Flash Flood — Stonewall, Texas

2024-04-27 · near Aspermont, Stonewall, Texas

Event narrative

Beginning around 1700 CST to 1800 CST, severe thunderstorms began to train over eastern Stonewall County. These thunderstorms continued to back build for several hours not ending until approximately 2200 CST. Periodic rainfall rates of one to two inches per hour were estimated within this activity with a total of three to four inches of rainfall. Late in the evening, the Stonewall County sheriff's office stated that water was nearly flowing over US Highway 380 between Aspermont and Old Glory. Downstream of the reported flooding, the Double Mountain Fork Brazos River near Rule in Haskell County, Texas saw its fourth highest flow in the past four years of 2740 cubic feet per second.

Wider weather episode

Late on the evening of the 27th, severe wind gusts were occurring in the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle while flash flooding was transpiring in Stonewall County. A dryline which had mixed east of the Rolling Plains during the daytime had retreated back into the southeastern Rolling Plains. Very unstable air east of the dryline and convergence along the dryline allowed intense thunderstorms to develop. These thunderstorms trained over eastern Stonewall County for several hours producing flash flooding along US Highway 380 between Aspermont and Old Glory. At the same time, a pacific cold front crossing into West Texas from the west generated severe wind gusts behind the front across the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle.

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

70 mph at Amherst (Lamb County),

65 mph at Earth (Lamb County),

65 mph at Muleshoe (Bailey County), and

65 mph at Friona (Parmer County).

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.1186, -100.2019)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1165848. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.