High Wind — Yoakum, Texas

2023-04-04 · Yoakum, Texas

Wider weather episode

A strong system emerged from the central Rockies on the fourth. While rich Gulf of Mexico moisture did get as close as western North Texas, eastern New Mexico into the Texas Panhandle and South Plains experienced the driest air of the spring to this point, with the relative humidity falling into the lower single digits. The dry air, coupled with southwesterly winds gusting as high as 50 to 70 mph, lofted dust and supported the development and spread of several wildfires. Many locations experienced visibility falling to one to two miles as a result of the thick blowing dust, with localized visibility near zero reported. A plume of white sand emanating from White Sands National Park in New Mexico spread over a narrow area in the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle. Wind gusts of 45 to 60 mph were common over much of the Caprock from late morning through early evening. Several of the peak severe gusts occurred around midday, with another round favoring the late afternoon and early evening when high clouds gradually cleared and allowed for deeper mixing. One large wildfire developed, named the Jenny Slipper Fire, and spread through parts of eastern Bailey County near the intersection of Farm to Market Road 298 and County Road 186. This wildfire consumed 947 acres before becoming contained late on the fourth. Thick blowing dust contributed to several crashes on US Highway 84 northwest of Muleshoe (Bailey County).

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

71 mph at Friona (Parmer County),

68 mph at Olton (Lamb County),

68 mph at Anton (Hockley County),

67 mph at Amherst (Lamb County),

65 mph at Morton (Cochran County),

64 mph at Levelland (Hockley County),

63 mph at Hart (Castro County),

63 mph at Slaton (Lubbock County),

62 mph at Silverton (Briscoe County),

62 mph at Muleshoe (Bailey County),

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

60 mph at Reese Center (Lubbock County),

60 mph at Plainview (Hale County),

60 mph at Turkey (Hall County),

60 mph at Floydada (Floyd County),

60 mph at Roaring Springs (Motley County),

60 mph at Vigo Park (Swisher County),

59 mph at Tulia (Swisher County),

59 mph at Dimmitt (Castro County),

59 mph at White River Lake (Crosby County),

59 mph at Plains (Yoakum County),

58 mph at Sundown (Cochran County),

58 mph at Denver City (Yoakum County),

58 mph at Graham (Garza County),

58 mph at Ralls (Crosby County), and

58 mph at Abernathy (Hale County).

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

66 mph at Lubbock International Airport (Lubbock County), and

58 mph at Levelland Municipal Airport (Hockley County).

Maximum sustained wind speeds from the Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet sites are listed below:

46 mph at New Home (Lynn County),

46 mph at Tahoka (Lynn County),

44 mph at McAdoo (Dickens County),

43 mph at Brownfield (Terry County),

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

40 mph at Childress (Childress County).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1081275. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.