Thunderstorm Wind — King, Texas

2022-04-01 · near Guthrie, King, Texas

Event narrative

A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Guthrie measured severe wind gusts at 1707 and 1708 CST. A peak wind gust of 60 mph was measured at 1708 CST.

Wider weather episode

On the first, a relatively compact short wave rotated over the South Plains of West Texas within a larger upper level trough located over the Intermountain West. A small amount of low level moisture returned to the region ahead of this short wave but was generally not enough to see significant measurable rainfall on the afternoon and evening. A diffuse dryline developed during the afternoon and moved east into the Rolling Plains. By late afternoon, a cold front was moving into the area from the northwest. Lift from the short wave along with sufficient mid level moisture was enough to produce virga showers on the caprock. Strong winds behind the cold front combined with the virga showers to produce isolated wind gusts in the extreme southern Texas Panhandle and central South Plains. Additionally, lift from this short wave was able to act on elevated instability over the Rolling Plains creating isolated thunderstorm activity. One of these thunderstorms produced severe wind gusts near Guthrie (King County).

High wind reports below are from the Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet:

64 mph at Tulia (Swisher County),

62 mph at Vigo Park (Swisher County),

60 mph at Hart (Castro County), and

58 mph at Abernathy (Hale County).

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.5646, -100.4905)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1005965. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.