A short wave and a surface cold front were instrumental in initiating storms across northeastern New Mexico and these storms moved southeastward into West Texas. Some of the storms became severe as they tracked across the South Plains and Rolling Plains.
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.
A short wave and a surface cold front were instrumental in initiating storms across northeastern New Mexico and these storms moved southeastward into West Texas. Some of the storms became severe as they tracked across the South Plains and Rolling Plains. Earlier in the afternoon, isolated thunderstorms formed along a dryline. One of these storms produced severe hail in Garza County. Additionally, virga showers created a wind gust to 59 mph at a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet station near Anton (Hockley County).
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 20, 2:08 PM CST, 3 hours 38 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 308 PM CDT WED APR 20 2016 .SHORT TERM... EYES ARE POINTED TO THE NORTHWEST AWAITING INITIATION OF WHAT WILL BE AN MCS THAT WILL ROLL SEWD ACROSS THE PANHANDLE THROUGH THE EASTERN THIRD TO HALF OF THE FCST AREA OVERNIGHT. WILL NUDGE POPS UP SLIGHTLY FROM PREVIOUS FCST SOLIDLY INTO LIKELY CATEGORY FOR THE EASTERN THIRD OF THE FCST AREA TAPERING TO SLIGHT CHANCE AND EVEN A SLIVER OF NO PRECIP MENTION ACROSS THE WEST. FOCUS WILL SHIFT TO SERN ZONES AFTER 06Z WITH THE MCS LIKELY SHIFTING TO THE SOUTH AND EAST OF THE FCST AREA BY 12Z. COOLER...DRIER AIR MASS TO FILTER IN BEHIND THE MCS AND THE MAIN DRIVER FOR THIS SYSTEM...A MID LEVEL SPEED MAX ROTATING AROUND THE PERSISTENT UPPER LOW THAT THIS AFTERNOON IS DRIFTING EWD OVER THE CENTRAL HIGH PLAINS. SUNSHINE WILL HELP PUSH TEMPS UP INTO THE 70S DESPITE THE COOL AIR MASS. OBJECTIVE GUIDANCE LOOKS FINE FOR FCST HIGH TEMPS. DEW POINT TEMPS WILL FALL INTO THE 30S AND 40S. RESULTING STABILITY WILL PRECLUDE POPS AND USHER IN A QUIETER PERIOD OF WEATHER. .LONG TERM... WINDS WILL GRADUALLY VEER BACK TO THE SOUTH BY FRIDAY AFTERNOON AS A LEE TROF DEVELOPS CREATING THE BEGINNINGS OF WHAT WILL BE BREEZY DAYS AHEAD. WINDS WILL INCREASE TO 15-25 MPH /HIGHEST ACROSS OUR NORTHWEST COUNTIES/ AND VEER TO THE SOUTHWEST BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON AS A DRYLINE PUSHES ACROSS THE FA. CONVECTION LOOKS DOUBTFUL ALONG THE DRYLINE AS THE BEST UPPER LEVEL LIFT WILL BE TO THE NORTH AND WEST OF THE REGION. THE ECMWF SHOWS THE HIGHEST CHANCES FOR PRECIP WHICH IS NOT EXTREMELY HIGH. ANY MENTIONABLE POPS WILL BE KEPT OUT OF THE FORECAST FOR THE TIME BEING. THE DRYLINE WILL HAVE A SLIGHT RETREAT LATE SATURDAY BEFORE SURGING EASTWARD AS AN UPPER LEVEL LOW MOVES ACROSS THE CENTRAL PLAINS. WINDS WILL AGAIN VEER THIS TIME TO THE WEST AND WILL INCREASE TO 20-25 MPH AS THE LOW TO MID LEVELS DRY. SOME WINDS MAY BE HIGHER ACROSS THE SOUTHWESTERN TX PANHANDLE. CONVECTION LOOKS POSSIBLE TO THE EAST OF OUR FA BY SUNDAY EVENING AS A SHORTWAVE MEETS UP WITH THE DRYLINE. THINGS WILL CALM DOWN A BIT ON MONDAY AS A WEAK BACKDOOR FRONT DRIFTS INTO THE REGION. THIS DOES NOT LAST LONG AS ANOTHER LEE TROF DEVELOPS MONDAY AFTERNOON. THE MODELS THEN DIVERGE A BIT BEYOND MONDAY AS THE GFS KEEPS A SECOND UPPER LEVEL LOW WELL TO OUR NORTHWEST OVER WY WHICH WOULD HELP KEEP WINDS ON THE /RELATIVE/ LOW SIDE...20-25 MPH. THE ECMWF DIGS THE LOW MUCH FARTHER SOUTH INTO SOUTHEASTERN CO. THIS WOULD ALLOW FOR A WINDY DAY...30+ MPH. GIVEN THE LENGTH OF TIME BETWEEN NOW AND THEN AS WELL AS CONTINUED MODEL DIFFERENCES WINDS IN THE FORECAST WILL BE KEPT ON THE LOWER SIDE. && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 07/51
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 1142 AM CDT WED APR 20 2016 TXZ021>044-211645- PARMER-CASTRO-SWISHER-BRISCOE-HALL-CHILDRESS-BAILEY-LAMB-HALE- FLOYD-MOTLEY-COTTLE-COCHRAN-HOCKLEY-LUBBOCK-CROSBY-DICKENS-KING- YOAKUM-TERRY-LYNN-GARZA-KENT-STONEWALL- 1142 AM CDT WED APR 20 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE SOUTH PLAINS...ROLLING PLAINS AND THE FAR SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT ISOLATED STRONG TO SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MAY DEVELOP ALONG AND EAST OF THE DRYLINE THIS AFTERNOON AS THE CAPPING INVERSION WEAKENS. SHOULD THESE STORMS FORM THEY WILL GENERALLY BE ALONG AND JUST EAST OF THE I-27 CORRIDOR. HAIL TO THE SIZE OF HALF DOLLARS WILL BE POSSIBLE. A COMPLEX OF THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS NORTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO AND THE WESTERN TEXAS PANHANDLE AND MOVE QUICKLY SOUTHEASTWARD. THIS COMPLEX WILL BRING THE THREAT OF PING PONG BALL SIZE HAIL...WIND GUSTS TO 65 MPH...AND LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. THE GREATEST RISK OF THESE CONDITIONS WILL BE TO THE EAST AND NORTH OF A SILVERTON TO JAYTON LINE...BETWEEN 8 PM AND 2 AM. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUESTED THIS EVENING AND EARLY THURSDAY ACROSS THE EXTREME SOUTHEASTERN PANHANDLE AND THE ROLLING PLAINS.
The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 76 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:46 UTC.
7 hail, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
An off duty NWS employee reported ping pong ball size hail in Garza County at the intersection of US Highway 380 and Farm to Market Road 2008.
The Tulia Police Department reported quarter size hail in Tulia. No damage was reported.
A storm chaser reported quarter size hail about three miles north of Floydada along Texas State Highway 207. No damage was reported.
A storm chaser reported quarter size hail. No damage was reported.
An NWS cooperative weather observer reported quarter size hail. No damage was reported.
A storm chaser reported quarter size hail. No damage was reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, April 2016
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: 620034, 620027, 620028, 620029, 620030, 620031, 620032, 620033.