Scattered thunderstorms developed along and east of the dryline across the Texas Panhandle within a moist and strongly unstable airmass. Some of the thunderstorms across the northeast and east-central Texas Panhandle became severe, producing large hail and severe wind gusts.
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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 AMA wrote it up.
Scattered thunderstorms developed along and east of the dryline across the Texas Panhandle within a moist and strongly unstable airmass. Some of the thunderstorms across the northeast and east-central Texas Panhandle became severe, producing large hail and severe wind gusts.
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 Amarillo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 24, 2:51 PM CST, 1 hour 34 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Amarillo TX 351 PM CDT Sun May 24 2020 .SHORT TERM...Tonight through Monday night. For tonight, an east northeast moving upper level shortwave trof, a southward moving cold front, sufficient moisture and atmospheric instability, and the presence of a pseudo dryline suggest the potential for more showers and thunderstorms with greater areal coverage compared to Saturday afternoon and night. The dryline is nowhere as sharp as it was 24 hours ago at this time. For example, the dewpoint at Adrian was 37 degrees, while at KAMA the dewpoint was 43 degrees, with a 60 degree dewpoint observed at Mclean. Yesterday, the dewpoint gradient ranged from the teens just to the west of the dryline to the 60s east of it. Nevertheless, this weaker pseudo dryline will act as a boundary for tstm initiation later this afternoon. Visible satellite imagery is showing a cu field developing from Beaver county south southwest to just east of KAMA to south of Happy. Have generally utilized NBM pops for tonight with some modification to account for current position of the dryline. Due to a highly unstable atmosphere, sufficient moisture east of the dryline, MLCAPE values around 2000 to 2500 J/kg east of the dryline, and an approaching upper level shortwave trof, some storms will likely become severe late this afternoon and evening, with large hail and damaging winds the primary hazards. A mitigating factor precluding a greater and more widespread severe weather event for our fcst area is the marginal shear values on the order of near 30 knots. All the above do favor multicells initially, with a tendency towards becoming more linear in nature with an evolving wind threat as the event progresses. A cold front will move southward this evening and tonight with gusty north winds in its wake for several hours. NBM surface wind speeds look too low, so have utilized CONSMOS values in the post frontal airmass due to the strength of the sfc high pressure building in behind the cold front. Much cooler temperatures are in store for the area on Monday. The threat for showers and thunderstorms will continue Monday morning, with pops slowly diminishing Monday afternoon and night as the upper level trof tracks just to the southeast of the area. 02 && .LONG TERM...Tuesday through Saturday. Precipitation chances are the main story in the long term. Rainfall chances overall are starting to dwindle, and this has been the trend the last 48 hours. Chances are mainly focused to far eastern/southeastern parts of the Texas Panhandle. If we do get rainfall, the chances for severe weather does not look favorable through at least Friday, but there could be a few rumbles of thunder. The pattern aloft is focused around a couple blocking features; one over the western CONUS (omega block) and another over the Atlantic (rex block). There is a lot of uncertainty here with how strong or weak the blocking pattern will hold up, so we could see additional changes if the pattern breaks down sooner or holds stronger. Upper level pattern allows a cut off low to just meander over Texas for several days as it breaks away from the main flow. An associated surface low will be stacked beneath the main upper low as well. Moisture should surge in and wrap around the upper low during this time, and PWATS are about an 1.00" plus during this time across the eastern half of the forecast area. In other words, we have a darn good moist column that will persistently wrap around an upper level low in conjunction with embedded vorticity maxima, so its hard to rule out precipitation next week. The placement of the upper low would favor our eastern zones for precipitation. That said, lapse rates and CAPE overall are not favorable for thunderstorms, but there is a some "skinny" CAPE on and off for a few periods, so we can't rule out a few thunderstorms next week. Guerrero && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Amarillo TX 54 62 49 73 52 / 40 40 20 10 20 Beaver OK 55 64 50 74 53 / 70 50 10 20 10 Boise City OK 47 60 44 74 49 / 60 40 5 10 5 Borger TX 57 64 51 76 54 / 60 50 20 10 20 Boys Ranch TX 53 62 47 78 51 / 40 40 20 10 10 Canyon TX 53 62 48 74 51 / 40 40 20 10 10 Clarendon TX 57 67 53 73 54 / 70 40 40 20 20 Dalhart TX 48 61 43 76 49 / 40 40 10 10 10 Guymon OK 52 62 48 75 51 / 70 50 10 10 10 Hereford TX 53 62 47 76 51 / 40 40 20 10 10 Lipscomb TX 57 65 52 73 54 / 70 50 30 20 20 Pampa TX 55 62 50 72 53 / 70 50 30 20 20 Shamrock TX 58 68 53 73 55 / 70 50 40 30 30 Wellington TX 58 70 55 73 55 / 70 50 50 30 30 && .AMA Watches/Warnings/Advisories... TX...None. OK...None. &&
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Amarillo TX 346 PM CDT Sun May 24 2020 OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-317-251115- Cimarron-Texas-Beaver-Dallam-Sherman-Hansford-Ochiltree-Lipscomb- Hartley-Moore-Hutchinson-Roberts-Hemphill-Oldham-Potter-Carson- Gray-Wheeler-Deaf Smith-Randall-Armstrong-Donley-Collingsworth- Palo Duro Canyon- 346 PM CDT Sun May 24 2020 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. .DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight. Thunderstorms will be possible this afternoon and tonight across the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles. Some thunderstorms this afternoon and evening may become severe, with large hail and damaging winds the primary hazards. In addition, an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect until 10 PM CDT for the eastern sections of the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday. Thunderstorms will be possible Monday across the Panhandles. The chance for severe weather during this time period is low. Thunderstorms will be possible Tuesday through Saturday across parts of the eastern sections of the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles. The chance for severe weather during these time periods is low. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter groups and emergency management officials across eastern sections of the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles should remain alert and be ready for possible activation later this afternoon and evening. Please relay any information about observed severe weather to the National Weather Service while following all local, state, and CDC guidelines.
The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 151 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:25 UTC.
6 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Nickel hail was covering the ground approximately 6 miles east of Wolf Creek Park. The hail occurred near the Ochiltree County line, near County Road V.
An mPING report of one-inch diameter hail was received.
An mPING report of one-inch diameter hail was received.
Ping pong ball sized hail was reported to be falling 6 miles south-southeast of Darrouzett by the local fire department.
This hail was observed 4 miles west of Follett.
This gust was measured at the West Texas Mesonet station 2 miles east of Pampa.
An mPING report of one-inch diameter hail occurring 6 miles south of Lipscomb was received.
A telephone pole was blown down along US Highway 287 southeast of Lelia Lake near County Road 20.
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, May 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: 882660, 882662, 882663, 882664, 882665, 882668, 882666, 883708.