Thunderstorm Wind — Terry, Texas

2022-05-24 · near Meadow, Terry, Texas

Event narrative

Law enforcement in Terry County reported a roof was blown off a house and a basketball backboard ripped out of a concrete pad west of Meadow. A short time earlier, a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Sundown measured a wind gust to 78 mph.

Wider weather episode

Following severe weather the previous afternoon of the 23rd, another batch of thunderstorms originating from the higher terrain of eastern New Mexico swept through the region. This complex of thunderstorms moved much more quickly than the previous evening's storms, though additional slow-moving storms also formed along a weak frontal zone over the central South Plains late Tuesday afternoon which brought torrential rainfall to a portion of the South Plains. The thunderstorms that formed above the quasi-stationary frontal zone were able to concentrate the spin along the front, which resulted in the development of several landspout type tornadoes. At one point as many as three landspouts were observed at the same time near the community of Meadow (Terry County). The landspouts moved very little, dissipated relatively quickly, and inflicted no known damage. In contrast to the limited and short-lived landspouts, the bulging cluster of storms generated widespread severe wind gusts across the central and southern South Plains. Severe wind gusts developed in the southern South Plains underneath stratiform precipitation well behind the main convective line.

High wind gusts from stratiform precipitation were measured by the Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet shown below:

69 mph at Graham (Garza County),

67 mph at Post (Garza County), and

60 mph at O'Donnell (Lynn County).

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.3300, -102.2346)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1018734. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.