An upper level trough was located over the Southwest United States. A cold front was approaching from the Texas panhandle with a surface trough present across Southeast New Mexico.
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 MAF wrote it up.
An upper level trough was located over the Southwest United States. A cold front was approaching from the Texas panhandle with a surface trough present across Southeast New Mexico. An upper level disturbance associated with the upper level trough moved over the area and interacted with the cold front to produce thunderstorms.
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 Midland/Odessa, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Sep 12, 5:57 PM CST, 4 hours 38 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX
657 PM CDT WED SEP 12 2012
.DISCUSSION...
PLEASE SEE THE 13/00Z FORECAST DISCUSSION BELOW.
&&
.AVIATION...
COMPLEX FCST THIS EVENING. STATIONARY FRONT BANKED UP AGAINST THE
SANGRE DE CRISTOS WEST OF KLVS...TO N OF KROW...TO KAMA...WILL BEGIN
TO SURGE S LATE THIS EVENING AS A SERIES OF UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCES
OVER THE FOUR CORNERS TRANSLATES EAST OVER THE SOUTHERN HIGH PLAINS.
SCATTERED TSRA THIS EVENING OVER MUCH OF THE REGION WILL DIMINISH
SOME WITH LOSS OF DAYTIME HEATING...BUT WILL PICK BACK UP A BIT
BEFORE SUNRISE ALONG AND A BIT BEHIND THE COLD FRONT. FRONT SHOULD
PASS THROUGH KCNM AROUND 05Z TONIGHT...REACHING THE I-20 CORRIDOR BY
09Z...THEN TO THE I-10 CORRIDOR BY 10Z. LOOK FOR DETERIORATING
CIGS A FEW HOURS AFTER FROPA...WITH WIDESPREAD IFR CIGS DEVELOPING
AFT 13/12Z ALONG WITH -RA AND EMBDD TSRA. GAP WINDS AND ASSOCIATED
LL TURBULENCE ARE FORECAST TO DEVELOP ALONG THE GUADALUPE AND
APACHE MOUNTAINS AFTER FROPA AND CONTINUE THROUGH MUCH OF THE DAY.
SURFACE WINDS ELSEWHERE WILL BE GUSTY AND TRENDING NORTHERLY/
NORTHEASTERLY THROUGH 14/00Z.
&&
.MAF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
NM...NONE.
TX...HIGH WIND WARNING FROM 6 AM TO 6 PM MDT THURSDAY FOR THE
FOLLOWING ZONES... GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS.
&&
70HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 139 PM CDT WED SEP 12 2012 NMZ027>029-033-034-TXZ045>048-050>053-057>063-067>070-074-075- 079>082-258-131845- GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS OF EDDY COUNTY-EDDY COUNTY PLAINS- NORTHERN LEA COUNTY-CENTRAL LEA COUNTY-SOUTHERN LEA COUNTY-GAINES- DAWSON-BORDEN-SCURRY-ANDREWS-MARTIN-HOWARD-MITCHELL- VAN HORN AND HIGHWAY 54 CORRIDOR-REEVES COUNTY AND UPPER TRANS PECOS- LOVING-WINKLER-ECTOR-MIDLAND-GLASSCOCK-WARD-CRANE-UPTON-REAGAN- DAVIS/APACHE MOUNTAINS AREA-PECOS-PRESIDIO VALLEY-MARFA PLATEAU- BIG BEND AREA-TERRELL-GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS- 139 PM CDT WED SEP 12 2012 /1239 PM MDT WED SEP 12 2012/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO...SOUTHWEST TEXAS AND WEST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SCATTERED SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS MOST OF THE AREA TODAY WITH THE MOST FAVORED AREAS BEING SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO...THE TRANS PECOS AREA AND THE PERMIAN BASIN. LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN AND GUSTY WINDS WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH THE STORMS THAT DEVELOP. RAIN AND THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL INCREASE OVER THE NORTHERN PERMIAN BASIN AND SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO TONIGHT AS A RESULT OF A COLD FRONT MOVING THROUGH THE AREA. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY A COLD FRONT WILL PUSH THROUGH THE AREA EARLY THURSDAY MORNING ACCOMPANIED BY GUSTY NORTHERLY WINDS. HIGH WINDS ARE EXPECTED THROUGH GUADALUPE PASS PROMPTING THE ISSUANCE OF A HIGH WIND WARNING FOR THIS LOCATION ON THURSDAY. SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LIKELY FOR MOST OF WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO ON THURSDAY. THE MAIN CONCERN WITH THESE STORMS WILL BE LOCALLY HEAVY RAIN THAT COULD LEAD TO FLASH FLOODING. BY THURSDAY NIGHT...MOST OF THE RAIN WILL BE ACROSS THE HIGHER TERRAIN. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... THIS PRODUCT...ALONG WITH OTHER WATCHES...WARNINGS...ADVISORIES... AND STATEMENTS ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE IN MIDLAND CAN BE FOUND ON THE INTERNET AT /LOWER CASE/ HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/MIDLAND
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 618 PM CDT WED SEP 12 2012 TXZ062-063-069-070-122345- GLASSCOCK-MIDLAND-REAGAN-UPTON- 618 PM CDT WED SEP 12 2012 ...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS NORTHERN REAGAN AND SOUTHERN GLASSCOCK COUNTIES... PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... IN ADDITION TO PEA HAIL AND STRONG WINDS UP 50 MPH... DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING CAN BE EXPECTED. REMEMBER...IF YOU CAN HEAR THUNDER... YOU ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. SEEK SAFE SHELTER NOW. && LAT...LON 3131 10178 3180 10179 3181 10126 3133 10126 TIME...MOT...LOC 2316Z 232DEG 9KT 3156 10150
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 656 PM CDT WED SEP 12 2012 TXZ062-063-069-070-130030- GLASSCOCK-MIDLAND-REAGAN-UPTON- 656 PM CDT WED SEP 12 2012 ...STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS NORTHERN REAGAN AND SOUTHEASTERN GLASSCOCK COUNTIES... PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... IN ADDITION TO SMALL HAIL AND STRONG WINDS... HEAVY RAINFALL AND DEADLY CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING CAN BE EXPECTED. REMEMBER...IF YOU CAN HEAR THUNDER... YOU ARE CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. SEEK SAFE SHELTER NOW. && LAT...LON 3136 10178 3183 10178 3191 10126 3134 10127 TIME...MOT...LOC 2355Z 219DEG 5KT 3151 10163
The Midland/Odessa radar (KMAF), 97 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 04:33 UTC.
1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A thunderstorm moved over Gaines County and produced a wind gust estimated to be near 55 mph. This wind gust damaged a theator that was being built at a local school in Seminole. One of the support walls for the theator had collapsed. The cost of the damage is a very rough estimate.
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, September 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: 406845.