Scattered thunderstorms developed this afternoon along the edge of the Caprock in Briscoe and Floyd Counties. Very strong instability compensated for weak wind shear and allowed a few of these storms to become supercells and produce very large hail as they tracked slowly southeastward.
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.
Scattered thunderstorms developed this afternoon along the edge of the Caprock in Briscoe and Floyd Counties. Very strong instability compensated for weak wind shear and allowed a few of these storms to become supercells and produce very large hail as they tracked slowly southeastward. More numerous storms then surged south from the Texas Panhandle and resulted in a large, southward-moving storm complex that affected much of the South Plains and Rolling Plains through the evening. This complex of storms produced a handful of severe wind gusts and a large wall of dirt (haboob) that reduced visibilities to near zero for a few minutes at the Lubbock International Airport.
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 29, 3:06 PM CST, 54 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lubbock TX 406 PM CDT SUN MAY 29 2016 .SHORT TERM... s we get into the afternoon the forecast has still not become much more clear(er). Currently non-severe convection has developed along a surface boundary across the northern Rolling Plains and south- central TX Panhandle. A few storms have tried to rise in strength but most likely have only dropped pea size hail. Storm tops have struggled (though not all have failed) to reach above 32kft AGL, but storm top divergence has been decent (around 70 kts). Some storms have also developed just east of the dryline in eastern NM, but these storms have stayed out of the FA thus far. Farther west storms have developed along the dryline and are very slowly moving eastward. Being mostly clear of convection within our FA will allow for instability to grow a bit more which will increase our chances at seeing severe convection. The AMA 18z sounding shows MLCAPE around 2400 J/kg and RAP mesoscale analysis now has up to 3000 J/kg MLCAPE across our western zones. CIN that was present earlier during the day as shown by the 18z MAF sounding has dissipated. Once storms do develop/move into the FA they have a high potential to become severe. Dry air in the mid/upper levels, moderately high CAPE, and decent storm top divergence potential via an upper level jet will make very large hail the main severe threat. Damaging wind is also possible. The tornado potential has dropped over the past few hours as surface winds have veered instead of back which in turn has lowered low level directional shear. This is not to say there is a zero tornado threat, but it is not as high as previously thought earlier this morning when surface winds were out of the southeast. Flooding will also be a possibility this afternoon and evening as storm motion will be slow at 5-10 kts at best. PWATS over 1 inch will only add to to the flooding potential. Storms will continue into the overnight hours while possibly having a lull from midnight to the mid morning. Some storms may continue across the eastern Rolling Plains into tomorrow morning in which chance PoPs have been maintained in this area. More severe convection, though not expected to be as big of a threat as we are seeing today, will be possible again tomorrow afternoon/early evening as the dryline sets up again in eastern NM and another mid level disturbance moves across the region. Aldrich .LONG TERM... We made few changes for the period Monday evening into next weekend. A slow moving upper trough will be in position to maintain a moist and unstable environment. Solutions develop a fair amount of convection in the area late tomorrow and appear to congeal it into another MCS during the overnight. Confidence in this particular mode of development remains not terrifically high but is worthy of at least solid likely thunder mention favoring our eastern areas again tomorrow night. Little overall change on Tuesday with a potentially worked over environment giving us little confidence for details. But overall situation still warrants solid chance mention. An important addition will be arrival of a cold front likely enhanced by outflow late Tuesday. This justifies very high chance or likely mention across the area Tuesday night into Wednesday. Once more hard to know how to modify the environment Wednesday, but chances will remain valid at this point, with gradually lowering chances into Thursday as the upper trough finally slides east with drier northerly flow to follow. Cool late week with warming into the weekend seems valid. RMcQueen && .LUB Watches/Warnings/Advisories... Flash Flood Watch until 1 AM CDT Monday for TXZ021>032. && 51/05
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 353 PM CDT SUN MAY 29 2016 TXZ021>044-302100- PARMER-CASTRO-SWISHER-BRISCOE-HALL-CHILDRESS-BAILEY-LAMB-HALE- FLOYD-MOTLEY-COTTLE-COCHRAN-HOCKLEY-LUBBOCK-CROSBY-DICKENS-KING- YOAKUM-TERRY-LYNN-GARZA-KENT-STONEWALL- 353 PM CDT SUN MAY 29 2016 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE SOUTH PLAINS...ROLLING PLAINS AND THE FAR SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE. .DAY ONE...THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WITH VERY HEAVY RAINFALL ARE EXPECTED THROUGH EARLY TONIGHT. HAIL AS LARGE AS SOFTBALLS...DAMAGING WIND GUSTS... AND BRIEF TORNADOES ARE POSSIBLE WITH ANY OF THESE STORMS. THERE WILL ALSO BE A THREAT FOR FLASH FLOODING ESPECIALLY FROM THE TEXAS PANHANDLE INTO THE NORTHERN PART OF THE SOUTH PLAINS AND ROLLING PLAINS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY THUNDERSTORMS WILL CONTINUE MONDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...MAINLY IN THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING HOURS. THESE STORMS WILL BRING THE THREAT OF SEVERE WEATHER ALONG WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS REQUESTED THROUGH EARLY TONIGHT.
The Altus AFB radar (KFDR), 123 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:01 UTC.
6 thunderstorm wind, 1 hail, 1 dust storm. Local standard time, as filed.
A supercell thunderstorm produced a swath of severe hail up to the size of baseballs about 12 miles north of Paducah to quarter size hail in Swearingen. Some of the Paducah volunteer fire department's vehicles were damaged by the hail.
Two power poles were downed in Swearingen.
Two severe wind gusts were measured by a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet south of Olton. The first was 58 mph at 525 PM CST and the second gust to 63 mph occurred at 540 PM CST.
A wall of dirt (haboob) struck the Lubbock International Airport along the leading edge of outflow from a large complex of storms. The FAA contract weather observer noted that the visibility fell to less than one hundred feet for about three minutes before slowly improving withing the following ten minutes. Video from the NWS Lubbock office's airport camera confirmed near zero visibility for a couple minutes.
Measured at the Lubbock International Airport.
Measured by a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet.
Measured by a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet.
A CO-OP observer reported that her small greenhouse was blown off the property and never located.
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: 626854, 626858, 626859, 626864, 626861, 626862, 626863, 626865.