The approach of an upper level storm system through the Four Corners, in combination with a gradual return of Gulf of Mexico moisture, a tightening dryline, and lifting warm front triggered scattered thunderstorms on the afternoon and evening of the 25th. The initial thunderstorm development was concentrated across the southwestern Texas Panhandle as well as the western South Plains, in close…
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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.
The approach of an upper level storm system through the Four Corners, in combination with a gradual return of Gulf of Mexico moisture, a tightening dryline, and lifting warm front triggered scattered thunderstorms on the afternoon and evening of the 25th. The initial thunderstorm development was concentrated across the southwestern Texas Panhandle as well as the western South Plains, in close proximity to the warm front and dryline. The most intense storm of the day evolved from a cluster of thunderstorms over the southwestern Texas Panhandle during the late afternoon hours. Once the storm became organized it began rotating and took a right turn. The southeast track of the supercell brought the thunderstorm across Tulia (Swisher County), just northeast of Floydada (Floyd County), and eventually through McAdoo and Dickens (Dickens County) before finally weakening over far southeast Dickens County late in the evening. During its greater than six hour trek, the supercell thunderstorm was a proficient hail producer, tossing hail as large as baseballs, softballs, and even grapefruit size. The large to giant hail caused significant damage around the region, including Dickens, which took a direct hit. Windows were smashed out of homes and vehicles, while roofs and siding incurred large impact craters. The hail-producing thunderstorm occasionally generated intense straight-line winds too. A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near McAdoo measured a peak wind gust of 90 mph. In addition to generating very large hail and damaging winds, the supercell produced one brief tornado near Dougherty, in a rural area of southeastern Floyd County.
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 Apr 25, 5:19 PM CST, 34 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lubbock TX 619 PM CDT Tue Apr 25 2023 ...New AVIATION... .SHORT TERM... (This evening through Wednesday) Issued at 249 PM CDT Tue Apr 25 2023 As mentioned in the previous forecast, a conditional chance for the bimodal timing of strong to severe thunderstorms capable of producing large hail, strong winds gusts, tornadoes and periods of heavy rainfall continues from as early as late this afternoon into the evening hours along and east of a dryline, followed by the more likely and widespread development during the overnight hours associated with improved lift from a potent upper level low currently moving south from western Utah towards the Four Corners region. For later this afternoon and evening, a dryline appears to be setting up along or just east of the I27 corridor as of 3PM. Further west, a CU field on the southeast portion of lee side surface pressure falls extends a secondary drier-line from Deaf Smith County SSW into central Lea County in NM. CI along the drier-line to the west in our area is highly conditional on overcoming a weak low level inversion and depth of boundary layer moisture, which is unimpressive attm. The dryline currently over the I27 corridor may mix a little farther east and then begin to retreat westward by late afternoon enhancing surface moisture convergence along the surface low migrating south along the NM/TX state line this evening into the overnight hours. Short term CAMS signal the possibility for CI in our northwest zones as early as 7PM with the potential for discrete supercells moving east and south through the evening hours into the South Plains and Rolling Plains. Storms would initially be elevated but would be slow moving and have the ability to ultimately become surface based, especially as we approach sunset and a modest LLJ of around 30kt begins to develop with confluent flow around the surface pressure falls. The second round of convection late tonight into early Wednesday will take advantage of moisture advection filling in to the east of the retreating dryline this evening. Strong lift associated with the advancing upper low from the Four Corners region into northern NM overnight will produce a larger more organized convective complex shifting south and east out of eastern NM and the Texas Panhandle. Our areas in the southern Texas Panhandle and northern Rolling Plains appear to be most likely impacted by the second round of storms as strong divergence aloft collocates with an improving low level jet and surface moisture convergence. As surface pressure and wind fields respond to the upper low tracking from northeast NM into the Texas Panhandle after sunrise tomorrow morning, there is a chance of heavy rainfall associated with the surface low moving east, and currently progged to position over the northern Rolling Plains, more specifically in the Childress area by mid morning tomorrow. The potential for severe storms over the Rolling Plains by late morning tomorrow into the early afternoon will ultimately depend on how the overnight storms evolve and how the boundary layer atmosphere is able to recover. Attm, the SPC does have the far eastern Rolling Plains highlighted in an Enhanced Risk. && .LONG TERM... (Wednesday night through next Monday) Issued at 249 PM CDT Tue Apr 25 2023 By Wednesday night a surface cold front should surge south through the forecast area. The 500 mb low should continue to trek to the east southeast across the northern Texas Panhandle into western Oklahoma. Appears that this will be the location most favored for precipitation continuing Wednesday night into Thursday morning. Due to the uncertainty with regard to the exact track still though have maintained PoP mentions across the far southern Texas Panhandle into the Rolling Plains during this time frame. Northwest flow aloft will setup over the region for Thursday as surface high pressure moves across. This will allow skies to clear and despite being behind the cold front plenty of insolation will allow afternoon temperatures to warm into the mid to upper 70s. Another upper-level disturbance will quickly drop south into the central Rockies Thursday night and into the Four Corners region by Friday morning. This will shift another surface low east across the forecast area and bring a stronger cold front into the area. The speed of this front will have a big role in high temperatures for the day with high temperatures expected to be in the mid 50s across the southwest Texas Panhandle to the mid 70s across the southern Rolling Plains and remaining steady or decreasing as we go through the afternoon. However, would not be surprised if this front tends a bit faster and these temperatures would have to be lowered. The other impact will be strong northerly winds that move in behind the front with sustained wind speeds near 30 mph with gusts up to 45 mph. Wind speeds will diminish from north to south through the afternoon and into the evening hours on Friday. As the core of the low moves across the forecast area Friday evening into Saturday morning a few showers may be possible but overall rain amounts will be light due to limited moisture. Upper-level ridging will begin to build into the forecast area on Sunday and remain in place through the middle of next week. This will keep our area dry with temperatures rebounding back into the low to mid 80s. /WI && .AVIATION... (00Z TAFS) Issued at 607 PM CDT Tue Apr 25 2023 Convection will be the biggest issue with TAFs this evening at all terminals and possible through tomorrow afternoon at CDS. Convection will be scattered across the region with confidence on timing and location being low. If a thunderstorm does affect a terminal, CIGs and/or VIS could drop down to MVFR and possible IFR in stronger storms. Strong winds up to 50 knots and golfball size hail will also be possible. Conditions are expected to be VFR outside of any convection. && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && SHORT TERM...55 LONG TERM....58 AVIATION...51
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Lubbock TX 247 PM CDT Tue Apr 25 2023 TXZ021>044-262000- Parmer-Castro-Swisher-Briscoe-Hall-Childress-Bailey-Lamb-Hale-Floyd- Motley-Cottle-Cochran-Hockley-Lubbock-Crosby-Dickens-King-Yoakum- Terry-Lynn-Garza-Kent-Stonewall- 247 PM CDT Tue Apr 25 2023 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the South Plains, Rolling Plains, and the far Southern Texas Panhandle. .DAY ONE...This afternoon and tonight. Severe thunderstorms capable of large hail up to golf ball size, locally heavy rain, wind gusts up to 60 MPH, and isolated tornadoes are possible this afternoon and overnight, mainly in the far southern Texas Panhandle, northern South Plains, and the northern Rolling Plains. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. Additional thunderstorms are possible on Wednesday across most of the region. Some thunderstorms may become severe on Wednesday afternoon, especially over the Rolling Plains. Large hail to quarter size will be possible. Sustained north winds may exceed 30 mph across the entire area on Friday behind a strong cold front. Elevated fire weather conditions may return to portions of the region Friday through early next week. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation may be needed.
Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Lubbock TX
550 PM CDT Tue Apr 25 2023
TXZ034-035-040-041-252330-
Terry TX-Hockley TX-Lynn TX-Lubbock TX-
550 PM CDT Tue Apr 25 2023
...A strong thunderstorm will impact portions of southwestern
Lubbock, northwestern Lynn, northeastern Terry and southeastern
Hockley Counties through 630 PM CDT...
At 550 PM CDT, Doppler radar was tracking a strong thunderstorm 4
miles northeast of Locketville, or 12 miles southeast of Levelland,
moving east at 25 mph.
HAZARD...Wind gusts up to 50 mph and nickel 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...
Slide and Ropesville.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building.
A Severe Thunderstorm Watch remains in effect until 1100 PM CDT for
northwestern Texas.
&&
LAT...LON 3340 10230 3349 10228 3347 10188 3326 10195
TIME...MOT...LOC 2250Z 285DEG 24KT 3342 10225
MAX HAIL SIZE...0.88 IN
MAX WIND GUST...50 MPH
MCZThe Amarillo radar (KAMA), 69 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 23:54 UTC.
3 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind, 1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
Several storm chasers and the sheriff's office for Swisher County reported a swath of large hail from approximately ten miles northwest of Tulia into the city of Tulia and just to the south of Tulia. The largest hail size reported was baseball size hail from just south of Tulia. No damage was reported.
A storm chaser reported a snapped power pole at the intersection of Farm to Market Roads 400 and 788 northeast of Plainview. The snapped power pole was likely due to rear flank downdraft winds within the supercell.
Numerous storm chasers documented a tornado over open land approximately three miles west of Dougherty. An NWS storm survey in the vicinity did not find any definitive indications of damage.
An NWS storm survey revealed a swath of high winds from a supercell thunderstorm from approximately three miles northwest of McAdoo, through McAdoo, and into Dickens. Most of the damage from severe thunderstorm winds was found in McAdoo. An old, abandoned grocery store was completely demolished, with cinder block walls collapsed to the outside of the building in a roughly symmetrical pattern. A farmer's coop building lost roughly 30 feet of the northern portion of the metal panel roof. Roof damage to several other structures was mostly observed as peeling of roofing material on the north and/or west sides of the structures. Additionally, the sheriff's office in Dickens reported multiple broken windows due to wind driven hail. All of the damage indicators supported severe straight line wind damage associated with a strong rear flank downdraft surge observed on radar imagery. A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site three miles northwest of McAdoo measured severe wind gusts from 2037 CST through 2042 CST. A peak wind gust of 90 mph was measured at 2039 CST.
Several reports were received, including a video on social media, of a swath of hail from approximately ten miles north of Floydada to three miles east of Floydada. The largest hail size reported was baseball size. No damage was reported.
As a supercell thunderstorm moved over the town of Dickens, numerous reports of large to giant sized hail were received. A swath of severe hail occurred from McAdoo through Dickens. An NWS storm survey revealed extensive damage to vehicles along with window and exterior siding damage to homes. The largest hail reported was via social media and showed a hail stone roughly grapefruit size.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Texas, 2023Warnings in Texas, April 2023
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: 1085797, 1085798, 1085821, 1085803, 1085799, 1085818.