On the morning of the 20th, a cold front stalled out across the southern South Plains and Rolling Plains. During the evening, an isolated supercell developed along this boundary over central King County and slowly moved east.
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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.
On the morning of the 20th, a cold front stalled out across the southern South Plains and Rolling Plains. During the evening, an isolated supercell developed along this boundary over central King County and slowly moved east. During its lifetime, this storm produced hail up to the size of tennis balls along U.S. Highway 83 south of Guthrie.
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 May 20, 2:23 PM CST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 323 PM CDT SUN MAY 20 2012 .SHORT TERM... NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT WILL BE IN PLACE TONIGHT AND MONDAY VEERING TO ALMOST NORTHERLY BY MONDAY EVENING AHEAD OF RIDGING TO OUR WEST. AT THE SURFACE...COLD FRONT CURRENTLY LIES FROM SOUTH OF GUTHRIE TO O'DONNELL. WV IMAGERY DEPICTS A MARKED ABSENCE OF ANY SIGNIFICANT SIGNS OF A TRIGGERING MECHANISM FOR STORMS THIS EVENING. INDICATIONS OF THE ONSET OF ISENTROPIC ASCENT ARE BEGINNING TO SHOW IN VISIBLE SATELLITE IMAGERY AS SUGGESTED BY NWP AND THIS CONTINUES TO BE OUR BEST SHOT AT GETTING SOME RAINFALL ACROSS THE AREA. IT STILL REMAINS PLAUSIBLE THAT THE ISENTROPIC ACTION CAN BE SUFFICIENT TO LIFT PARCELS TO A LEVEL WHICH WOULD SUPPORT DEEP LEVEL CONVECTION. GIVEN PWAT VALUES IN EXCESS OF 1 INCH THERE IS AT LEAST SOME RISK OF DECENT RAINFALL TOTALS INVOF THE FRONT THIS EVENING. THE SURFACE LOW OVER SE CO WILL CONTINUE MOVING EASTWARD AND INITIATE RETURN FLOW IN THE WEST WHICH MAY VERY WELL PIVOT THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY TO BE ORIENTED SE TO NW BY MONDAY AFTERNOON WITH YET ANOTHER SHOT AT MAINLY AFTERNOON SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS. REGARDING SEVERE POTENTIAL...MODERATELY UNSTABLE AIRMASS EXISTS SOUTH OF THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY AND THUS WE COULD SEE A FEW BRIEFLY SEVERE STORMS EARLY THIS EVENING BEFORE THINGS TURN TO MORE OF A GENERAL RAIN THREAT. IN TERMS OF ANNULAR ECLIPSE VIEWING...THAT IS GOING TO BE TRICKY. LOW LEVEL CLOUDINESS CONTINUES TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE ENTIRE CWFA WITH THE THINNEST CLOUDS NEAR THE TX/NM BORDER WHERE ISENTROPIC ASCENT IS A BIT WEAKER. STILL...A WEAK WAVE OVER SW CO MAY TRIGGER SOME OROGRAPHICALLY INDUCED CLOUDS. OH...AND ONE CAVEAT...IF YOU VALUE YOUR EYESIGHT...NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN. && .LONG TERM... THERE MAY BE SOME LINGERING CONVECTIVE ACTIVITY EARLY TUESDAY MORNING MAINLY ACROSS OUR WRN AND NRN ZONES WITH SOME REMAINING ISENTROPIC LIFT OVER WHAT/S LEFT OF THE DECAYING FRONT AND NW FLOW ALOFT. TEMPS WILL WARM UP BACK INTO THE 90S DURING THE DAY WITH SHORTWAVE RIDGING BRINGING RISING HEIGHTS. HOWEVER...LATE IN THE DAY THE UPPER RIDGE MAY BECOME SOMEWHAT DENTED BY ANOTHER WEAK WAVE MOVING OUT OF THE SRN ROCKIES...WHICH COULD GIN UP ANOTHER ROUND OF LATE DAY TSTMS FROM SE COLO TO SE NM...SOME OF WHICH COULD SURVIVE A FEW HOURS AFTER SUNSET AS THE LLJ INCREASES AND MAKE IT INTO OUR WRN AND NW ZONES. WILL KEEP POPS BELOW MENTION AS THIS ACTIVITY WILL LIKELY BE ISOLD AT BEST. WEDNESDAY STILL APPEARS TO BE THE HOTTEST AND DRIEST DAY OF THE WEEK AS A SHORTWAVE TROUGH WELL TO OUR NORTH WILL PRODUCE DEEP AND SWIFT SOUTHWEST FLOW ACROSS WTX AND HELP TO ADVECT DRY AIR IN FROM NM AND SHUNT THE DRYLINE EAST. TEMPS WILL LIKELY BE NEAR OR SLIGHTLY ABOVE 100F FOR MANY LOCATIONS AND WIND SPEEDS MAY BE SUFFICIENT TO PRODUCE A BIT OF BLOWING DUST ON THE CAPROCK. THURSDAY SHOULD STILL BE HOT AND DRY...BUT DECREASING HEIGHTS AS A DEEP TROUGH MOVES INTO THE WEST WILL BEGIN A GRADUAL COOL DOWN. 700MB TEMPS PEAK AROUND 15C ON WED BEFORE GRADUALLY BACKING DOWN INTO NEXT WEEKEND. A FRONT MAY MAKE A FORAY INTO THE PANHANDLES THU NIGHT...BUT THEN DEEPENING S-SW FLOW SHOULD TAKE IT BACK TO OUR NORTH. BY LATE FRIDAY/SATURDAY...PREVAILING SE LOW-LVL WINDS SHOULD SEND THE DRYLINE WEST INTO NM. AND THE S-SW FLOW ALOFT MAY BEGIN TO TAP INTO SOME SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE AS WELL. DEPENDING ON THE SPEED OF THE UPPER-LEVEL TROUGH TO OUR WEST...THERE MAY SUFFICIENT UPPER-LVL SUPPORT FOR TSTMS TO RETURN TO THE FCST SAT AND SUN. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... FRIONA 56 80 57 92 59 / 30 30 20 10 10 TULIA 58 80 57 90 62 / 30 30 20 10 10 PLAINVIEW 59 83 58 90 63 / 30 30 20 10 10 LEVELLAND 62 86 60 91 64 / 30 30 20 10 10 LUBBOCK 62 84 61 91 65 / 30 40 20 10 10 DENVER CITY 62 86 60 92 65 / 30 20 20 10 10 BROWNFIELD 64 87 60 92 65 / 30 30 20 10 10 CHILDRESS 65 83 61 93 66 / 20 30 20 10 10 SPUR 64 86 59 92 65 / 30 40 20 10 10 ASPERMONT 65 88 62 93 68 / 20 40 20 10 10 && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 26/33
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 1114 AM CDT SUN MAY 20 2012 TXZ021>044-211615- PARMER-CASTRO-SWISHER-BRISCOE-HALL-CHILDRESS-BAILEY-LAMB-HALE- FLOYD-MOTLEY-COTTLE-COCHRAN-HOCKLEY-LUBBOCK-CROSBY-DICKENS-KING- YOAKUM-TERRY-LYNN-GARZA-KENT-STONEWALL- 1114 AM CDT SUN MAY 20 2012 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE EXTREME SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE...SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT CONVECTIVE SCATTERED THUNDERSTORM DEVELOPMENT IS EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING ALONG A STALLED FRONTAL BOUNDARY EXTENDING ACROSS THE SOUTHERN SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS. CLOUD COVER AND INDISCREET UPPER LEVEL FORCING WILL LIMIT THE SEVERE POTENTIAL FOR THE MOST PART HOWEVER A FEW SEVERE STORMS ARE EXPECTED. ACTIVITY COULD CONTINUE INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS AND SPREAD NORTH AS WARM ADVECTION OCCURS ABOVE THE FRONTAL BOUNDARY. THE PRIMARY THREAT FROM THE STORMS WILL BE HAIL TO GOLF BALL SIZE HOWEVER SOME WIND GUSTS TO 60 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE DURING THE AFTERNOON AND EARLY EVENING. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED AGAIN MONDAY PRIMARILY IN THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. THE OVERALL THREAT FOR ORGANIZED SEVERE STORMS IS LOW. WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS NOT EXPECTED THROUGH SATURDAY. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH TONIGHT ACROSS ALL OF THE SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS.
The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 140 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:53 UTC.
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A storm chaser reported a swath of tennis ball size hail along U.S. Highway 83 south of Guthrie. No damage was reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2012Every state in 2012This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, May 2012
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: 372788.