High Wind — King, Texas

2023-05-12 · King, Texas

Wider weather episode

Hot temperatures, coupled with a dryline, triggered widespread thunderstorm development on the afternoon of the 12th. Strong instability and the relatively hot and dry low levels of the atmosphere promoted strong wind gusts and pockets of small hail with the most intense activity, though relatively weak vertical wind shear kept severe storms from lasting very long. One storm did manage to generate a 62 mph wind gust near Graham (Garza County). A broad area of light to moderate rain evolved over the southern Rolling Plains during the evening hours. A wake low formed at the back edge of the precipitation shield generating severe wind gusts near Guthrie (King County) for about one hour.

High wind gusts from the wake low event are listed below from the Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet:

66 mph at Guthrie (King County).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1087646. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.