Following a small wave of severe thunderstorms in Kent and Stonewall Counties late this afternoon along a weak cold front and dryline, a second round of severe thunderstorms rolled southeast from the western Texas Panhandle late in the evening. This latter round of storms featured an impressive, but compact bow echo that struck northern Childress County shortly before midnight CST.
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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.
Following a small wave of severe thunderstorms in Kent and Stonewall Counties late this afternoon along a weak cold front and dryline, a second round of severe thunderstorms rolled southeast from the western Texas Panhandle late in the evening. This latter round of storms featured an impressive, but compact bow echo that struck northern Childress County shortly before midnight CST. This bow echo toppled 16 power poles along Highway 62 east of Highway 83.
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 May 11, 2:47 PM CST, 33 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lubbock TX 347 PM CDT WED MAY 11 2016 .SHORT TERM... At 2:30 PM, Satellite imagery showed an increasingly agitated cumulus field within a convergent zone along a stalling frontal boundary and weak dryline from near Post eastward through Stonewall County. Temperatures near 90F and dewpoints in the mid 50s underneath moderate mid-level lapse rates are yielding MLCAPE values around 2000 J/KG in this area per SPC/RAP analysis. Water vapor imagery shows an upper-level disturbance passing through the Southern Rockies. Large-scale ascent associated with this wave will likely begin to spread over West Texas late this afternoon and evening. although deep-layer wind shear is likely to remain on the modest side through evening. As a result, isolated to scattered t- storm development is expected during the next several hours. These storms will be capable of producing large hail and damaging outflow wind gusts. The storms will generally move to the east, but increasingly easterly component to the low-level flow may allow for some redevelopment back to the west through the evening. Tonight, thunderstorm activity originating in northeast New Mexico is expected to track through much of the Panhandles. After midnight, a cold front, possibly enhanced by t-storm outflow, will move south through our forecast area. T-storm activity may spread southward into portions of the South Plains and Rolling Plains in conjunction with this front, although confidence in the details remains low as short-term guidance shows a wide variety of solutions. The best chances appear to focus on the Rolling Plains where the deeper moisture will reside. Some severe weather will also be possible in that area overnight although the threat should be more isolated. Low clouds and possibly some areas of drizzle will also accompany the front, with skies gradually clearing out from the north to south during the day. Some showers may linger across our southern Counties through about mid-day but cool temperatures will keep any activity on the weak side and spotty. Thursday's highs should only reach the lower to middle 70s for most locations. The northeasterly winds will be breezy through early morning, and then diminish while shifting to the east in the afternoon. .LONG TERM... 12Z guidance is still on track favoring unsettled conditions this weekend in the vicinity of a decaying upper ridge. One change worth noting is that the ECMWF and CMC have fallen in line with the GFS in depicting a more progressive and flatter trough upstream of said ridge by Sunday night, so this would likely restore drier westerlies much sooner than originally forecast. Thursday evening begins with stable surface ridging wedging farther south toward the I-20 corridor. This feature will depart east through Friday morning ahead of increasingly moist southerlies, although isentropic ascent appears very weak and not supportive of elevated convection. This moisture should support deep convection beginning Friday night or early Saturday in our northeast zones as a cold front edges south under weak northwest flow. GFS remains the most bullish with an MCS signal straddling the baroclinic zone Friday night, however the progged low level jet is not particularly impressive which raises some concern for MCS development. Depending on early morning convection and any aggressive cold pools, the baroclinic zone could be shoved south of the CWA by Saturday afternoon similar to the CMC's depiction. Such a scenario in not that uncommon here, but until we see enough evidence for this we continue to favor the front residing in the area all day Saturday. Highest POPs remain in stock for Saturday night under continued weak northwest flow with another modest low level jet unfolding. If late day convection can develop upstream in the upslope regime of eastern NM, then prospects for a nocturnal MCS and a broader coverage of precip over the South Plains would be improved. With the front stalling out south and west of the region on Sunday, unseasonably cool conditions seem more likely as moist upslope winds prolong stratus and keep high temperatures a good 15-20 degrees below normal. Continued flattening of the shallow upper ridge as it shifts over the region will open the door to more impulses preceding a trough in the Great Basin, so broad POPs remain in order. This trough is now progged to shift east more aggressively beginning Sunday night ahead of deepening and drying southwest flow, so precip chances were dried out accordingly on Monday and Tuesday while also raising high temps by several degrees. && .LUB Watches/Warnings/Advisories... None. && 33/93
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 1139 AM CDT WED MAY 11 2016 TXZ021>044-121645- PARMER-CASTRO-SWISHER-BRISCOE-HALL-CHILDRESS-BAILEY-LAMB-HALE- FLOYD-MOTLEY-COTTLE-COCHRAN-HOCKLEY-LUBBOCK-CROSBY-DICKENS-KING- YOAKUM-TERRY-LYNN-GARZA-KENT-STONEWALL- 1139 AM CDT WED MAY 11 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE EXTREME SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE...SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT THERE IS A RISK OF ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS ACROSS THE SOUTHERN AND EASTERN ROLLING PLAINS LATE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...GENERALLY ALONG AND TO THE SOUTH AND EAST OF A LINE FROM LAKE ALAN HENRY TO GUTHRIE. HAIL UP TO GOLF BALL SIZE AND WIND GUSTS TO 65 MPH ARE THE MAIN THREATS WITH ANY STORMS THAT DEVELOP. ADDITIONAL THUNDERSTORM ACTIVITY IS POSSIBLE OVERNIGHT ACROSS THE FAR SOUTHEAST TEXAS PANHANDLE AND ROLLING PLAINS. THIS ACTIVITY MAY POSE A THREAT FOR LARGE HAIL AND DAMAGING WIND GUSTS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THE POTENTIAL FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE NEEDED LATER TODAY ACROSS PARTS OF THE ROLLING PLAINS.
The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 124 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:20 UTC.
2 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Kent County Sheriff's Office reported hail up to quarter size in Jayton for a couple minutes. Damage was not reported.
A deputy from the Aspermont Police Department reported very strong winds and hail increasing from nickel to half dollar size while driving south along Highway 83. Minor hail dents were noted on the side of the deputies vehicle.
The Childress County EM reported 16 power poles that were toppled by a bow echo thunderstorm. Time was estimated from radar.
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, May 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: 624002, 624003, 624004.