Late this afternoon, isolated very high-based showers and thunderstorms developed over the southern and central South Plains. One of these storms intensified across southwest Lubbock County and western Lynn County before collapsing a short while later near downtown Lubbock.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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.
Late this afternoon, isolated very high-based showers and thunderstorms developed over the southern and central South Plains. One of these storms intensified across southwest Lubbock County and western Lynn County before collapsing a short while later near downtown Lubbock. A second storm developed across western Floyd County. A series of microbursts produced winds estimated as high as 65 mph at times. These winds inflicted sporadic damage to trees, windows, power poles, and caused a few incidents of minor structural damage mainly in central and eastern sections of Lubbock as well as western portions of Lynn County and central Floyd County. Scattered power outages were common. In the wake of this storm, lightning triggered a grass fire near the KCBD-TV news station prompting an evacuation of the building during a live newscast. The fire was estimated to be five acres and caused no known damage or injuries. Additionally, a landspout tornado formed along one of the outflow boundaries in Lubbock County. This EF-0 landspout remained in an open field and caused no damage.
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 Apr 30, 2:48 PM CST, 1 hour 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 348 PM CDT TUE APR 30 2013 .SHORT TERM... A HIGH-BASED CU FIELD HAS DEVELOPED IN THE DRY AIR JUST WEST OF BEST SFC CONVERGENCE VCNTY OF THE DRYLINE. AS OF 215 PM CDT THIS CU FIELD REMAINS FAIRLY FLAT FROM A VISUAL PERSPECTIVE...ALTHOUGH SATELLITE AND RADAR SHOWING SOME EVOLUTION TOWARD SHOWER STATUS. SITUATION REMAINS ONE THAT SUPPORTS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF TSRA MENTION WITH GENERALLY LIGHT PRECIP AND A CHANCE FOR STRONG TO SEVERE WIND GUSTS WITH INDIVIDUAL MICROBURSTS. SUNSET SHOULD SEE THE END OF ANY STORM THREAT. THE NIGHT SHOULD THEN PROCEED TOWARD MILD CONDITIONS WITH SHALLOW LOW LEVEL MOISTURE RETURNING TO THE ERN HALF TO TWO-THIRDS OF THE FCST AREA EAST OF THE DRYLINE OR SFC TROUGH. FCST BECOMES MORE DIFFICULT WEDNESDAY WITH EXPECTATION OF A DAYTIME PASSAGE OF A STRONG COLD FRONT AND THE COMPLEXITIES THAT COME WITH THAT TIMING. A PRE-FRONTAL SFC TROUGH WILL SHIFT EWD TOWARD THE CAPROCK ESCARPMENT WITH NW WINDS WEST OF IT...BUT THE COLD ADVECTION HOLDS OFF UNTIL THE ACTUAL FRONTAL PASSAGE THAT CURRENTLY LOOKS SCHEDULED TOWARD LATE MORNING FOR THE NWRN ZONES TO MID TO LATE AFTN FOR THE SE. RESULT SHOULD BE A WIDE VARIATION IN HIGH TEMPS. MOS GUIDANCE HAS TRENDED UPWARD WITH THE 12Z RUN...AND WILL TREND THE FCST THAT DIRECTION WHILE ALSO REMAINING JUST BELOW THE COOLER MET NUMBERS. THUNDER CHANCES LOOK BEST FOR AREAS IN DEEPER MOISTURE TO THE EAST AND SOUTHEAST OF THE FCST AREA...BUT SERN ZONES MAY HOLD ONTO ENOUGH MOISTURE TO JUSTIFY SLIGHT CHANCE POPS. && .LONG TERM... A STRONG LATE SEASON COLD FRONT CONTINUES TO BE THE HIGHLIGHT IN THE EXTENDED. NORTH WINDS VERY NEAR OR AT ADVISORY LEVEL WILL LIKELY ENSUE FOR A GOOD PORTION OF WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY AS A 1045 MB SURFACE RIDGE PUSHES OUT OF COLORADO INTO THE PLAINS. PRESSURE RISES WILL BE ON THE ORDER OF 10-15 MB PER 6 HOURS WEDNESDAY EVENING INTO THE EARLY OVERNIGHT HOURS AHEAD OF THIS SURFACE HIGH. PRECIPITATION CHANCES WILL EXIST AT THIS TIME AS WELL...BUT NOT HOLDING OUT HOPE FOR MUCH IN THE WAY OF MEANINGFUL AMOUNTS. A FEW STORMS MAY LINGER INTO THE EARLY EVENING HOURS ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST ROLLING PLAINS AHEAD OF THE COLD FRONT...WHILE ISENTROPIC UPGLIDE PRODUCES ISOLATED RAIN SHOWERS FARTHER NORTH. COOLING OVERNIGHT WILL CAUSE SOME CONCERN FOR WINTRY PRECIPITATION...WITH SLEET POSSIBLY INITIALLY MIXING WITH RAIN AS A PRONOUNCED WARM NOSE ERODES. A FEW LIGHT SNOW SHOWERS MAY THEN FALL WITH FURTHER COOLING BY EARLY THURSDAY MORNING...BUT WHAT MOISTURE THERE IS WILL BE ON THE DECLINE BY THIS TIME. MODELS HAVE OVERDONE PRECIPITATION FIELDS LATELY ASSOCIATED WITH ISENTROPIC LIFT...SO DO NOT EXPECT MUCH IN THE WAY OF ANY ACCUMULATION GIVEN THE LACK OF APPRECIABLE DEEP LAYER FORCING OWING TO THE MAJORITY OF THE ENERGY ASSOCIATED WITH A MID-LEVEL TROUGH PASSING NORTH OF THE AREA. TEMPERATURES WILL LIKELY BE THE BIGGER STORY WITH LOWS THURSDAY MORNING DROPPING INTO THE UPPER 20S TO MID 30S ON MUCH OF THE CAPROCK WITH THE ROLLING PLAINS REMAINING IN THE UPPER 30S TO LOW 40S. SKIES WILL CLEAR OUT THROUGHOUT THE DAY ON THURSDAY...BUT TEMPERATURES WILL STRUGGLE TO HIT 50 DEGREES WITH THE BASE OF THE AFOREMENTIONED TROUGH AND SURFACE RIDGING PARKED ON TOP OF THE REGION. LIGHT WINDS AND CLEAR SKIES WILL LIKELY PRODUCE YET ANOTHER WIDESPREAD FREEZE ACROSS MOST OF THE CAPROCK AND PORTIONS OF THE ROLLING PLAINS FRIDAY MORNING. FRIDAY SHOULD BEGIN A WARMING TREND AS NORTHWEST FLOW AND RISING HEIGHTS TAKE PLACE IN WAKE OF MID-LEVEL TROUGHING. THE SYNOPTIC WEATHER PATTERN REMAINS A QUESTION MOVING INTO THE LATTER PORTION OF THE WEEKEND INTO NEXT WEEK PENDING THE EVOLUTION AND PLACEMENT OF THE PREVIOUS TROUGH AND DEVELOPING PACIFIC LOW. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... FRIONA 50 65 29 49 28 / 10 0 20 10 0 TULIA 53 67 31 50 29 / 10 10 30 20 0 PLAINVIEW 56 69 32 50 30 / 10 10 30 20 0 LEVELLAND 56 76 33 50 32 / 10 0 30 20 0 LUBBOCK 60 76 34 50 32 / 10 10 30 20 0 DENVER CITY 56 84 34 51 32 / 10 0 30 20 0 BROWNFIELD 57 86 34 51 32 / 10 0 30 20 0 CHILDRESS 62 76 39 52 35 / 10 10 40 20 0 SPUR 62 84 37 52 34 / 20 10 40 20 0 ASPERMONT 64 86 41 51 35 / 10 20 40 30 0 && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 07/31
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 1113 AM CDT TUE APR 30 2013 TXZ021>044-011615- PARMER-CASTRO-SWISHER-BRISCOE-HALL-CHILDRESS-BAILEY-LAMB-HALE- FLOYD-MOTLEY-COTTLE-COCHRAN-HOCKLEY-LUBBOCK-CROSBY-DICKENS-KING- YOAKUM-TERRY-LYNN-GARZA-KENT-STONEWALL- 1113 AM CDT TUE APR 30 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE EXTREME SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE...SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT CONVECTIVE ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP AFTER 2 PM THIS AFTERNOON AND PERSIST THROUGH SUNSET THIS EVENING ACROSS AREAS FROM THE EAST CENTRAL SOUTH PLAINS INTO THE ROLLING PLAINS. THE STRONGEST STORMS COULD GENERATE WIND GUSTS IN EXCESS OF 50 MPH...AREAS OF BLOWING DUST AND PEA SIZED HAIL. FIRE WEATHER ELEVATED FIRE DANGER EXPECTED ACROSS THE EXTREME SOUTHWEST TEXAS PANHANDLE AND WESTERN SOUTH PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON INTO EARLY THIS EVENING. A FIRE DANGER STATEMENT HAS BEEN ISSUED. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY NORTHERLY WINDS MAY BECOME SUSTAINED IN EXCESS OF 30 MPH BEHIND A STRONG COLD FRONT LATE WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY. THESE STRONG WINDS WILL BRING IN MUCH COLDER AIR AND A LATE SEASON FREEZE WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE EXTREME SOUTHWEST TEXAS PANHANDLE AND NORTHERN SOUTH PLAINS EARLY THURSDAY. MUCH OF THE CAPROCK COULD THEN SEE A FREEZE EARLY FRIDAY...WITH A FROST OR LIGHT FREEZE ALSO POSSIBLE IN THE ROLLING PLAINS. IN ADDITION...LIGHT WINTRY PRECIPITATION IN THE FORM OF SNOW...SLEET OR FREEZING DRIZZLE WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS MUCH OF THE CAPROCK LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND EARLY THURSDAY MORNING. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED.
The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 13 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:12 UTC.
4 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado, 1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
A 58 mph severe thunderstorm wind gust was measured at a local television studio. Several reports of damage to buildings and vehicles were reported around the same time.
A landspout tornado formed along an outflow boundary from a microburst near Lubbock-Cooper High School in southern Lubbock County. The landspout remained in an open field for the duration of the event.
A SKYWARN spotter observed an approximate 65 mph wind gust as a three and a half inch diameter tree limb was snapped west southwest of Lubbock.
A utility company official reported multiple power poles snapped east of West Point.
A cloud to ground lightning strike caused a grass fire near the KCBD television studio, filling the building with smoke. The building was evacuated, and no injuries were reported.
A COOP observer reported a three to four inch diameter tree limb down in southwest Floydada as an estimated 65 mph wind gust occurred.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 2013Warnings in Texas, April 2013
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: 438036, 438094, 438032, 438035, 438038, 438039.