Convection developed off the higher terrain of northeastern New Mexico on the afternoon of the 29th. As this convection moved into the central Texas Panhandle, a strong outflow boundary moved south into the extreme south-central Texas Panhandle.
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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.
Convection developed off the higher terrain of northeastern New Mexico on the afternoon of the 29th. As this convection moved into the central Texas Panhandle, a strong outflow boundary moved south into the extreme south-central Texas Panhandle. Numerous thunderstorms developed on the north side of the outflow boundary producing numerous reports of severe wind gusts as they slowly moved across the extreme south-central Texas Panhandle.
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 Aug 29, 5:42 PM CST, 3 hours 3 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lubbock TX 642 PM CDT Sat Aug 29 2020 .AVIATION... Cluster of thunderstorms currently 46 miles west of LBB as of 2340z will continue to move east at around 20 mph. This activity has been producing frequent cloud to ground lightning, gusty westerly winds, and some blowing dust. Expect this activity to move through LBB within an hour or two. Elsewhere, conditions will remain VFR through the early evening. Another storm complex should move from WNW to ESE across the Texas Panhandle late this evening and into the overnight hours. This activity will also be capable of frequent lightning strikes and breezy northwesterly winds. Confidence on how far south this second batch of storms will make it is still in question therefore have left it out of the PVW and LBB TAFs at this time. Appears that CDS will have the best chance at seeing this round of storms. /WCI && .PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 218 PM CDT Sat Aug 29 2020/ SHORT TERM... A couple windows for precipitation, mainly across the northern half of the forecast area tonight. The initial window comes with the potential for isolated/scattered thunder development along the confluence/convergence zone bisecting the forecast area from WNW to ESE in the area where veered southeast winds meet with post-frontal east/northeast flow. There remains good agreement in the hi-res models in convective initiation vicinity of Clovis/Muleshoe which then moves to the east/southeast. Second window comes late tonight as thunderstorms that form on the Raton Mesa move southeastward across the Panhandle. There appears to be a good chance with the latter as they will be supported by an eastward-moving upper level short wave trough and will be moving into increasingly rich low level air with modest relative inflow. PoP's in the 30-50% PoPs across the northern half of the forecast continue to look reasonable. The Panhandle MCS should be east of the forecast area by 12Z Sunday. Southerly surface winds return areawide. Low level warm advection will bring the heat back after today's relatively "cool" day. Highs are expected to be about 3-5 degrees warmer most areas - the exception being the southeast corner where cold advection is negligible this afternoon and the northeast where slightly backed surface flow may keep temperatures close to today's highs. Thunder chances look very slim at this point with an outside chance in the zone of backed flow from the Caprock escarpment eastward. LONG TERM... We are closing out one of the hottest August months on record, but there are signals that the start of Sept will bring more seasonable temperatures to the area...and some much-needed rainfall. However, as is typical in a synoptic pattern change such as this there is quite a bit of spread in the medium range guidance which lowers the overall confidence in the details of the forecast. Flattening of the upper ridge across the west allows for some weak ripples in westerly flow to cross the area Monday and also carries some monsoonal moisture from the deserts out over the Southern High Plains. Add in another weak cold front moving south out of the Panhandles and this should support some shower and thunderstorm activity across the area. However, given some uncertainty with the progression of the front and the timing of upper-level lift, we'll keep PoPs on the modest side through the day, but increase them into solid chance range by evening and especially Monday night with isentropic lift progged to be on the increase and a better QPF signal. Precip chances should continue on Tuesday and potentially increase as a stronger shortwave slides south through the Rockies and possibly cuts off somewhere over the 4-corners area. As alluded to earlier, there is a lot of variation in the deterministic guidance with the evolution of this system and it's track and strength will greatly influence our temps and precip chances in the Tue to Thu time frame. For now, we will maintain a chance of precip across the whole area though Tues night, then start to trim it back from west to east on Wed, reflecting the current blended solution and continuity with the previous forecast. If a slower and deeper track does verify, such as indicated by the 12Z ECM, PoP chances will likely need to be raised and extended and we could start to rack up some higher precip amounts off the Caprock. High temperatures would also be cooler than the upper 80s to mid 90s that we are forecasting. In either case, it does appear that by late week we should see a drying trend as the monsoonal moisture wanes over our area and a broad ridge develops from West Coast to Texas. && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && 58/07/33
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Lubbock TX 843 PM CDT Sat Aug 29 2020 TXZ021>044-310145- Parmer-Castro-Swisher-Briscoe-Hall-Childress-Bailey-Lamb-Hale-Floyd- Motley-Cottle-Cochran-Hockley-Lubbock-Crosby-Dickens-King-Yoakum- Terry-Lynn-Garza-Kent-Stonewall- 843 PM CDT Sat Aug 29 2020 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the South Plains, Rolling Plains and the far Southern Texas Panhandle. .DAY ONE...Tonight. A few strong to severe thunderstorms are possible this evening across the extreme southern Texas Panhandle and the northern Rolling Plains. Hail to an inch diameter and wind gusts to 80 mph will be the primary threats. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Sunday through Friday. Periodic episodes of scattered thunderstorms, with strong downburst potential, will exist over the next week. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation may be needed. Please relay any information about severe weather to the NWS while following local, state, and CDC guidelines.
Special Weather Statement National Weather Service Lubbock TX 548 PM CDT Sat Aug 29 2020 TXZ027-028-033-034-292330- Bailey TX-Hockley TX-Cochran TX-Lamb TX- 548 PM CDT Sat Aug 29 2020 ...SIGNIFICANT WEATHER ADVISORY FOR SOUTHEASTERN BAILEY...COCHRAN... HOCKLEY AND SOUTHWESTERN LAMB COUNTIES UNTIL 630 PM CDT... At 547 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 7 miles south of Pep, or 11 miles east of Morton, moving east at 20 mph. Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph will be possible with this storm. Locations impacted include... Levelland, Anton, Whitharral, Pep, Smyer, Whiteface and Opdyke West. LAT...LON 3342 10292 3383 10291 3388 10217 3343 10215 TIME...MOT...LOC 2247Z 262DEG 20KT 3370 10256 WCI
The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 77 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 02:47 UTC.
6 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Tulia measured a wind gust to 66 mph.
A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Lesley measured a peak wind gust of 65 mph at 2115 CST. Severe winds were measured from 2115 through 2119 CST.
A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Silverton measured a wind gust of 59 mph.
A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site at Caprock Canyons State Park measured a wind gust to 60 mph.
A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Turkey measured a wind gust to 59 mph.
A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site at Caprock Canyons State Park measured a wind gust to 58 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, August 2020
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: 910351, 910345, 910346, 910347, 910349, 910350.