Very hot temperatures combined with a weak upper level disturbance, abundant moisture, and instability led to the development of thunderstorms on the afternoon of the fourth. These thunderstorms produced widespread wind damage and large hail.
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The episode as NWS LUB wrote it up.
Very hot temperatures combined with a weak upper level disturbance, abundant moisture, and instability led to the development of thunderstorms on the afternoon of the fourth. These thunderstorms produced widespread wind damage and large hail. The hot and well mixed lower atmosphere and high-based nature of the thunderstorms provided ideal conditions for the generation of strong and severe wind gusts. Scattered thunderstorms initially developed in the Texas Panhandle along a surface trough and tracked to the south and southeast through the evening.
The first reports of severe weather were from Briscoe County with wind gusts up to 72 mph near Silverton. These initial thunderstorms then accelerated to the south forming a strong cold pool out ahead of the storms. Storms repeatedly formed along outflow boundaries in the central South Plains and quickly raced southward. One of these storms produced large hail up to two inches in diameter in Floyd County. This particular storm went on to produce wind damage in Ralls (Crosby County) and finally in Post (Garza County). In far southwestern Garza County, this storm produced a wind gust to 94 mph near Graham. High precipitable water values contributed to flooding in Garza County along Texas State Highway 207 north of Post. Reports on social media showed the road had been damaged and impassable due to flooding.
Additional thunderstorms developed across the central South Plains and rushed southward from Hale into Lubbock and Lynn Counties. A large swath of severe winds initially affected a portion of Lubbock County and the city of Lubbock. The first severe wind gust was reported by the Automated Surface Observing System at Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport at 2020 CST. The Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet recorded additional severe wind gusts at Reese Center, Texas Tech University, and Slaton. These severe winds mostly affected the eastern portion of the city of Lubbock. In total, 50 power poles were downed along with a tree that fell onto and damaged a residence.
Thunderstorm outflow winds well ahead of the thunderstorms produced a severe wind gust to 58 mph at Amherst (Lamb County) at 1925 CST measured by the Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet.
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 Jun 4, 4:06 PM CST, 4 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lubbock TX 506 PM CDT Thu Jun 4 2020 .MESOSCALE UPDATE... Severe thunderstorms continue to move east and southeast at around 20 mph across the extreme southern Texas Panhandle, and will continue to move across the northeastern South Plains and Rolling Plains over the next couple of hours. Doppler radar has indicated storm-top divergence near 100 knots at times with these storms, with evidence that storms are beginning to congeal into a multi- cellular complex. Strong, negative theta perturbations have been observed in the wake of this convection with localized surface temperatures dropping into the upper 60s and lower 70s as per West Texas Mesonet data. These cold pools should continue to strengthen and merge over the next few hours, especially given the current storm movement of around 330/15 kt. As the cold pools merge, upscale evolution into an MCS will be possible with an increasing risk for wind-damage at the surface as it moves into a region with unimpeded storm-relative inflow. Until then, localized flooding will continue with these storms in addition to strong-to-severe winds near 60 mph and large hail up to two inches in diameter. Further southwest into Lamb County and the western South Plains, several attempts at deep convection have occurred but have ultimately failed owing to the presence of MLCIN around -25 J/kg. This has been evident on visible satellite imagery as the updrafts are narrow with orphan anvils occurring. Otherwise, the previous forecast assessment remains on track. Sincavage && .PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 155 PM CDT Thu Jun 4 2020/ SHORT TERM... A shortwave perturbation is currently rotating along the top of the ridge axis across central New Mexico, evident by mid-level water vapor imagery as orographically-enhanced convection develops along the Raton Mesa south into the Sacramento Mountains. This shortwave will continue to progress to the east and southeast throughout the remainder of the afternoon, and will begin moving over the forecast area in the next couple of hours coinciding with peak heating. A transverse gravity wave was also detected on water vapor imagery as it continues to propagate westward towards the TX/NM state line. At the surface, a broad area of low pressure is forming across eastern New Mexico with a surface trough extending from the OK/TX Panhandle region and into east-central New Mexico. Winds are veered on the southeastern periphery of this surface trough as per West Texas Mesonet data, and 1-hour pressure tendencies remain steady while 3-hour pressure falls of 1mb/3hr have been observed across the western South Plains and Texas Panhandle. As the afternoon progresses, pressure tendencies should continue to fall as the mid- level shortwave perturbation arrives, backing surface winds to the south and southeast. The intense heating has resulted in a deeply mixed boundary-layer with a vertical depth to near 3-km AGL (similar to what was observed yesterday). Despite the deep, vertical mixing causing T/Td spreads to increase, a plume of precipitable water (PWAT) content increasing to the 99th percentile (per SPC Sounding Climatology from the AMA and MAF RAOB sites for 05/00Z) has gradually advected into the low Rolling Plains and the eastern portions of the Caprock amidst middle 60 deg F and middle 50 deg F dew points, respectively. Convective initiation (CI) is expected near 20-22Z across the Texas Panhandle where low-level surface convergence is maximized in vicinity of the surface trough. High-based, multi-cellular storms are forecast to develop with LCL/LFCs at around 3-km AGL. Storms will have an initial threat for large hail of 1-2 inches in diameter given steep mid-level lapse rates near 8.5 C/km and MLCAPE nearing 1,500-2,000 J/kg, in addition to elongated west-east hodograph shapes resulting in the enlargement of the storm-relative u-wind component (favoring sustained hail growth regimes within updrafts). With the large depth of dry air beneath cloud base, a wind-damage threat will increase shortly after CI as the cold pools congeal quickly with wet-bulb/downdraft temperatures in the upper 60s. The cold outflow(s) and intensifying cloud-bearing layer shear to near 50 knots as the shortwave pivots over the CWA will augment upscale growth into a forward-propagating Mesoscale Convective System (MCS). The MCS should maintain itself for several hours as it moves into an environment with unimpeded storm-relative inflow oriented largely orthogonal to the projected MCS movement. Although PWATs are nearing record territory, the movement of the meso-beta-elements should mitigate flash flooding concerns as Corfidi vectors are unfavorable for back-building, with downshear propagation vectors of ~320/40 kt (north-northwest at 45 mph). However, the excessive PWATs coupled with strong cloud-layer flow will increase the potential for a few wet-microburst events, with damaging winds of 60-70 mph and locally heavy rain possible. In the wake of the MCS, a mesohigh may develop (typical in post-MCS environments) across the Rolling Plains and the eastern areas of the extreme southern Texas Panhandle. As the low-level jet (LLJ) intensifies later tonight, the interaction of the mesohigh and LLJ may form localized areas of surface convergence. Additional convective development will be possible behind the MCS as a result of this, with convection remaining rooted above the stable layer and is therefore expected to be non-surface based should this come to fruition. Localized heavy rain and strong winds to 50 mph will be possible; however, severe is not currently anticipated with the overnight convection across the Rolling Plains. Sincavage/Kendrick LONG TERM... Good model-to-model and run-to-run continuity from the 12Z NWP cycle leads to little in the way of change to the forecast and a forecast that does not deviate from the model inits for the Saturday through Thursday period. A narrow upper level ridge oriented from northern Mexico to the Missouri Valley sandwiched between a broad upper trough across the western CONUS and tropical system Cristobal in the western Gulf of Mexico will continue to favor a warm and dry forecast through the weekend. Monday appears to be the hottest day as low level flow veers ahead of a cold front. This handling of this cold front holds the biggest variance of the models, but the trend continues to be a faster with it, bringing it through the forecast Tuesday. Model init for Tuesday's high temperatures may be a bit warm with artifacts from the warmer 00Z ECMWF and later inits may bring these highs down some, but confidence not quite high enough yet to deviate with the forecast at this time. Post-frontal temperatures Wednesday and Thursday may be a touch cooler from the weekend, particularly in relation to overnight lows where drier post-frontal air will have a greater effect. && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && 09
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Lubbock TX 1132 AM CDT Thu Jun 4 2020 TXZ021>044-051645- Parmer-Castro-Swisher-Briscoe-Hall-Childress-Bailey-Lamb-Hale-Floyd- Motley-Cottle-Cochran-Hockley-Lubbock-Crosby-Dickens-King-Yoakum- Terry-Lynn-Garza-Kent-Stonewall- 1132 AM CDT Thu Jun 4 2020 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the South Plains, Rolling Plains and the far Southern Texas Panhandle. .DAY ONE...This afternoon and tonight. Strong to severe thunderstorms are possible this afternoon and evening across the southern Panhandle, northern South Plains, and Rolling Plains. The strongest storms may produce damaging winds to 70 mph, large hail of 1 to 2 inches in diameter, and locally heavy rainfall. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday. The probability for widespread hazardous weather is low. .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.
The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 101 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:10 UTC.
9 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 1 high wind, 1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Silverton measured a wind gust to 72 mph.
A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Caprock Canyons State Park measured a peak wind gust of 60 mph at 1624 CST. Severe winds gusts were observed from 1623 through 1624 CST.
The Automated Surface Observing System at Childress Municipal Airport measured a wind gust to 58 mph.
Reports on social media depicted hail up to two inches in diameter from about eight miles west of Floydada to about nine miles southwest of Floydada.
Local broadcast media relayed a report of golf ball size hail west of Cone.
A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Ralls measured a wind gust to 62 mph. Additionally, reports from the Ralls Fire Department and social media showed wind damage in and around the city of Ralls. Multiple power poles and a tractor trailer were blown over as well as an irrigation center pivot.
In addition to reporting wind damage in Ralls, the Ralls Fire Department reported hail up to golf ball size.
A report was received of roof damage about seven miles northwest of Caprock.
Thunderstorms developed on outflow boundaries in the central South Plains and rapidly intensified as these storms approached the city of Lubbock. A large swath of severe winds affected the area from Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport (KLBB) south-southeastward to about County Road 7600. An initial report of a wind gust to 77 mph was reported by the Automated Surface Observing System at KLBB at 2020 CST. Additional wind reports were observed by the Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet at Reese Center at 2027 CST (69 mph), Texas Tech University at 2030 CST (72 mph), and Slaton at 2040 CST (60 mph). Law enforcement in Lubbock County also reported that 50 poles were down on the east side of the city of Lubbock. A tree was blown over onto a house near the intersection of 54th Street and Gary Avenue which damaged the home and displaced the resident of the home.
A swath of wind damage was observed from just south of Southland along US Highway 84 into Post. Several transmission power poles were downed within this swath. The Garza County Sheriff's Office relayed numerous reports of wind damage in and around Post including outbuilding flattened, carports lifted, roofs damage, and a tractor trailer flipped over. The Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site one mile northeast of Post reported a peak wind gust of 73 mph at 2120 CST. Severe winds were observed from 2110 through 2130 CST.
A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Tahoka measured a wind gust to 60 mph.
Very heavy rainfall affected a portion of Texas State Highway 207 approximately four to five miles north of Post. Photos from social media showed that the road was damaged and impassable.
A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet near Graham measured a peak wind gust of 94 mph at 2140 CST. Severe wind gusts were observed from 2125 through 2145 CST.
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, June 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: 899851, 899854, 899866, 899870, 899871, 899872, 900008, 900009, 900012, 900010, 900016, 900017, 900019, 900020, 900022, 900021.