A weak upper level disturbance combined with adequate moisture and instability to produce a few severe thunderstorms in the area. Wind gust to 58 mph and quarter size hail where reported with a couple of these storms.
Every event with a place to put it. 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.
A weak upper level disturbance combined with adequate moisture and instability to produce a few severe thunderstorms in the area. Wind gust to 58 mph and quarter size hail where reported with a couple of these storms.
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 17, 1:20 PM CST, 3 hours 9 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Amarillo TX 220 PM CDT Tue May 17 2022 .SHORT TERM...Tonight through Wednesday night Shortwave trough near the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma state line will allow for isolated convection later today and this evening between roughly 00Z and 03Z Wednesday across the far eastern and southeastern Texas Panhandle. A storm or two could become severe with damaging winds being the primary threat. The upper trough is forecast to track east into Oklahoma by 06Z Wednesday with a zonal upper flow overnight tonight transitioning to west-northwesterly to northwesterly upper flow Wednesday. Perturbations in the northwesterly flow aloft by mid to late Wednesday afternoon over the central and southern U.S. Rockies will allow for convection to develop over the higher terrain and mountains of central and southern Colorado and also northern New Mexico. This convection is forecast to tracks southeast off the higher terrain by Wednesday evening and across the northwestern Panhandles by 00Z to 03Z Thursday. The convection is expected to continue moving across the central Panhandles by late evening before weakening and dissipating around 06Z Thursday or shortly after. Zonal upper flow expected by 12Z Thursday across the Panhandles. Cold front across southeastern Colorado and extreme southwestern Kansas this evening will move into the Oklahoma Panhandle between 03Z and 06Z Wednesday. Dryline along the Caprock early this evening will move east and south as the surface low tracks south into the Texas Panhandle around 06Z Wednesday and allows the cold front to push across the remainder of the Panhandles by 12Z Wednesday. Cooler Wednesday as a surface high builds down into the Panhandles from the central Plains states which results in a moist upslope northeasterly to easterly surface flow by 00Z Thursday. The low level moisture will advect into the Panhandles late tonight through Wednesday night with dew points climbing into the 50's to near 60 by 12Z Thursday. Schneider && .LONG TERM...Thursday through Monday... Quite a bit of a temperatures roller coaster Thursday through the first half of the weekend with as much as a 60+ degree temperature swing, followed by our next chance of precipitation early next week. Good sfc southwesterly downslope flow will be established across the Panhandles on Thursday. With building H850 WAA into the region of 30C to 34C by Thursday afternoon, temperatures will be hot across the region with highs ranging from mid 90s to around 100-103 with as high as 105 possible for Palo Duro Canyon, where heat related headlines may be needed. Starting on Friday, latest model guidance shows a pronounced cold front moving from north to south across the Panhandles. Could be one of those days where our high temperatures are reached earlier on in the day before the cooler airmass makes it way south into the Panhandles. After high temperatures in some locations of 100 to 103 on Thursday, these same areas may have low temperatures on Friday night in the upper 30s to lower 40s. In the wake of the cold front, an H500 perturbation sweeping east across the central Rockies may bring localized lift for a quick rain shower for the far western Oklahoma Panhandle, and in some numerical guidance, temperatures may be cool enough for even some flurries to mix in for Kenton and the Black Mesa Park region in western Cimarron County, but that could be a stretch. Temperatures remain well below average for Saturday under northeasterly flow with high temperatures ranging from the lower 60s to lower 70s with low temperatures ranging from the upper 30s to mid 40s Saturday night. Core of coldest airmass lifts northeast with moderation of temperatures closer to average on Sunday. Watching closely a trough deepening across the Four Corers Region on Monday with the chance of thunderstorms developing by Monday afternoon along a surface trough that sets up. At this time, all of the Panhandles has a chance of seeing some rainfall. High temperatures on Monday will be near average for late May. Meccariello && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Amarillo TX 59 89 59 100 61 / 0 5 10 0 0 Beaver OK 59 89 58 99 56 / 10 5 10 0 0 Boise City OK 56 86 54 95 50 / 0 20 20 0 0 Borger TX 61 90 61 103 61 / 0 5 10 0 0 Boys Ranch TX 59 90 57 100 59 / 0 5 20 0 0 Canyon TX 57 90 57 100 61 / 0 5 10 0 0 Clarendon TX 62 92 62 100 66 / 5 0 5 0 0 Dalhart TX 56 87 52 96 51 / 0 10 20 0 0 Guymon OK 59 89 57 101 55 / 0 10 20 0 0 Hereford TX 57 91 56 99 60 / 0 5 10 0 0 Lipscomb TX 59 89 59 99 59 / 20 5 10 0 0 Pampa TX 59 87 59 99 60 / 0 10 10 0 0 Shamrock TX 62 93 62 100 64 / 20 5 5 0 0 Wellington TX 65 96 63 103 68 / 20 0 5 0 0 && .AMA Watches/Warnings/Advisories... TX...None. OK...None. && 11/29
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Amarillo TX 225 PM CDT Tue May 17 2022 OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-317-181100- 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- 225 PM CDT Tue May 17 2022 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. .DAY ONE...This Afternoon and Tonight. Thunderstorms may develop late this afternoon into early this evening across eastern sections of the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles. If storms form, they will have the potential to become severe, with damaging winds the primary hazard. Elevated fire weather conditions are expected to develop across the western Oklahoma Panhandle as well as western and southern sections of the Texas Panhandle this afternoon into early this evening due to southwest winds of 15 to 20 mph with higher gusts along with minimum relative humidity values of 5 to 15 percent. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. Thunderstorms are possible late Wednesday afternoon and evening across the Oklahoma Panhandle and much of the Texas Panhandle. A few storms may become severe, with large hail and damaging winds the primary hazards. High temperatures around 105 degrees are anticipated Thursday at Palo Duro Canyon State Park, and a Heat Advisory may become necessary. Additional thunderstorms may develop across the area late Sunday night and Monday. Any storms that form are expected to remain below severe levels at this time. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated at this time. Area fire managers and emergency officials should be alert for elevated fire weather conditions this afternoon.
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Amarillo TX
522 PM CDT Tue May 17 2022
TXZ014-015-019-020-172300-
Gray TX-Wheeler TX-Donley TX-Collingsworth TX-
522 PM CDT Tue May 17 2022
...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southern Wheeler,
southeastern Gray, northern Collingsworth and northeastern Donley
Counties through 600 PM CDT...
At 522 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 5
miles north of Lela, or 8 miles northwest of Shamrock, moving east at
35 mph.
HAZARD...Wind gusts of 50 to 55 mph and pea size hail.
SOURCE...Radar indicated.
IMPACT...Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around
unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is
possible.
Locations impacted include...
Shamrock, Mclean, Lela and Twitty.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.
&&
LAT...LON 3518 10000 3505 10069 3524 10071 3555 10000
TIME...MOT...LOC 2222Z 250DEG 30KT 3531 10034
MAX HAIL SIZE...0.25 IN
MAX WIND GUST...55 MPH
FergusonThe Amarillo radar (KAMA), 110 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 22:30 UTC.
2 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Spotter came across mostly dime size hail with a couple quarter size stones on the ground at roughly 1731CDT.
Mostly small hail was observed with a few quarters. Quarters fell from 1822CDT to 1824CDT.
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, May 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: 1027765, 1027766, 1027768.