Very strong instability developed across the South Plains this afternoon east of a sharp dryline. Scattered thunderstorms developed along the length of this dryline by 1600 CST and slowly matured into severe thunderstorms, including supercells.
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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.
Very strong instability developed across the South Plains this afternoon east of a sharp dryline. Scattered thunderstorms developed along the length of this dryline by 1600 CST and slowly matured into severe thunderstorms, including supercells. A remnant outflow boundary near the US Highway 84 corridor drifted west and interacted with an already stout supercell in southwest Lubbock County. This supercell proceeded to anchor to this boundary as it moved slowly southward and supported at least two sizable tornadoes in Lynn County over the next two hours. One of these tornadoes lasted 65 minutes and grew very intense with over 150 knots of gate-to-gate rotation noted per the Lubbock WSR-88D. These tornadoes narrowly missed population centers such as Tahoka and O'Donnell, but extensive lead time from warnings and excellent storm spotter reports gave the public plenty of time to seek shelter. This prolific supercell also produced very large hail to tennis ball size, intense RFD winds over 80 mph, and flash flooding.
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 5, 1:28 PM CST, 2 hours 2 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lubbock TX 228 PM CDT Sun May 5 2019 .DISCUSSION... Severe storms are once again in the hopper for later this afternoon and evening, but compared to yesterday's event the setup today involves a much broader and stronger area of both CAPE and wind shear. Observations at 2 PM showed a thermal low near western Cochran County coincident with an axis of strong heating and superadiabatic 0-3 km lapse rates. This has already yielded a pocket of towering cumulus along a N-S dryline and should become the primary focus for storm initiation in the coming hour(s) as vertical mixing remains maximized in this vicinity. Aside from the dryline poised just east of TX and NM border, a residual boundary of weakly convergent flow was aligned roughly along Highway 84 and this could serve as a railway for a few supercells to anchor to later today. Otherwise, the environment is more unstable than yesterday with SBCAPEs already over 3000 J/kg spanning much of the Caprock. Around 35 to 40 knots of 0-6 km bulk shear will again prove more than sufficient for supercell modes, likely more robust and longer lasting than yesterday's abbreviated supercells. A few tornadoes are again possible mainly near the aforementioned NW-SE boundary and also as 0-1 km shear improves this evening with a 30-40 knot southeasterly LLJ. We expect scattered supercells (some splitting given largely straight line hodographs) to transition off the Caprock by early evening under mostly zonal flow and perhaps grow upscale into small lines at times provided outflows can consolidate. Following another round of overnight and early morning stratus over much of the region, the dryline on Monday is progged to be more diffuse locally underneath shortwave ridging, rising height fields, and more importantly less veered surface flow to its west. Complete with 700 mb temps warming a few degrees, this setup could prove more hostile for deep convection. However, this forecaster and many of my colleagues have lived here long enough to know that you should rarely dismiss the dryline in such marginal setups. Stronger heating will likely breed some attempts at moist convection which could easily skyrocket into isolated supercells given still favorable thermodynamic and kinematic profiles. The HREF and TTU WRF appear quite optimistic in this scenario and the subsequent upscale growth of storms in the evening, but we're a bit skeptical of this broad coverage of storms given no discernible background triggers within weak anticyclonic flow aloft. As such, we'll keep PoPs tomorrow afternoon just at slight chance in expectation of spottier storms. Tuesday still has the makings of a potentially significant severe event anywhere from the TX South Plains north to southwest KS as a dryline sharpens considerably in response to deeper SW flow ahead of a robust upper trough. The usual concern in these situations is antecedent convection and its effects on boundaries which is at odds among some models. Concern is that the NAM may very well be correct with its accelerated cold front into the Panhandle Mon night via convective outflows. The blended models still account for this time at this time, so we've left this scenario intact which favors a synoptic front or merely outflow boundary in our northern zones Tue afternoon. The intersection of these boundaries and the dryline would be the main focus for significant severe storms, but nearly the whole length of the dryline appears fair game for storms especially by the evening as the peak height falls and a Pacific front arrive. A quick inspection of the broader environmental data says some significant tornadoes could be in the offing anywhere east of the dryline Tue afternoon and evening which will obviously bear watch in later forecasts. Storms should quickly clear the region by daybreak Wed ahead of breezy west winds and deepening subsidence aloft. Thereafter, a modified Canadian front sweeps south Wed night ahead of a slow moving low in the Desert SW that should not impact the region until next weekend at the earliest. GFS and ECMWF favor a lead trough ejecting from this low o/a Friday which could easily spur rounds of elevated showers atop the cool dome. High temps may need to be curbed considerably Friday and Saturday. Additional precip seems plausible Sun into Mon as the aforementioned low finally lifts across Texas and much closer to our domain than prior models and ensembles suggested. && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && 93
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Lubbock TX 1123 AM CDT Sun May 5 2019 TXZ021>044-060430- Parmer-Castro-Swisher-Briscoe-Hall-Childress-Bailey-Lamb-Hale- Floyd-Motley-Cottle-Cochran-Hockley-Lubbock-Crosby-Dickens-King- Yoakum-Terry-Lynn-Garza-Kent-Stonewall- 1123 AM CDT Sun May 5 2019 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the South Plains, Rolling Plains and the far Southern Texas Panhandle. .DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight There is a slight risk for severe thunderstorms late this afternoon and evening especially along and east of US Highway 385. Additionally, a few strong to severe thunderstorms will also be possible across the Rolling Plains and extreme southern Texas Panhandle. Hail to 3 inches in diameter and wind gusts to 70 mph will be possible along with isolated tornadoes. In addition, slow moving storms may cause local flooding. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday There will be a chance for isolated severe thunderstorms Monday afternoon and evening. More widespread coverage of severe thunderstorms may occur Tuesday afternoon and Tuesday night. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation will likely be needed.
The Lubbock radar (KLBB), 26 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:30 UTC.
5 thunderstorm wind, 4 hail, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
This was the first of at least two hail swaths that impacted many areas of south and southwest Lubbock. Fortunately, the hail fell without any strong winds, but minor hail damage was likely inflicted to thousands of vehicles across the area.
On the heels of the earlier hail, a second hailstorm affected much of the same areas of southern Lubbock, this time with hailstones only to the size of half dollars. Damage estimates from this second hailstorm were impossible to estimate given the earlier damage.
Storm chasers observed what at first looked to be a harmless gustnado southeast of New Home, but this innocuous dirt whirl quickly grew taller and phased with a rotating wall cloud immediately aloft. This tornado slowly intensified just west of US Highway 87 and moved southeast before crossing the highway around 1655 CST. The NWS storm survey found only minimal wind damage along the highway, but this tornado rapidly intensified as it turned nearly due south just east of US Highway 87. It was here that the tornado inflicted EF2 damage to power poles approximately 2.7 miles N-NE of Tahoka. The tornado crossed US Highway 380 about 3 miles east of Tahoka around 1705 CST and grew to just over one mile in width. Visibility was compromised during much of this wedge phase due to large amounts of dust wrapping around the tornado. EF1 damage was noted to a residence along US Highway 380. About a half mile south of the highway the tornado caused EF1 to EF2 damage to a manufactured home and farm equipment. By 1730 CST, the tornado and parent mesocyclone halted their S-SE motion and wobbled back to the west as indicated by the radar data and storm chaser video. Based on reports from a few storm chasers, at least one additional tornado may have accompanied this larger tornado at times a mile or two to its northeast, but a lack of sufficient evidence prevented these reports from being submitted.
Damage was not known.
Measured by a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet.
Measured by a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet.
A NWS storm survey revealed that a microburst completely destroyed a metal barn that was anchored in concrete. This barn was located along Farm to Market Road 1881 between County Roads 20 and 22. Although most of the debris had been cleaned up by the time the storm survey team arrived, the survey team noted that several remaining I-beams had been bent.
Intense rear flank downdraft winds as high as 80 mph were documented over a large swath of central Lynn County for nearly one hour. In addition to downing an estimated 250 power poles over the area, these winds caused minor damage to a couple dozen homes, sheds, and toppled several trees.
Hail as large as tennis balls destroyed the rear window of a storm chaser's SUV.
Torrential rainfall of 3 to 6 inches accompanied a supercell that became stationary at times across eastern Lynn County. Approximately 2000 acres of cotton crops sustained various degrees of damage, with some sections completely washed away by mud flows.
This tornado developed along Farm to Market 1054 south of the small community of Draw and produced EF1 damage to trees at a residence nearby. The tornado moved south-southwest and grew to a considerable size around one half mile wide while becoming heavily cloaked in dust, but fortunately did not cause any other known damage. As is common with decaying tornadoes with slow motions, this tornado curled abruptly to the left of its mean track (east in this case) and dissipated very near the Lynn and Borden County line.
Severe wind gusts were measured for a 45-minute period by a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet near O'Donnell. These winds were the result of an intense rear flank downdraft that accompanied a nearly stationary supercell. Wind damage to buildings and power poles was commonplace throughout O'Donnell and nearby areas.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 2019Warnings in Texas, May 2019
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: 811767, 811779, 811787, 811791, 811794, 811795, 813341, 811798, 811809, 811816, 811801, 811836.