Despite upper level high pressure being over the area, isolated thunderstorms were able to develop near a stalled out frontal boundary in the extreme southern Texas Panhandle. A very unstable atmosphere allowed these supercell thunderstorms to grow very tall and thus produce giant hail.
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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.
Despite upper level high pressure being over the area, isolated thunderstorms were able to develop near a stalled out frontal boundary in the extreme southern Texas Panhandle. A very unstable atmosphere allowed these supercell thunderstorms to grow very tall and thus produce giant hail. One storm produced a swath of giant hail and severe wind gusts across several counties. This storm tracked from near Happy (Swisher County) to near Turkey (Hall County) dropping hail as large as baseballs near Happy, Silverton (Briscoe County), Caprock Canyons State Park (Briscoe County), and Turkey.
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 11, 5:21 PM CST, 2 hours 1 minute earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lubbock TX 621 PM CDT Sun Jun 11 2023 ...New AVIATION... .SHORT TERM... (This evening through Monday) Issued at 136 PM CDT Sun Jun 11 2023 An outflow-enhanced cold front has pushed southward through the forecast area, although it will likely stall not much farther south than its location as of 1 PM. In fact, a bit of retrograde northward is possible on its southwestern flank. This potential focus for convective initiation will be to the west and south of the position the bulk of the CAMs had for it, which in turn will affect initiation area should that occur. And that is the big if. The forecast area remains underneath an upper level ridge axis that suppressed convection completely yesterday and mostly so on Friday. With little change overall it appears that initiation in the forecast area will be extremely unlikely again, although not impossible. Better chances appear to be to the northwest across northeastern New Mexico in a region of moist upslope flow as well as along the frontal boundary across northwest Texas downstream from the ridge axis. CAMs show storms building westward along the boundary with time, possibly as far west as the southern Rolling Plains, but will continue to favor the ridge axis holding firm with suppression. Widespread stratus is expected to form in the post-frontal air mass toward sunrise Monday with its southward extent depending on how far north the retreating frontal boundary gets. Further erosion of the cool air is expected during the day Monday as low level south to southwest flow increases, but stratus is likely hold firm most of the day to the northeast. As a result a tight temperatures gradient is expected to develop with relatively cool and more stable air north central to northeast and hot and drier air south central to southwest. && .LONG TERM... (Monday night through next Saturday) Issued at 136 PM CDT Sun Jun 11 2023 Sub-tropical ridging is forecast to expand poleward throughout the middle of the week which will eliminate all PoPs across the CWA for most of the extended period. Mid/upper-level flow will continue to become quasi-zonal/broadly anticyclonic where a belt of high-level flow at around 90-100 kt should exist. At the surface, a QSTNRY front is forecast to be present with weak, moist, isentropic ascent atop the frontal dome resulting in low-level saturation. How long it takes the stratus deck on the north side of the front to mix out will dictate high temperatures, and blended temperatures came in slightly cooler than the previous assessment; however, this seems appropriate as northeasterly flow is forecast to remain present throughout most of the day Tuesday. Higher-resolution soundings now capture the subsidence layer(s) aloft that were not resolved yesterday amidst very strong CINH. Therefore, no thunderstorms are expected to develop in the Rolling Plains on Tuesday. To steal a phrase from a senior forecaster here at the office, the heat will remain "large and in charge" with the hottest day of the week forecast to occur on Thursday as 850 mb temperatures near 30 deg C appear possible amidst a westerly breeze. Triple-digit temperatures are forecast across most of the southern South and Rolling Plains while lowering into the middle 90s across the extreme southern TX PH. There exists some agreement among the global NWP guidance suites with broad troughing to emerge into the western U.S. by next weekend, though it remains unclear if a barotropic low can develop over the Desert Southwest or if the trough remains open. Renewed chances for storms may return by the D7-D8/Sat-Sun time frame; and the low, blended PoPs have been accepted for the afternoon prognostication. Sincavage && .AVIATION... (00Z TAFS) Issued at 614 PM CDT Sun Jun 11 2023 Generally light easterly winds will persist at all TAF sites, however brief gusts near 20 kts cannot be ruled out for KLBB and KPVW Monday morning. VFR ceilings will continue in the near-term, however confidence is high for lower cloud cover and MVFR ceilings to move in around sunrise Monday morning. && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && SHORT TERM...07 LONG TERM....09 AVIATION...19
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Lubbock TX 800 PM CDT Sun Jun 11 2023 TXZ021>044-130100- Parmer-Castro-Swisher-Briscoe-Hall-Childress-Bailey-Lamb-Hale-Floyd- Motley-Cottle-Cochran-Hockley-Lubbock-Crosby-Dickens-King-Yoakum- Terry-Lynn-Garza-Kent-Stonewall- 800 PM CDT Sun Jun 11 2023 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the South Plains, Rolling Plains, and the far Southern Texas Panhandle. .DAY ONE...Tonight. Isolated showers and thunderstorms are possible across the far southern Texas Panhandle. A few storms may become severe. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday. Thunderstorm chances may return to the region on Saturday. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time.
The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 58 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 01:23 UTC.
4 hail, 2 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Several reports were received of a swath of hail from just southwest of Happy into the town of Happy. The size of the hail ranged from half dollar to baseball size. There were reports of damaged windshields.
A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Happy measured a severe wind gust of 66 mph.
A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Vigo Park measured a severe wind gust of 62 mph.
A local fire department reported hail ranging in size from ping pongs to baseballs. No damage was reported.
A storm chaser reported half dollar size hail along State Highway 256.
Law enforcement reported hail up to two inches in diameter northeast of Turkey along State Highway 86. No damage was reported.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, June 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: 1098282, 1098283, 1098284, 1098285, 1098286, 1098287.