A very dynamic storm system resulted in a variety of weather hazards and significant public impacts on the west Texas South Plains during the late hours of the 7th and through the daytime hours of the 8th. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal described the day's weather as a plague, saying the only thing missing Tuesday (December 8th) was locusts.
Every event with a place to put it; 29 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. 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.
A very dynamic storm system resulted in a variety of weather hazards and significant public impacts on the west Texas South Plains during the late hours of the 7th and through the daytime hours of the 8th. The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal described the day's weather as a plague, saying the only thing missing Tuesday (December 8th) was locusts.
Fog and drizzle became widespread during the evening of the 7th as warm air advected northward over the South Plains atop a shallow cold layer near the ground. By the late evening hours, freezing drizzle had begun to deposite a light ice glaze on many objects, including area roadways. By the morning of the 8th, travel conditions were hazardous across much of the region. More than 100 automobile accidents were reported in the city of Lubbock, with at least another 25 accidents reported on rural roadways. At least 22 persons were treated for minor injuries. Fortunately, no children were injured when a vehicle slid through the intersection of 42nd Streed and Avenue L and collided with a school bus. Hockley County officials additionally reported two weather-related accidents that resulted in injuries. The icy conditions also resulted in the closure of Interstate 27 for a short time, and school sessions were delayed or cancelled in Floyd, Lynn, Crosby, Hockley, Garza, Lamb, Hale, and Terry Counties and at Texas Tech University.
The main lift associated with the upper level storm system approached around midday. This resulted in a narrow band of convective showers that produced sleet over the central parts of the South Plains, including the city of Lubbock, and accumulations were observed.
By early afternoon, strong subsident air overspread west Texas as the parent upper air storm system translated east of the area, and the onset of intense westerly winds occurred. Tight pressure gradients resulted in wind gusts in excess of 70 mph over portions of the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle, with gusts over 60 mph common elsewhere on the South Plains. These winds caused widespread damage to utilities and trees across the region. In fact, more than 5,000 area residents were without power during the course of the afternoon. A utility pole reportedly fell onto a car in Muleshoe (Bailey County), and a tree fell and damaged a home in Littlefield (Lamb County). In Yoakum County alone, more than 40 power poles were downed by the winds. An apartment complex was heavily damaged in Levelland (Hockley County) when a large portion of the roof was blown off, and a second apartment complex sustained heavy wind damage in northwest Lubbock (Lubbock County). Elsewhere, structural damage was limited to light weight structures. A greenhouse was destroyed in Friona (Parmer County) and a travel trailer was overturned near Denver City (Yoakum County). The winds additionally resulted in blowing dust which significantly limited visibilities.
More than a dozen grass fires started across portions of Hale, Hockley, and Yoakum counties as power lines were damaged by the high winds, but due to relatively moist vegetative fuels, none of the fires grew to significant or damaging levels.
Total economic damages associated with the South Plains storm system of the 7th and 8th were estimated near $2 million.
A list of severe wind gusts measured by the Texas Tech University West Texas Mesonet and the KVII-TV Schoolnet follows:
73 mph at Friona (Parmer County), 71 mph at Hart (Castro County), 69 mph at Denver City (Yoakum County), 66 mph at Anton (Hockley County), 65 mph at Northfield (Motley County), 63 mph at Olton (Lamb County), 63 mph at Reese Center (Lubbock County), 63 mph at Silverton (Briscoe County), 60 mph at Memphis (Hall County), 60 mph at Tulia (Swisher County), 59 mph at Sundown (Cochran County), 58 mph at Brownfield (Terry County), 58 mph at Floydada (Floyd County), and 58 mph at Muleshoe (Bailey 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 Dec 7, 7:25 PM CST, 35 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 725 PM CST MON DEC 7 2009 .UPDATE... HAVE UPDATED THE GRIDS TO REFLECT THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY AND INCREASE IN FREEZING DRIZZLE ACROSS THE AREA. THOUGH THE MOISTURE REMAINS RELATIVELY SHALLOW ACROSS THE AREA...THERE IS ENOUGH MOIST ISENTROPIC LIFT TO GENERATE WIDESPREAD FREEZING DRIZZLE. THE ISENTROPIC LIFT IS EXPECTED TO CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE NIGHTTIME HOURS AS WELL. PRECIPITATION TYPE WILL CONTINUE TO BE DOMINATED BY FREEZING DRIZZLE WITH LITTLE MOISTURE ABOVE THE CLOUD BEARING LAYER. && PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 308 PM CST MON DEC 7 2009/ SHORT TERM... THE H5 LOW OVER NORTHERN CALIFORNIA IS STILL PROGGED TO DIG SOUTHEASTWARD ENDING UP TO THE NORTH OF THE CWA OVER THE NEXT 24 HOURS. GFS/ECMWF SOLUTION AGREE FAIRLY WELL FOR THE PACE AND TRACK OF THE LOW. THE NAM THOUGH TAKES A SLOWER PACE. HAVE TRENDED TOWARDS THE GFS/ECMWF SOLUTION FOR THIS SYSTEM...THOUGH HAVE SLOWED THE PROGRESSION SLIGHTLY. HAVE UNDERCUT ALL GUIDANCE WITH THE LOW TEMPS A FEW DEGREES GIVEN CURRENT TRENDS AND CLOUD COVER. THE LOW/MID LEVEL MOISTURE WILL INCREASE DURING THE EVENING AND EARLY MORNING HOURS. THIS WILL LEAD TO SOME ADVECTION FOG CREEPING INTO THE CWA. ALSO...SOME LIGHT DRIZZLE IS EXPECTED BEFORE DAYBREAK THOUGH SOUNDING PROFILES STILL LOOK TO BE A LITTLE SHALLOW ON THE MOISTURE AFTER 06Z. THIS COMBINED WITH TEMPS BELOW FREEZING AT THE SURFACE THE NORTHERN HALF IS EXPECTED TO SEE SOME FREEZING DRIZZLE. A SNOW FLURRY MAY EVEN VENTURE OVER INTO THE NORTHWEST ZONES AFTER MIDNIGHT...THOUGH HAVE LEFT IT OUT OF GRIDS DUE TO LOW LIKELY HOOD OF OCCURRENCE GIVEN EXPECTED WARM LAYER AOA 800MB. THEN BY MIDDAY WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE AS THE LOW NEARS THE AREA. GIVEN THE PROGGED NEAR 100KT WINDS AT 500MB CENTERED OVER THE WEST AND CENTRAL ZONES...THE AREA SHOULD RECEIVE NEAR 35KT WINDS AT THE SURFACE. MODELS AGREE WELL WITH THIS SOLUTION...THOUGH THE STRONGEST WINDS WILL BE ONCE THE WINDS VEER TO A WESTERLY DIRECTION. WILL LEAVE THE HIGH WIND WATCH IN AFFECT...THOUGH MAY NEED TO UPGRADE AT A LATER TIME. ALSO...BLOWING DUST IS IN THE GRIDS THOUGH THIS WILL DEPEND GREATLY ON THE COLD AIR BEING ADVECTED OUT OF THE CWA AND ALLOWING THE WINDS TO INCREASE AT THE SURFACE. LONG TERM... THE UA TROUGH INDUCING THE HIGH WIND EVENT ON TUESDAY /AS DISCUSSED IN THE ABOVE SHORT TERM DISCUSSION/...WILL SLOWLY TAPER OFF BY LATE TUESDAY NIGHT/EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING AS THE SYSTEM MOVES NE OF THE CWA. 500 MB WINDS WILL DROP BELOW 100 KTS...WITH GUIDANCE MODELS HINTING AT 20 TO 25 KTS FOR SFC WINDS DURING THE AFOREMENTIONED PERIOD. THEREAFTER...GENERALLY BENIGN WEATHER AS NEAR ZONAL FLOW ALOFT PERSISTS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH THE END OF THE EXTENDED PERIOD. A SOUTH CENTRAL CANADIAN SFC RIDGE WILL BE ABLE TO NOSE INTO THE REGION WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY...KEEPING TEMPS GENERALLY BELOW SEASONAL AVG. HAVE GONE SLIGHTLY BELOW GUIDANCE FOR WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY...AS FORECAST SOLUTIONS HINTS AT THE COOL AIRMASS POSSIBLY STAYING ENTRENCHED THROUGH EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. FRIDAY THROUGH THE WEEKEND...TEMPS WILL REBOUND INTO THE 50S TO NEAR 60S AS SFC LEE TROUGHING AND A DOWNSLOPING WIND COMPONENT PREVAILS. SEVERAL DISTURBANCES EMBEDDED IN THE ZONAL FLOW ALOFT WILL MOVE NEAR/ACROSS THE SOUTH PLAINS...INDUCING A FROPA SATURDAY AND LIGHT QPF ACROSS THE FAR NORTHWESTERN SOUTH PLAINS AND NEAR THE ROLLING PLAINS MONDAY AND FRIDAY RESPECTIVELY. WILL KEEP A DRY FORECAST ATTM AND MAINTAIN TUESDAY/S HIGH WIND EVENT AS THE PRIORITY WEATHER FEATURE. FIRE WEATHER... TEMPERATURES ON TUESDAY WILL WARM TO 5 OR SO DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL AS A STRONG WEST TO SOUTHWEST DOWNSLOPING WIND COMPONENT PREVAILS DURING THE AFTERNOON/EVENING HOURS. SUSTAINED SURFACE WINDS OF 30 TO 40 KNOTS AND SEVERE GUSTS COMBINED WITH RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES REMAINING ABOVE FIRE WEATHER CRITERIA...HAVE BEEN CORRELATED TO A LOW PROBABILITY FOR SIGNIFICANT FIRE WEATHER ON THE SOUTH PLAINS PER LOCAL STUDIES. EXCELLENT RECOVERY IN RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES IS EXPECTED OVER NIGHT WITH THE POSSIBILITY OF AREAS OF FOG. THUS...THE OVERALL THREAT OF FIRE WEATHER APPEARS LOW AT THIS TIME AND DOES NOT WARRANT ANY HAZARDOUS PRODUCTS. WILL UPDATE THE FORECAST/PRODUCTS IF CONDITIONS CHANGE. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... FRIONA 22 52 17 43 20 / 20 10 10 0 0 TULIA 23 54 19 36 20 / 20 10 10 0 0 PLAINVIEW 21 55 20 39 22 / 20 10 10 0 0 LEVELLAND 25 58 24 44 25 / 20 10 0 0 0 LUBBOCK 25 58 23 44 24 / 20 10 0 0 0 DENVER CITY 26 63 24 44 26 / 20 10 0 0 0 BROWNFIELD 25 62 26 44 29 / 20 10 0 0 0 CHILDRESS 29 58 24 33 22 / 20 10 10 0 10 SPUR 26 66 27 40 22 / 20 10 0 0 0 ASPERMONT 32 66 31 40 24 / 20 10 0 0 0 && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 9 AM CST TUESDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: TXZ021>044. HIGH WIND WATCH FROM TUESDAY MORNING THROUGH TUESDAY AFTERNOON FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: TXZ021>024-027>030-033>037-039>043. && 07/01
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 314 PM CST MON DEC 7 2009 TXZ021>044-082115- PARMER-CASTRO-SWISHER-BRISCOE-HALL-CHILDRESS-BAILEY-LAMB-HALE- FLOYD-MOTLEY-COTTLE-COCHRAN-HOCKLEY-LUBBOCK-CROSBY-DICKENS-KING- YOAKUM-TERRY-LYNN-GARZA-KENT-STONEWALL- 314 PM CST MON DEC 7 2009 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE EXTREME SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE...SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS. WINTER WEATHER .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT AN APPROACHING UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM COMBINED WITH EASTERLY SURFACE WINDS...WILL AID IN CREATING AREAS OF LIGHT FREEZING DRIZZLE ACROSS THE SOUTH PLAINS TONIGHT. ALTHOUGH ACCUMULATIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BE LIGHT...A LIGHT GLAZE COULD DEVELOP CAUSING SLICK SPOTS ACROSS ROADS AND BRIDGES. MOTORISTS SHOULD MONITOR WEATHER AND FORECAST CONDITIONS BEFORE VENTURING OUTDOORS. NON PRECIPITATION .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY STRONG SOUTHWEST TO WESTERLY WINDS WILL OVERSPREAD MUCH OF THE SOUTH PLAINS REGION BY MIDDAY TUESDAY. WINDS WILL LIKELY BECOME SUSTAINED AT SPEEDS GREATER THAN 30 TO 40 MPH OVER MOST AREAS... WITH GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 65 MPH POSSIBLE OVER WESTERN AND CENTRAL SOUTH PLAINS. AREAS OF BLOWING DUST WILL LIKELY RESTRICT VISIBILITIES. A HIGH WIND WATCH IS IN EFFECT FOR MUCH OF THE AREA. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED WEDNESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY.
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 310 PM CST MON DEC 7 2009 TXZ021>044-081100- PARMER-CASTRO-SWISHER-BRISCOE-HALL-CHILDRESS-BAILEY-LAMB-HALE- FLOYD-MOTLEY-COTTLE-COCHRAN-HOCKLEY-LUBBOCK-CROSBY-DICKENS-KING- YOAKUM-TERRY-LYNN-GARZA-KENT-STONEWALL- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...FRIONA...BOVINA...DIMMITT...HART... TULIA...SILVERTON...QUITAQUE...MEMPHIS...TURKEY...CHILDRESS... MULESHOE...LITTLEFIELD...OLTON...PLAINVIEW...FLOYDADA...LOCKNEY... MATADOR...ROARING SPRINGS...PADUCAH...MORTON...LEVELLAND... LUBBOCK...SLATON...WOLFFORTH...CROSBYTON...RALLS...DICKENS... SPUR...GUTHRIE...PLAINS...DENVER CITY...BROWNFIELD...TAHOKA... ODONNELL...POST...JAYTON...ASPERMONT 310 PM CST MON DEC 7 2009 ...AREAS OF FREEZING DRIZZLE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE SOUTH PLAINS TONIGHT... AN APPROACHING UPPER LEVEL SYSTEM COMBINED WITH A SURFACE UPSLOPE COMPONENT...WILL AID IN INDUCING AREAS OF FREEZING DRIZZLE ACROSS THE SOUTH PLAINS TONIGHT THROUGH EARLY TUESDAY MORNING. ALTHOUGH ACCUMULATIONS WILL BE LIGHT...A LIGHT GLAZE COULD DEVELOP WHICH COULD MAKE FOR SLICK SPOTS ON ROADS AND HAZARDOUS TRAVEL. CONTINUE TO MONITOR WEATHER AND FORECAST CONDITIONS BEFORE VENTURING OUTDOORS.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
15 high wind, 14 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2009Every state in 2009This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, December 2009
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: 207242, 207243, 207244, 207245, 207246, 207247, 207248, 207249, 207250, 207251, 207252, 207389, 207390, 207391, 207227, 207228, 207229, 207230, 207231, 207232, 207233, 207234, 207235, 207236, 207237, 207238, 207239, 207240, 207241.