONES MONDAY NIGHT SHIFT EWD THROUGH TUESDAY AND TUESDAY NIGHT. NEXT FRONTAL PASSAGE EXPECTED THURSDAY WITH MODELS SHOWING ENOUGH LOW LEVEL MOISTURE HANGING AROUND ERN SECTIONS OF THE FCST AREA TO JUSTIFY POPS THERE THURSDAY AFTN AND EVENING. NEITHER FRONTAL PASSAGE EXPECTED TO BRING RADICALLY COOLER TEMPS. NIGHTTIME LOWS MAY BE MORE NOTICABLE THAN TEMPS ON THE HIGH SIDE. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... FRIONA 57 87 59 86 59 / 30 10 10 10 10 TULIA 58 89 62 85 59 / 50 10 10 10 10 PLAINVIEW 58 92 62 86 60 / 30 10 10 10 10 LEVELLAND 59 92 62 88 62 / 10 10 10 10 10 LUBBOCK 61 92 65 88 63 / 20 10 10 10 10 DENVER CITY 61 91 64 88 62 / 10 10 0 0 10 BROWNFIELD 61 92 65 88 64 / 10 10 0 0 10 CHILDRESS 64 92 67 90 64 / 40 10 10 10 10 SPUR 64 92 66 90 66 / 20 10 0 10 10 ASPERMONT 64 93 68 93 67 / 10 10 0 10 10 && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 23/07
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 1123 AM CDT FRI SEP 5 2008 TXZ021>044-061630- PARMER-CASTRO-SWISHER-BRISCOE-HALL-CHILDRESS-BAILEY-LAMB-HALE- FLOYD-MOTLEY-COTTLE-COCHRAN-HOCKLEY-LUBBOCK-CROSBY-DICKENS-KING- YOAKUM-TERRY-LYNN-GARZA-KENT-STONEWALL- 1123 AM CDT FRI SEP 5 2008 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE EXTREME SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE...SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT CONVECTIVE THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING OVER THE SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE AND THE EXTREME NORTHERN SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS. THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP OVER THE TEXAS PANHANDLE AND ADJACENT AREAS OF NORTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO THIS AFTERNOON. THESE STORMS WILL MOVE AND DEVELOP SOUTHEASTWARD TOWARD THE NORTHERN PORTIONS OF THE OUTLOOK AREA BY LATE AFTERNOON OR EARLY EVENING. CONDITIONS WILL BE FAVORABLE FOR ORGANIZED SEVERE STORMS INCLUDING SUPERCELL THUNDERSTORMS WHICH WILL PRESENT A THREAT OF LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING THUNDERSTORM WINDS. AN ISOLATED TORNADO MAY ALSO BE POSSIBLE. THE MOST LIKELY LOCATIONS TO EXPERIENCE SEVERE WEATHER LATER TODAY WILL BE ALONG AND NORTH OF A LAZBUDDIE TO PLAINVIEW TO CHILDRESS LINE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... STORM SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 321 PM CDT FRI SEP 5 2008 TXZ022-023-052100- CASTRO TX-SWISHER TX- 321 PM CDT FRI SEP 5 2008 ...STRONG THUNDERSTORM ACROSS SWISHER AND CASTRO COUNTIES... AT 318 PM CDT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR INDICATED A STRONG THUNDERSTORM 13 MILES WEST OF HAPPY...OR ABOUT 18 MILES NORTHEAST OF DIMMITT...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 18 MPH. SMALL HAIL AND BRIEF...STRONG WIND GUSTS ARE POSSIBLE NEAR THUNDERSTORMS. MOVE TO A PLACE OF SAFETY IF THREATENING WEATHER APPROACHES. STAY AWAY FROM WINDOWS. STORM INTENSITY IS INCREASING AND SEVERE WEATHER MAY DEVELOP RAPIDLY. BE PREPARED TO TAKE ACTION IF A WARNING IS ISSUED.
The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 83 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:27 UTC.
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A National Weather Service cooperative observer reported nickel size hail just southeast of Hart. No damage was reported.
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, September 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: 123566.