Strong northerly winds in the 20 to 30 mph range occurred across the combined Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles on the morning of April 18th, with higher wind gusts occurring behind a frontal passage. At least one wind gust up to 58 mph was measured in the Oklahoma Panhandle with the initial passage of the cold front and another 60mph wind gust occurred near Dumas.
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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.
Strong northerly winds in the 20 to 30 mph range occurred across the combined Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles on the morning of April 18th, with higher wind gusts occurring behind a frontal passage. At least one wind gust up to 58 mph was measured in the Oklahoma Panhandle with the initial passage of the cold front and another 60mph wind gust occurred near Dumas.
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 Apr 18, 5:00 AM CST, 1 minute earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Amarillo TX 600 AM CDT Thu Apr 18 2024 ...New AVIATION... .SHORT TERM ... (Today through Friday night) Issued at 133 AM CDT Thu Apr 18 2024 As of early this morning, latest radar and satellite was seeing a cold frontal boundary move south out of the Southern Colorado and Kansas. Given the current location of this front at roughly 1 am, most models continue to be too slow with the movement speed of the said front. Given its current speed the front will likely be over the Oklahoma Panhandles by as late as 2 am with projections of it reaching Amarillo by 4 am. While no precipitation is following this frontal boundary, strong northerly winds are. Based off the latest observations from stations to the north, northerly winds are likely to reach 20 to 30 mph for a couple of hours with potential to gust above the 40 mph mark. Secondarily, this front is also creating a low stratus deck that could see the Panhandles socket in for the early morning hours. Wind should also slow by the morning hours with speed closer to 15 to 20 mph by the late morning. Otherwise, conditions will stay dry but slightly cool for today with highs mostly in the 60s. As for Friday, cooler temperatures are expected to hold under a more zonal upper-level flow pattern with most locations seeing highs in the 60s once again. However, active weather will look to start moving in as models start to see a trough push in later that night bringing a 20% chance of precipitation that only get higher and more widespread as we head into the overnight and Saturday. Scoleri && .LONG TERM ... (Saturday through Wednesday) Issued at 133 AM CDT Thu Apr 18 2024 Well below normal temperatures are progged for the combined Panhandles on Sat, along with some decent PoPs across the southern Texas Panhandle. Across the northern half of the combined Panhandles some showers will be possible as well with a little less confidence at this time. Sunday's high temperatures are looking to be slightly higher, closer to normal in the upper 50s to lower 60s. Then come Monday ridging will help bring back afternoon temperatures in the 80s. Saturday, increased cloud cover, rain showers, upslope easterly winds, and surface high pressure are expected to be in the upper 40s to lower 50s, around 20 to 25 degrees below normal for mid April. The rain showers expected Sat will be due to a shortwave trough passage with the main lift occurring late Fri into early Sat. For now, models have the southeastern TX Panhandle favored for some beneficial rainfall up to half an inch possible. Of course this will depend on some elevated thunderstorm development. The majority of the moisture available will be in the lower to mid levels and could end up just being a drizzle limiting the overall measurable precip, unless a cap can be overcome tapping into 200-700 J/Kg of MLCAPE Fri night and Saturday. The northwestern combined Panhandles only has the potential for 0.01" and 0.20" of measurable rain based on current guidance. PoPs start to decrease in the late afternoon into early evening with no PoPs expected on Sun at this time. Once this shortwave exits the area on Sun some minor ridging aloft will allow for some warmer temperatures to return Sun afternoon. This next ridge is expected to build even more over the area on Mon with temperatures in the 80s returning. Some ridge rider perturbations may potentially bring some thunderstorms to the northern combined Panhandles Mon night. Have stayed with NBM PoPs which are less than 20 at this time. After seeing daytime highs well into the 80s on Mon a surface low progged to trek across the Panhandles on Tue will bring another weak cold front and upslope easterly winds that will hold temperatures back in the 70s on Tue. Lower 70s across the north and northwestern combined Panhandles. Wed is only looking to be a couple of degrees warmer on Tue as surface winds return to the south. Continued moisture advection into in the area Wed and Wed night is offering some slight chance PoPs. However, confidence is not very high at this time as forcing for ascent is may or may not be over the Panhandles. Will have to monitor for the possibility of thunderstorms Wed into Thu. 36 && .AVIATION... (12Z TAFS) Issued at 539 AM CDT Thu Apr 18 2024 The main story will be the gusty winds early on in this 12Z TAF period. A cold front has just moved through the area bringing breezy north winds 25 to 35 kts with gusts reaching to 40 kts plus. There has been a random 50 kt gust at KGUY this morning shortly before this writing. However, this is not anticipated to be the norm. By 18Z winds should start to subside to around 15 to 25 kts with gust to 35 kts. Winds will continue to decrease from there. KGUY this morning is seeing some MVFR CIGs behind this front but should clear to VFR CIGs by 19Z as well. 36 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Amarillo TX 67 41 63 40 / 0 0 0 70 Beaver OK 65 37 63 37 / 0 0 0 50 Boise City OK 61 36 65 34 / 0 0 0 50 Borger TX 69 43 67 41 / 0 0 0 60 Boys Ranch TX 68 41 67 40 / 0 0 0 60 Canyon TX 68 41 63 39 / 0 0 0 70 Clarendon TX 69 43 61 42 / 0 0 0 70 Dalhart TX 63 36 67 35 / 0 0 0 50 Guymon OK 63 36 64 36 / 0 0 0 50 Hereford TX 69 41 66 40 / 0 0 0 70 Lipscomb TX 66 40 63 40 / 0 0 0 60 Pampa TX 66 41 63 41 / 0 0 0 60 Shamrock TX 69 42 63 41 / 0 0 0 70 Wellington TX 71 43 63 43 / 0 0 10 70 && .AMA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...None. OK...None. && SHORT TERM...11 LONG TERM....36 AVIATION...36
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Amarillo TX 305 AM CDT Thu Apr 18 2024 OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-317-182015- 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- 305 AM CDT Thu Apr 18 2024 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight. No hazardous weather is expected at this time. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday. Thunderstorms are possible across parts of the area late Friday night through Saturday evening. If storms form, they are expected to remain below severe levels at this time. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated at this time.
Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Amarillo TX
523 AM CDT Thu Apr 18 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0430 AM Non-Tstm Wnd Gst 1 WSW Guymon 36.68N 101.50W
04/18/2024 M58 MPH Texas OK ASOS
First high wind gust observed at 4:30 AM.
Last high wind gust observed at 4:35 AM.
Both were 58 mph.
&&
PAVThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The mesonet located at 3 SE Dumas measured multiple wind gusts between 58 and 60 mph during this time period.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, April 2024
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: 1175384.