Thunderstorm Wind — Yoakum, Texas

2023-05-28 · near Denver City, Yoakum, Texas

Event narrative

A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Denver City measured severe wind gusts from 1748 CST through 1814 CST. A peak wind gust of 79 mph was measured at 1758 CST.

Wider weather episode

Scattered supercell thunderstorms developed on the afternoon of the 28th and persisted through the evening producing several severe storms despite weak background forcing. Strong instability developed while the atmosphere became uncapped which allowed these supercell thunderstorms to develop. A slow moving storm near Vigo Park produced a brief tornado over an open field. More widespread thunderstorms evolved late in the evening while tracking from west to east over much of the South Plains and Rolling Plains. In Lubbock, a tree hit by lightning fell on a vehicle. These widespread slow moving storms produced extensive flash flooding especially over Lubbock County. Several roads were closed due to flooding with numerous stranded vehicles. After the cluster of thunderstorms moved east of Lubbock, a heat burst was observed at Reese Center (Lubbock County) within a stratiform region. A peak wind gust of 67 mph was observed with this heat burst as well as a 15 degree temperature increase.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.0088, -102.9616)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1097485. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.