Late this morning, scattered to numerous thunderstorms erupted over the central South Plains ahead of a vigorous mid-level dry slot. After producing pea size hail and minor street flooding in southwest Lubbock, these storms marched into the Rolling Plains and the far southeast Texas Panhandle.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 morning, scattered to numerous thunderstorms erupted over the central South Plains ahead of a vigorous mid-level dry slot. After producing pea size hail and minor street flooding in southwest Lubbock, these storms marched into the Rolling Plains and the far southeast Texas Panhandle. Shortly after 1200 CST, the northern end of these storms intensified into a small bow echo near Northfield (Motley County) where a severe wind gust to 59 mph occurred. This bow echo raced northeast at 50 mph and produced scattered damage to roofs and trees in the city of Childress. Farther west, very dry air and deep mixing west of a dryline helped carry some high winds to the surface over portions of the southern South Plains. No wind damage was reported with any of these high wind gusts, however sustained winds around 30 mph did result in some blowing dirt and minor visibility reductions. The overall lack of drought conditions and a healthy green-up of grasses helped mitigate both blowing dirt and wildfire impacts.
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 24, 11:41 AM CST, 29 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 1241 PM CDT FRI APR 24 2015 .AVIATION... LINE OF TSRA THAT RECENTLY CLEARED LBB AND PVW WILL IMPACT CDS BEFORE 20Z LIKELY ACCOMPANIED BY SOME TEMPO VIS REDUCTIONS FROM MODERATE OR HEAVY RAIN. OTHERWISE...W-SW WINDS HAVE BEEN SLOW TO INCREASE TO 30 MPH BUT THIS IS STILL EXPECTED TO UNFOLD FROM W-E IN THE COMING HOURS AS DRIER AIR ARRIVES FROM NEW MEXICO. LBB LOOKS TO STAY SHY OF AIRPORT WX WARNING CRITERIA OF 30 KNOTS...BUT WILL REVISIT THIS AS TRENDS DICTATE. W WINDS TO SCALE BACK AT SUNSET BUT WILL REMAIN BREEZY OVERNIGHT. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 1048 AM CDT FRI APR 24 2015/ UPDATE... UPDATED TO INCREASE CLOUD COVER THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON AND ALSO TO ADJUST POPS HIGHER IN OUR SE ZONES FOR SCATTERED TO NUMEROUS SHOWERS AND TSTORMS. START TIME OF WIND ADVISORY AT NOON WILL BE LEFT INTACT FOR NOW...HOWEVER WIDESPREAD 30+ MPH WINDS WILL LIKELY BE DELAYED A FEW HOURS LONGER GIVEN A NEARLY MERIDIONAL FETCH OF SUBTROPICAL CLOUDS EVIDENT ON WATER VAPOR FROM THE DAVIS MOUNTAINS NNE TO THE SW PANHANDLE. AS A RESULT...LOW LEVEL MOISTURE AS FAR WEST AS SOUTHEAST NM HAD YET TO EVEN BEGIN MIXING OUT AT 1530Z. HOWEVER... A SHARP DRY SLOT CRESTING THE SACRAMENTOS WILL MAKE QUICK WORK OF THIS MOISTURE IN THE HOURS AHEAD AND SHOULD SECURE WINDY CONDITIONS FOR MUCH OF OUR AREA BY MID-LATE AFTERNOON. && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 9 PM CDT THIS EVENING FOR TXZ021>042. && 93
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 101 PM CDT FRI APR 24 2015 TXZ021>044-251815- PARMER-CASTRO-SWISHER-BRISCOE-HALL-CHILDRESS-BAILEY-LAMB-HALE- FLOYD-MOTLEY-COTTLE-COCHRAN-HOCKLEY-LUBBOCK-CROSBY-DICKENS-KING- YOAKUM-TERRY-LYNN-GARZA-KENT-STONEWALL- 101 PM CDT FRI APR 24 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE EXTREME SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE...SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SCATTERED STRONG THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE ROLLING PLAINS THIS AFTERNOON. SMALL HAIL...BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL AND WIND GUSTS OF 40 TO 50 MPH WILL BE POSSIBLE. STRONG SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL DEVELOP THIS AFTERNOON CREATING WIND SPEEDS IN EXCESS OF 30 MPH WITH GUSTS NEAR 50 MPH ACROSS MUCH OF THE REGION. A WIND ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR THE ENTIRE AREA EXCEPT FOR THE SOUTHERN ROLLING PLAINS. ELEVATED FIRE DANGER IS POSSIBLE TODAY ESPECIALLY ACROSS THE FAR SOUTHWEST TEXAS PANHANDLE AND NORTHWEST SOUTH PLAINS...WITH STRONG WINDS COMBINING WITH DRY SURFACE CONDITIONS AND ABOVE AVERAGE TEMPERATURES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY ELEVATED FIRE DANGER IS POSSIBLE ACROSS THE FAR SOUTHWEST TEXAS PANHANDLE AND NORTHWEST SOUTH PLAINS ON SATURDAY. THERE MAY BE A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE ROLLING PLAINS LATE SUNDAY.
The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 131 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:11 UTC.
2 thunderstorm wind, 2 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Measured by a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet near Northfield.
Law enforcement reported scattered roof and tree damage in the city of Childress. Some roof debris was blocking portions of Main Street. Winds gusted to 56 mph and 57 mph at the nearby Childress airport and Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet, respectively.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, April 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: 562726, 562728, 562729, 562730.