An upper level low pressure system that brought severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall to the region over the past several days lifted northeastward into the Texas Panhandle on the afternoon of the sixth. Weak instability developed during the afternoon across the South Plains which allowed relatively low topped thunderstorms to develop.
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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.
An upper level low pressure system that brought severe thunderstorms and heavy rainfall to the region over the past several days lifted northeastward into the Texas Panhandle on the afternoon of the sixth. Weak instability developed during the afternoon across the South Plains which allowed relatively low topped thunderstorms to develop. Despite the shallow thunderstorm depth, very cold air aloft in close proximity to the upper level low allowed these thunderstorms to become severe producing severe hail and damaging winds.
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 May 6, 12:54 PM CST, 2 hours 19 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Lubbock TX 154 PM CDT Tue May 6 2025 ...New SHORT TERM, LONG TERM... .KEY MESSAGES... - Low clouds and patchy fog will continue to affect areas east of the I-27 corridor through tonight. - A few thunderstorms developing on the Caprock later this afternoon and evening. - Low storm chances linger into Wednesday. && .SHORT TERM... (This evening through Wednesday) Issued at 152 PM CDT Tue May 6 2025 In the mid/upper-levels, a neutrally-tilting trough was evident on water-vapor imagery over the southern Rocky Mountains, with the vorticity lobe, which was well-defined, rotating over the Sandia Manzano Mountains. The dry slot has since penetrated W TX, with the secondary, mid-level cold front arcing towards the NM state line on recent visible satellite imagery. Large-scale forcing for ascent will be maintained through tonight as the closed low emerges over W TX, with an expectation for at least widely-scattered showers and thunderstorms to form and move eastward across portions of the Caprock Escarpment. Weak echoes were already evident on WSR-88D imagery to the west of the NM state line, but the linear cu field demarcating the position of the secondary front has struggled against the effects of dry air entrainment. Farther east, stratus has since eroded across most of the Caprock, but cold air damming across the Rolling Plains continues to keep the eastern areas under the influence of the thick stratus. Low stratus will remain over the Rolling Plains through tomorrow morning while continuing to scatter out across the Caprock. At the surface, a weak, lee cyclone was located in south-central NM between ONM and SRR, with a trough branching eastward into the CWA along the HWY-114 and HWY-84 corridors that intersects another low near ABI. Cool, moist, easterly flow remains intact to the north and east of the surface trough, which will transition into an occluded front as the vorticity lobe rotates over W TX this evening, with the occluded front retreating south-southeastward as a pseudo-cyclonic gyre develops over the Intermountain West following the collapse of the Omega Block. The expectation is for elevated showers and storms to develop along the mid-level front, and advect eastward quickly across the Caprock this afternoon and evening before nocturnal stabilization occurs. The severe weather threat is low today, as the airmass is heavily overturned beneath a paltry EML sampled by the 12Z RAOB from WFO AMA. Sub-severe-caliber winds and hail will be possible, in addition to brief downpours. Temperatures for this afternoon were also lowered slightly from the prior assessment, with a cool and damp night expected area-wide as the airmass becomes saturated. Fog will be possible across most of the CWA tonight, but it remains unclear if dense fog will evolve, with the best prospects for dense fog near CDS. Low-level stratus is also forecast to expand westward once again tonight. PoPs have been trimmed and confined to the far southern TX PH tomorrow afternoon, as a corridor of elevated, multi-cellular storms will be possible in congruence with the deformation axis on the backside of the departing mid/upper-level low as it rotates into the south-central Great Plains. The severe weather threat is very low tomorrow, as the mid-levels will remain warm amidst a weak EML, but a few strong gusts cannot be ruled out, in addition to instances of small hail. Coverage of showers and storms will be isolated, with storm chances waning by dusk as the boundary-layer decouples. Sincavage && .LONG TERM... (Wednesday night through next Monday) Issued at 152 PM CDT Tue May 6 2025 Although some eastward progression will be seen in the upper level pattern over the CONUS through Thursday, a blocking pattern will remain over the central corridor of the CONUS through the weekend. Upper level ridging will finally migrate overhead early next work week offering a warming trend to above normal temperatures. At the beginning of the long term period Wednesday evening a closed low will be located over the central Plains south of a blocking ridge over the northern Plains and with a secondary, weaker short wave trough over the Desert Southwest. The central Plains low will try to open as it moves eastward to the Ozarks by Thursday afternoon while the weak trough to the west opens up and moves eastward to our south across Far West Texas and the Big Bend. This will be followed by an overall southward shift to the pattern with the main low over the Ozarks toward the Gulf Coast. There could a brief window for some diurnally-driven showers and thunderstorms Friday afternoon, and to a lesser extent Saturday afternoon, across the Rolling Plains on the western end of the upper low. Otherwise, this should be a dry and cool pattern as the forecast area will be under deep northerly flow. That should finally change as early as Sunday and certainly by Monday when the upper low begins to shift eastward toward the Lower Mississippi Valley, upper ridging begins to move toward the region from the west, and a lee surface trough develops across eastern New Mexico. Temperatures will remain below normal into the weekend with a return to above normal Monday and Tuesday on increasing low level warm advection and increasing heights/thicknesses. && .AVIATION... (18Z TAFS) Issued at 1203 PM CDT Tue May 6 2025 Low stratus continues to erode to the west of KLBB and KPVW, and CIGs will scatter out to VFR in the next few hours. ISO-SCT TSTMs may temporarily affect KLBB and KPVW this afternoon and evening, but confidence in coverage is too low to warrant a mention in the TAFs at this time. IFR/LIFR will continue at KCDS through tomorrow morning, with CIGs lifting to MVFR by late morning and returning to VFR thereafter. MVFR/IFR CIGs should redevelop at KLBB and KPVW tomorrow morning, along with patchy fog, and will return to VFR by the end of the TAF period. Sincavage && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... None. && SHORT TERM...09 LONG TERM....07 AVIATION...09
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Lubbock TX 139 PM CDT Tue May 6 2025 TXZ021>044-071845- Parmer-Castro-Swisher-Briscoe-Hall-Childress-Bailey-Lamb-Hale-Floyd- Motley-Cottle-Cochran-Hockley-Lubbock-Crosby-Dickens-King-Yoakum- Terry-Lynn-Garza-Kent-Stonewall- 139 PM CDT Tue May 6 2025 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the South Plains, Rolling Plains, and the far Southern Texas Panhandle. .DAY ONE...This afternoon and tonight. Isolated to scattered thunderstorms are forecast to develop mainly on the Caprock this afternoon. Strong wind gusts, small hail, and brief downpours will be the primary hazards. The severe weather threat is low. Fog is forecast to develop across portions of the Caprock and Rolling Plains tonight. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Wednesday through Monday. Thunderstorm chances linger in the forecast on Wednesday and again on Friday, although the risk of severe weather is low. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation may be needed this afternoon.
The Cannon AFB radar (KFDX), 93 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:15 UTC.
6 hail, 1 high wind, 1 thunderstorm wind. Local standard time, as filed.
A storm chaser reported quarter size hail southeast of Friona along Farm to Market Road 1172.
A storm chaser reported a swath of hail northwest of Dimmitt ranging in size from pennies to half dollar size.
Local broadcast media relayed a report that a brick facade of an abandoned building was blown down by thunderstorm winds.
A report from the public was received of quarter size hail in Lorenzo.
An NWS cooperative weather observer reported quarter size hail near Crosbyton.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, May 2025
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: 1244619, 1244621, 1244622, 1244624, 1244631, 1244628, 1244629, 1244630.