An isolated storm moved westward across the southwestern South Plains during the evening hours on the 13th. This storm produced a severe wind gust to 59 mph near Plains (Yoakum 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.
An isolated storm moved westward across the southwestern South Plains during the evening hours on the 13th. This storm produced a severe wind gust to 59 mph near Plains (Yoakum 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 13, 8:25 PM CST, 0 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 925 PM CDT TUE SEP 13 2011 .UPDATE... INCREASING MID LEVEL SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT CONTINUING TO SPREAD BETTER MID LEVEL MOISTURE INTO THE AREA. SHOWERS FORMING WITHIN LOW LEVEL CONVERGENCE ZONE OVER SOUTH PLAINS...IN SPITE OF BETTER SYNOPTIC LIFT EDGING NORTHEAST OF THE AREA. FRONT/OUTFLOW DROPPING SOUTHWARD OUT OF THE PANHANDLE WITH NEW ENHANCEMENT OF CLOUDS OVER NORTHWESTERN ZONES...CLOSE TO SCENARIO OUTLINED BY LATEST WRF/NAM. HAVE EXTENDED ISOLATED THUNDERSTORM MENTION PAST MIDNIGHT...THOUGH MOST SHOWERS SHOULD END WESTERN AREAS BY 09Z TONIGHT. OUTFLOW WIND GUST THREAT SHOULD DIMINISH AFTER INITIAL BATCH OF SHOWERS. ENJOY WHATEVER RAIN DOES FALL. RMCQUEEN && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 629 PM CDT TUE SEP 13 2011/ AVIATION... ISOLATED HIGH BASED LIGHT SHOWERS WEST OF KLBB WILL APPROACH EARLY THIS EVENING. UNLIKELY TO HAVE PRECIPITATION AT THE TERMINAL...BUT GUSTY WINDS FOR AN HOUR OR TWO A GOOD POSSIBILITY. WILL MONITOR FOR ANY CLOSER APPROACHING HEAVIER SHOWERS OF COURSE. ALSO WILL HAVE SOME NEARBY MOSTLY ALOFT SHOWERS NEAR KCDS FOR AN HOUR OR TWO. THESE FEW SHOWERS SHOULD END CLOSE TO DARK. WEAK FRONT SHOULD PASS KCDS SHORTLY AFTER 01Z AND KLBB WITHIN A FEW HOURS OF THAT. PROBABLY WILL NOT SEE CLEAN WIND SHIFTS TO THE NORTH-NORTHEAST WITH THE FRONT DUE TO PROXIMITY OF THE WEAK SHOWERS ALOFT AND THE WEAKNESS OF THE FRONTAL PUSH. OTHERWISE WILL SEE VFR CONTINUING AT BOTH SITES WITH POTENTIAL FOR THUNDER TOMORROW AFTERNOON...TOO FAR OUT YET TO CONSIDER EITHER PROB OR TEMPO GROUPS YET. RMCQUEEN PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 314 PM CDT TUE SEP 13 2011/ SHORT TERM... MID LEVEL INSTABILITY BEING ACTED ON BY SOME LIFT EAST OF A NEWD MOVING UPPER LEVEL SHORT WAVE TROUGH. A FEW HIGH-BASED SHOWERS BEING GENERATED SHOULD BE OUT OF THE FCST AREA AROUND FCST ISSUANCE TIME. WILL CONTINUE TO LOOK FOR POSSIBILITY OF AN ISOLATED HIGH-BASED STORM FURTHER WEST CLOSER TO THE TROUGH...BUT WINDOW APPEARS TO BE CLOSING. DOWNWARD MOTION ON BACKSIDE OF THE UPPER TROUGH WILL LIKELY KEEP THE OVERNIGHT PERIOD PRECIP-FREE. A COLD FRONT ACROSS THE PANHANDLE HAS NOT MADE MUCH HEADWAY TODAY BUT SHOULD ACCELERATE SOME ONCE THE UPPER TROUGH LIFTS NEWD INTO THE CENTRAL PLAINS. LOW LEVEL MOISTURE LEVELS ARE LIKELY BEHIND THE FRONT AND WITH CONTINUED WEAK DISTURBANCES EMBEDDED IN THE SW FLOW ALOFT WILL CONTINUE TO EXPECT AN UPTICK IN PRECIP CHANCES TUESDAY AFTN. LOW TO MID LEVEL INSTABILITY LIKELY TO STILL BE PRESENT WITH CHANCE FOR BEST LIFT BEING ACROSS THE NRN PART OF THE FCST AREA. HAVE MADE SOME MINOR ADJUSTMENTS TO INHERITED POPS AND TEMPS. LONG TERM... TROUGH ACROSS THE SOUTHWESTERN PART OF THE COUNTRY AS A STRONGER SYSTEM TRAVERSES ONTARIO TO THE NORTH. AS THE ONTARIO LOW QUICKLY MOVES NORTHEAST AND RIDGING MOVES INTO THE CANADIAN PRAIRIES HELPING TO DE-AMPLIFY THE SOUTHWESTERN TROUGH. HOWEVER...TROUGHINESS WILL CONTINUE IN THE WEST THROUGH THE WEEKEND WHEN A SLOW TRANSITION TO ZONAL FLOW ENSUES. THANKS TO THE NORTHERN SYSTEM...A DECENT COLD FRONT WILL TRAVERSE THE AREA ON WEDNESDAY BRINGING WITH IT A CHANCE FOR SHOWERS AND A FEW THUNDERSTORMS FROM LATE MORNING THROUGH THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. WHILE THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING HOURS MAY SEE LOCALLY STRONG STORMS WITH CAPE VALUES RUNNING AOA 500 J/KG...ISENTROPIC ASCENT IN SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW ALOFT ALONG WITH GENEROUS PWAT VALUES IN THE 1 O 1.5 INCH RANGE CERTAINLY YIELD POTENTIAL FOR AT LEAST SCATTERED CONTINUED SHOWER ACTIVITY THROUGH THE DAY ON THURSDAY TAPERING BY EARLY FRIDAY MORNING. CERTAINLY...CLOUDINESS WILL KEEP TEMPS COOLER ON THURSDAY BEFORE A WARMING TREND STARTS IN EARNEST ON FRIDAY WITH HIGHS IN THE 80S FOR THE WEEKEND. INTO THE WEEKEND...SURFACE LOW DEVELOPS ACROSS SERN CO WITH MODEST NEAR-SFC MOISTURE ADVECTION. GFS APPEARS QUITE OVERZEALOUS WITH THE GENERATION OF PRECIP ALONG AND EAST OF SFC TROUGH EXTENDING SWWRD FROM THIS LOW BUT WILL HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE OUT ON IT. AS IT STANDS NOW...THE OFFICIAL FORECAST WILL KEEP THE WEEKEND DRY WITH SOME POTENTIAL OF A BETTER PUSH OF COOLER AIR LATE MONDAY/EARLY TUESDAY && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... FRIONA 57 78 54 61 47 / 20 40 60 50 40 TULIA 60 80 54 60 49 / 20 40 60 50 40 PLAINVIEW 60 83 57 63 50 / 20 30 60 50 40 LEVELLAND 64 86 58 69 53 / 20 20 60 50 40 LUBBOCK 65 87 59 68 54 / 20 20 60 40 40 DENVER CITY 65 89 60 70 55 / 20 20 40 50 40 BROWNFIELD 65 89 60 70 55 / 20 20 50 40 40 CHILDRESS 65 86 57 64 49 / 20 40 60 40 40 SPUR 68 91 63 70 54 / 20 20 60 40 30 ASPERMONT 70 96 67 73 53 / 20 20 40 30 30 && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 05/99
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 549 AM CDT TUE SEP 13 2011 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- 549 AM CDT TUE SEP 13 2011 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE EXTREME SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE...SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT CONVECTIVE ISOLATED HIGH-BASED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...MAINLY ACROSS THE FAR SOUTHERN PANHANDLE AND WESTERN SOUTH PLAINS. THESE STORMS WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE DRY LIGHTNING AND STRONG GUSTY WINDS. FIRE WEATHER THUNDERSTORMS WILL BRING THE RISK OF DRY LIGHTNING WHICH COULD RESULT IN WILDFIRE STARTS. ADDITIONALLY...STRONG AND ERRATIC WINDS IN AND AROUND ANY THUNDERSTORMS COULD QUICKLY SPREAD ANY FIRES THAT IGNITE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE AGAIN WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY. THE PRIMARY THREAT WITH THIS ACTIVITY WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. HOWEVER..SOME STORMS COULD BE STRONG TO SEVERE WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS A COLD FRONT SWEEPS THROUGH. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.
The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 106 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:22 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Plains measured a wind gust to 59 mph. No damage was reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2011Every state in 2011This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, September 2011
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: 336355.