A compact but strong and slow moving upper level trough brought widespread soaking rains to much of West Texas during the morning hours on the 12th through early on the 13th. On the afternoon of the 12th, an isolated severe storm developed in eastern New Mexico and moved into Yoakum County as it tracked eastward.
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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.
A compact but strong and slow moving upper level trough brought widespread soaking rains to much of West Texas during the morning hours on the 12th through early on the 13th. On the afternoon of the 12th, an isolated severe storm developed in eastern New Mexico and moved into Yoakum County as it tracked eastward. This storm tracked across the southern portion of the County affecting Denver City.
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 12, 11:39 AM CST, 1 hour 33 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lubbock TX 1239 PM CDT Wed Apr 12 2017 .AVIATION... An area of widespread rain and embedded thunderstorms continues to move out of eastern New Mexico and will bring RA/TS to the KLBB/KPVW sites early this afternoon followed a few hours later at KCDS. Ceilings are currently expected to remain mostly in the MVFR category though excursions to IFR will be possible, particularly during the overnight hours. && .UPDATE... Have issued an areal flood watch for all but the southeastern Rolling Plains. An expansive area of precipitation continues to move out of NM and a number of waves are anticipated over the next 24 hours. Embedded thunderstorms should largely remain below severe limits though there is some risk of marginally severe hail. Widespread 1-2 inch totals look plausible through the course of the event, which will likely occur over several phases with lulls in between. The first lull looks to occur early this evening across the west (moving east with time) followed by another batch overnight. A number of strong storms appears ongoing over the Tularosa basin though, as these storms move into the the airmass worked over by this morning's convection across eastern NM, the intensity would generally be expected to decrease with an expansion in areal coverage. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 631 AM CDT Wed Apr 12 2017/ AVIATION... Already seeing some TS across southern NM. These storms will work eastward through the day. Better coverage expected late afternoon through the evening at KLBB and KPVW, delayed until after midnight at KCDS. PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 336 AM CDT Wed Apr 12 2017/ SHORT TERM... The well-anticipated precipitation is approaching as a nice looking mid/upper level short wave trough is pushing eastward across western Arizona and northwestern Sonora. Conditions tonight are playing out about as expected with moderate low level warm, moist advection occurring ahead of the trough while mid and upper levels are moistening across New Mexico. The inherited forecast was in good shape and have only made some relatively minor adjustments to it this morning. Precipitation chances will be maximized between 12/21Z and 13/12Z as the upper trough moves across eastern Arizona and New Mexico today and tonight. The severe potential looks pretty small as abundant cloud cover (stratus should hang in most, if not all, of the day) will limit high temperatures mostly to the 60s, in turn limiting potential energy with progged MUCAPE values mostly between 250 and 750 J/kg. Southwestern zones may realize a little more than that this afternoon, so maybe a slightly enhanced chance there. The main focus remains on heavy rain potential. Low level moisture return has been somewhat robust this morning, but a thunderstorm complex across South Texas last evening has done a good job of cutting off deeper Gulf moisture. It looks like 50s to near 60 dew point temperatures will be the best we will be able to realize this afternoon which may put a limit on the potential on vigorous deep convection. Combining the low level moisture with the increased mid level moisture from the west is progged to result in Precipitable Water of about 1.0-1.3 inches across the region this afternoon through tonight. This is around 3 standard deviations above climatology, which while healthy, is not necessarily extreme. However, it looks like the orientation of the mean flow will be with the moisture axis which will promote an increased likelihood of training of storms. These are certainly some characteristics that have spurred the thought of a flood watch, but have decided to hold off at this time given enough uncertainty with degree of instability and quality of deep moisture. However, the situation will bear watching through the day. LONG TERM... Primary change to the previous forecast theme was to scale back PoPs more aggressively on Thursday A.M. across much of the South Plains following the biggest slug of precip overnight. Tonight's upper trough is still on track to lift across the eastern Panhandles by Thursday afternoon with increasingly subsident flow in its wake. Nevertheless, soundings at times immediately behind the trough axis exhibit negligible CINH during the day which could easily procure spotty, diurnally driven storms just about anywhere. Beyond Thursday, the overwhelming theme is for low level moisture to remain stolid every day under weakly cyclonic SW flow that eventually trends more zonal after Easter. How much the anticipated heavy rain tonight through early Thursday stunts high temps is an obvious concern which climo-weighted MOS rarely accounts for, so have sided with the cooler raw model guidance for high temps each day which is more fitting given saturated soils. Precip-wise, Friday still shows more cons than pros for convective initiation given a warming EML and minimal forcing. Opted to shave back the inherited PoPs farther west near the dryline in eastern NM and more favorable orographic forcing, but the ECMWF still appears overblown with convection this day especially should convective temps be stunted from diabatic cooling of wet soils. The dryline should shift east on Saturday under improving SW flow, but it's not uncommon to see models overshoot the dryline's easterly position this many days out, so slight PoPs were hedged a bit westward toward I-27 late on Sat. These PoPs should only improve come Easter as a cold front edges south and presumably stalls in/near our area. GFS has joined forces with its rivals regarding this front's more southerly latitude, so confidence for now is improving in a more definitive window for precip at some point on Easter. Sunday's pattern recognition certainly has the makings for an organized severe storm setup, but this is extremely dependent on the front not surging south beyond our domain - a tendency which models often miss especially when convective outflows are involved. Lingering PoPs on Monday look to be shown the backdoor thereafter as mean-scale ridging nudges into West TX. This will serve to both warm and dry out the region - while also stimulating many eager mosquito larvae. && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... Flood Watch through Thursday morning for TXZ021>037-039>043. && 99/99/26
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Lubbock TX 1059 AM CDT Wed Apr 12 2017 TXZ021>044-131600- Parmer-Castro-Swisher-Briscoe-Hall-Childress-Bailey-Lamb-Hale- Floyd-Motley-Cottle-Cochran-Hockley-Lubbock-Crosby-Dickens-King- Yoakum-Terry-Lynn-Garza-Kent-Stonewall- 1059 AM CDT Wed Apr 12 2017 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the South Plains...Rolling Plains and the far Southern Texas Panhandle. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight Slow-moving showers and thunderstorms will expand in coverage today and especially overnight. Heavy rain and flooding will be the greatest threats with these thunderstorms, although some marginally severe hail and strong wind gusts are also possible, particularly across the western South Plains this afternoon. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Thursday through Tuesday The likelihood of hazardous weather is low at this time. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotters are encouraged to report flooding and heavy rainfall amounts.
The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 136 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 19:13 UTC.
1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A swath of hail was reported from 10 miles west of Denver City to 12 miles east of Denver City. Multiple reports were received of hail up to golf ball size. No damage was reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, April 2017
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: 679815.