Strong winds, low relative humidity, and receptive fuels contributed to critical fire weather conditions across the Texas Panhandle on July 12th.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
Strong winds, low relative humidity, and receptive fuels contributed to critical fire weather conditions across the Texas Panhandle on July 12th.
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 Jul 12, 1:51 PM CST, 1 hour 9 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Amarillo TX 251 PM CDT Tue Jul 12 2022 .SHORT TERM...Tonight Wednesday Night... High pressure continues to circulate over the NM area with subtle shortwaves embedded. With higher humidities today convective temperatures in the low to mid 90s, in conjunction with a shortwave that is moving over the area, certainly could set up chances for storms. CAMs are a bit mixed with the overall coverage and chances, with a few suggesting the southwest may only see a storm, to possibly more scattered storms along the I40 Corridor along and mostly west of Amarillo. Storms could produce outflows that push east and trigger new storms as the weak 500mb flow will be out of the west, so that could help to push some storms east with those new outflows. Heavy rain will be favored with any storms as PWAT's are expected to be in the 1.10" to 1.30" range. Given the weak steering flow storms could be slow moving and cause localized flooding issues. Right now storms that trigger are only expected to be strong in nature, but it's summer and there's always that chance that something could over perform, the DCAPE values in the west don't support very strong wind gusts, but surface based CAPE could be upwards of 2000 J/kg,which might allow a storm to over perform, despite it being summer. Tuesday is expected to be a bit warmer as the high shifts over the area, however dewpoints will still remain in the 50s to maybe 60 in a few areas, so it will still be a bit more muggy, and that will keep the convective temperature in reach, but given that the high will be further east, there may be enough subsidence to keep the precipitation chances in check, and therefore have gone with less than 10 pops for tomorrow. Residual boundaries from todays storms could play a role in convection tomorrow, so there is always a chance that thunderstorms pick back up again tomorrow. Weber && .LONG TERM... The center of an upper level high is expected to be near south- central Colorado on Thursday. This high is then expected move back to the 4-corners region by Friday night. Then the high may expand more eastward across southern Colorado by early next week. Subtropical moisture will continue to get caught up in the high across the Southern Plains and Southern Rockies. The devil will be in the details from day to day from Thursday through next Monday. Our chances of rain will tend to go up as the upper high moves farther away from the Panhandles and our chances of rain will tend to go down as the high moves closer to our area. But, if a surface boundary ends up in the Panhandles while the high is closer, it still may be strong enough to help lift the atmosphere to get some showers and thunderstorms going. But, the more likely scenario for getting showers and thunderstorms into our area will be when we are under a northwest flow aloft which will tend to bring the shower and storm activity this way from the mountains. Highs are expected to remain above normal Thursday through Monday with readings generally in the 95 to 105 range, give or take a few degrees. && .AVIATION...18Z TAFS... VFR conditions will prevail at all TAF sites over the next 24 hours. Possible storms at TAF sites from 22-06z time period, but confidence is too low to note TAFs with anything other than Amendments as needed. Most favorable TAF site would be KAMA, possibly KDHT, but still couldn't rule out KGUY. Winds will be east 5-15kts, shifting southeast in the 0-6z time period. Skies will be few to scattered high clouds, but possible BKN-OVC mid clouds if storms come near the TAF sites. Weber && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Amarillo TX 68 95 71 99 / 30 5 5 5 Beaver OK 67 96 72 102 / 20 5 5 0 Boise City OK 65 94 67 98 / 30 5 5 5 Borger TX 71 98 73 102 / 30 5 5 0 Boys Ranch TX 69 97 73 102 / 30 5 5 5 Canyon TX 68 95 70 99 / 30 5 5 5 Clarendon TX 71 96 73 100 / 20 5 5 0 Dalhart TX 65 95 67 99 / 30 5 5 5 Guymon OK 67 96 70 101 / 20 0 5 0 Hereford TX 68 97 71 101 / 30 10 5 5 Lipscomb TX 68 96 72 100 / 20 5 5 0 Pampa TX 68 95 71 99 / 20 5 5 0 Shamrock TX 70 96 72 101 / 20 5 5 0 Wellington TX 72 98 73 102 / 20 5 5 0 && .AMA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...None. OK...None. && 89/15/89
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Amarillo TX 251 PM CDT Tue Jul 12 2022 OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-317-130800- 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- 251 PM CDT Tue Jul 12 2022 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. .DAY ONE...Tonight. Thunderstorms are possible through tonight across most of the combined Panhandles. Widespread severe weather is not anticipated. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. Showers and thunderstorms are possible for portions of the Panhandles Saturday and then again Sunday. Widespread severe weather is not expected at this time. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated at this time.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The Vega Fire Rescue responded to a wildfire with possible origins to lightning which burned approximately 500 acres|. Fortunately, there were no structures/property lost or injuries.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2022Every state in 2022This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, July 2022
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: 1046574.