High Wind — King, Texas

2023-02-14 · King, Texas

Wider weather episode

A strong storm rapidly ejected into the central High Plains early on the 14th. This caused dry and intense sinking westerly flow around the south side of the system to sweep across the southern High Plains during the morning. Winds quickly increased in the morning, peaking between mid-morning and midday before gradually decreasing through the afternoon hours. Nearly all of West Texas was inflicted by wind gusts in excess of 50 mph. Peak wind gusts of 60 to 70 mph were common across the southern Texas Panhandle and adjacent northern and central South and Rolling Plains. The intense winds did cause areas of property damage, including rolling multiple semi-tractor trailers off Interstate-27 south of Tulia (Swisher County), where the cross-wind was maximized. In Lubbock County, several power poles were blown over. The wind also lofted copious amounts of dust, which further contributed to travel difficulties.

Maximum wind gusts from the Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet are listed below:

72 mph at Silverton (Briscoe County),

72 mph at Turkey (Hall County),

72 mph at Roaring Springs (Motley County),

71 mph at Caprock Canyons State Park (Briscoe County),

71 mph at Amherst (Lamb County),

69 mph at Hart (Castro County),

68 mph at Tulia (Swisher County),

68 mph at Floydada (Floyd County),

68 mph at Northfield (Motley County),

67 mph at Aiken (Hale County),

67 mph at Abernathy (Hale County),

66 mph at Dimmitt (Castro County),

66 mph at Olton (Lamb County),

65 mph at New Deal (Lubbock County),

65 mph at Graham (Garza County),

64 mph at Plainview (Hale County),

64 mph at Post (Garza County),

64 mph at Muleshoe (Bailey County),

64 mph at Anton (Hockley County),

63 mph at Friona (Parmer County),

63 mph at Earth (Lamb County),

63 mph at Slaton (Lubbock County),

63 mph at Vigo Park (Swisher County),

63 mph at McAdoo (Dickens County),

63 mph at Childress (Childress County),

62 mph at Reese Center (Lubbock County),

61 mph at Ralls (Crosby County),

60 mph at White River Lake (Crosby County),

60 mph at Aspermont (Stonewall County),

60 mph at Happy (Swisher County),

60 mph at Paducah (Cottle County),

59 mph at Memphis (Hall County),

59 mph at Morton (Cochran County),

59 mph at South Plains (Floyd County),

59 mph at Levelland (Hockley County),

59 mph at Texas Tech University (Lubbock County),

59 mph at Guthrie (King County),

59 mph at Plains (Yoakum County),

58 mph at Lesley (Hall County),

58 mph at Hackberry (Cottle County),

58 mph at Smyer (Hockley County), and

58 mph at Wolfforth (Lubbock County).

Maximum sustained winds from the Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet are listed below:

47 mph at New Home (Lynn County),

46 mph at Tahoka (Lynn County),

44 mph at O'Donnell (Lynn County), and

44 mph at Brownfield (Terry County).

Maximum wind gusts from area ASOS and AWOS stations are listed below:

69 mph at Lubbock International Airport (Lubbock County),

64 mph at Childress Municipal Airport (Childress County),

62 mph at Hale County Airport (Hale County), and

62 mph at Levelland Municipal Airport (Hockley County).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1070470. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.