Hail in Dickens County, Texas

As a supercell thunderstorm moved over the town of Dickens, numerous reports of large to giant sized hail were received. A swath of severe hail occurred from McAdoo through Dickens. An NWS storm survey revealed extensive damage to vehicles along with window and exterior siding damage to homes. The largest hail reported was via social media and showed a hail stone roughly grapefruit size.

The approach of an upper level storm system through the Four Corners, in combination with a gradual return of Gulf of Mexico moisture, a tightening dryline, and lifting warm front triggered scattered thunderstorms on the afternoon and evening of the 25th. The initial thunderstorm development was concentrated across the southwestern Texas Panhandle as well as the western South Plains, in close proximity to the warm front and dryline. The most intense storm of the day evolved from a cluster of thunderstorms over the southwestern Texas Panhandle during the late afternoon hours. Once the storm became organized it began rotating and took a right turn. The southeast track of the supercell brought the thunderstorm across Tulia (Swisher County), just northeast of Floydada (Floyd County), and eventually through McAdoo and Dickens (Dickens County) before finally weakening over far southeast Dickens County late in the evening. During its greater than six hour trek, the supercell thunderstorm was a proficient hail producer, tossing hail as large as baseballs, softballs, and even grapefruit size. The large to giant hail caused significant damage around the region, including Dickens, which took a direct hit. Windows were smashed out of homes and vehicles, while roofs and siding incurred large impact craters. The hail-producing thunderstorm occasionally generated intense straight-line winds too. A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near McAdoo measured a peak wind gust of 90 mph. In addition to generating very large hail and damaging winds, the supercell produced one brief tornado near Dougherty, in a rural area of southeastern Floyd County.