There was a surface trough in southeast New Mexico with plentiful surface heating. This contributed to instability and allowed storms with strong winds and large hail to develop.
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.
There was a surface trough in southeast New Mexico with plentiful surface heating. This contributed to instability and allowed storms with strong winds and large hail to develop.
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 Aug 21, 3:48 PM MST, 1 hour 47 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Midland/Odessa TX 548 PM CDT FRI AUG 21 2015 .DISCUSSION... The latest Aviation Discussion is included below. && .AVIATION... Will carry VFR conditions at all area terminals, for the most part. Thunderstorms will be possible overnight, but probabilities are not very high for any given location. For now, will include TSRA at KFST, and update accordingly at the rest of the terminals. Gusty winds of 30 to 40kt will be possible with any storms. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 242 PM CDT FRI AUG 21 2015/ Current satellite shows cumulus forming in the Davis Mountains but the radar shows there is little vertical development at this time. Continued surface heating will cause isolated to widely scattered TS to form later this afternoon and evening with perhaps some isolated storms developing along a weak surface trough in southeastern New Mexico. Models are showing a convective complex rolling south out of the panhandle and south plains tonight which may affect the northern Permian Basin before dissipating, therefore have the highest PoPs tonight from the Davis Mountains north into southeast New Mexico and east towards Snyder with lower Pops to the south and east. An upper ridge will begin to reassert itself tomorrow with highs near 100 for most locations. Fortunately we are beginning to get into that time of year when amplifying ridges to our west dislodge cooler air from the north and send a cold front our way and that will happen Sunday into Monday with cooler temperatures expected as well as an increase in rain chances, especially along the frontal boundary. Then, in a manner often seen during the past month, the upper ridge will drift slight east ending rain chances by the middle of next week and sending highs back above normal for the latter half of the forecast period. Hennig && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... BIG SPRING TX 73 99 75 94 / 20 10 10 20 CARLSBAD NM 72 101 72 89 / 30 20 30 40 DRYDEN TX 74 101 75 96 / 10 10 10 10 FORT STOCKTON TX 74 100 74 95 / 10 20 20 20 GUADALUPE PASS TX 69 92 69 83 / 30 20 30 40 HOBBS NM 70 98 71 88 / 30 20 30 40 MARFA TX 65 90 64 87 / 30 30 30 30 MIDLAND INTL AIRPORT TX 74 100 74 96 / 20 10 10 20 ODESSA TX 74 100 75 95 / 20 10 20 20 WINK TX 75 103 76 98 / 20 20 20 30 && .MAF WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NM...NONE. TX...NONE. && 70/10
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MIDLAND/ODESSA TX 258 PM CDT FRI AUG 21 2015 NMZ027>029-033-034-TXZ045>048-050>053-057>063-067>070-074-075- 079>082-258-222000- 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- 258 PM CDT FRI AUG 21 2015 /158 PM MDT FRI AUG 21 2015/ THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST NEW MEXICO...SOUTHWEST TEXAS AND WEST TEXAS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON THROUGH THE EVENING HOURS OVER THE DAVIS MOUNTAINS SOUTH ACROSS THE MARFA PLATEAU. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND THIS EVENING FROM THE SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICAN PLAINS EAST ACROSS THE NORTHERN PERMIAN BASIN. THE POTENTIAL IS THERE FOR ANY THUNDERSTORM TO PRODUCE WIND GUSTS NEAR 50 MPH AND SMALL HAIL. BRIEF HEAVY RAIN AND FREQUENT CLOUD-TO-GROUND LIGHTNING WILL ACCOMPANY ANY THUNDERSTORM. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY ISOLATED TO SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS WILL REMAIN IN THE FORECAST THIS WEEKEND. ON SATURDAY...THE BEST CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE FROM THE MARFA PLATEAU NORTH ACROSS THE DAVIS AND GUADALUPE MOUNTAINS AND ACROSS MUCH OF SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO. THUNDERSTORM CHANCES EXPAND EASTWARD ON SUNDAY...OVER MUCH OF WEST TEXAS AND SOUTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO. GUSTY WINDS...BRIEF HEAVY RAIN...AND FREQUENT CLOUD-TO-GROUND LIGHTNING WILL ACCOMPANY THIS ACTIVITY. THOSE WITH OUTDOOR PLANS THIS WEEKEND SHOULD KEEP AN EYE TO THE SKY AND KEEP TABS ON CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED. 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
447 PM CDT FRI AUG 21 2015
TXZ075-081-212245-
BIG BEND AREA-PECOS-
447 PM CDT FRI AUG 21 2015
...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WILL AFFECT NORTH CENTRAL BREWSTER AND SOUTH
CENTRAL PECOS COUNTIES...
AT 446 PM CDT...A STRONG THUNDERSTORM WAS 15 MILES SOUTH OF
BELDING...OR 22 MILES SOUTH OF FORT STOCKTON...MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20
MPH.
WIND GUSTS UP TO 50 MPH ARE POSSIBLE WITH THIS STORM.
LOCATIONS IMPACTED INCLUDE... SIERRA MADERA AND PORTIONS OF HIGHWAY
385...18 TO 25 MILES SOUTH OF FORT STOCKTON.
TORRENTIAL RAINFALL IS ALSO OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM...AND MAY CAUSE
LOCALIZED FLOODING. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE THROUGH FLOODED
ROADWAYS.
FREQUENT CLOUD TO GROUND LIGHTNING IS OCCURRING WITH THIS STORM.
LIGHTNING CAN STRIKE 15 MILES AWAY FROM A THUNDERSTORM. SEEK A SAFE
SHELTER INSIDE A BUILDING OR VEHICLE.
LAT...LON 3061 10306 3067 10288 3042 10269 3032 10280
3027 10296
TIME...MOT...LOC 2146Z 334DEG 16KT 3057 10295
67The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 150 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 00:36 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A storm moved across Lea County and produced a 61 mph wind gust near Tatum as recorded by the local mesonet station.
A storm moved across Lea County and produced wind damage near Knowles. A trained spotter reported several power poles blown down just west of NM 132 and NM 133. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in New Mexico in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in New Mexico, August 2015
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: 592968, 592966, 592381.