EF1 Tornado — Ochiltree, Texas

2024-03-24 · near Perryton, Ochiltree, Texas

Event narrative

The tornado developed in a field to the south of County Road M. It then crossed County Road M, where it snapped three power poles and overturned a portion of an irrigation pivot. The tornado then crossed Highway 83 where it caused loss of roofing material to a roundtop quonset. As the tornado continued to track to the northeast, it threw mud on several power poles and deposited debris along County Road L. The tornado tracked northeast before dissipating in a field. Video footage exists that confirms this tornado was rather wide and possibly had multiple vortices. The estimated wind speed of this tornado was 105mph.

Wider weather episode

Lingering surface moisture collected along a dryline which eventually lead to the formation of some thunderstorms along a line from Panhandle to Borger to Guymon. This eventually reached an atmospheric environment of better shear and instability in the eastern portions of the Texas Panhandle as well as in Beaver County, Oklahoma. This result in the intensification of storms and a few of these storms became strong with up to on half inch in diameter hail. Storms strengthened further and became severe producing quarter size hail and winds up to 70 mph. Once the dryline passed the surface relative humidity dropped quickly with gusty winds spreading east across the rest of the Panhandles. This kept critical fire conditions in place across the rest of the Panhandles with severe storms exiting to the east. The strong winds associated with this system did pull in a significant amount of dust and pushed into the southern Texas Panhandle.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.3312, -100.8071)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1166022. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.