Hail — Lynn, Texas

2024-05-28 · near Tahoka, Lynn, Texas

Event narrative

Storm chasers and an NWS cooperative weather observer observed a swath of hail ranging in size from quarters to baseballs from approximately three miles west of Tahoka into the city of Tahoka.

Wider weather episode

A dryline, in combination with a westward moving outflow boundary, served as a focus for thunderstorm development on the afternoon of the 28th. Initial thunderstorm activity formed over the western South Plains and southwest Texas Panhandle where the outflow boundary met the dryline. Warm temperatures into the 90s combined with good low level moisture to create a very unstable atmosphere. Strong vertical wind shear allowed thunderstorms to rotate and split creating left and right moving supercells as well as very large hail. One particularly robust supercell thunderstorm generated giant hail over the west-central South Plains. Hail as large as DVDs were observed from a storm as it tracked slowly southeastward through Hockley County. Outside of the primary thunderstorm cores, strong and severe wind gusts occurred on the backside of a decaying rain area over the south-central Texas Panhandle. These severe winds toppled some utility lines and center pivots near Plainview and Hale Center (Hale County).

A long-lived supercell thunderstorm developed near Tucumcari, New Mexico on the evening of the 28th and proceeded to move south and southeast overnight into the early morning hours of the 29th. As this storm entered western Bailey County in Texas around 2300 CST, it transitioned into a bow echo that continued to move southeast for the next four hours accompanied by destructive winds, wind-driven hail, and torrential rain. The storm finally weakened to below severe limits near Snyder around 0330 CST. The most destructive straight-line winds occurred in Levelland (Hockley County) from around 0030 CST until 0040 CST, with a second swath of intense winds impacting Tahoka (Lynn County) shortly before 0200 CST. An NWS storm survey team documented extensive wind damage primarily on the north and east sides of Levelland, with additional damage also occurring in and around Tahoka. In addition to wind damage, a few homes in Levelland had floodwaters infiltrate the structures resulting in water damage with many more suffering rainwater damage from broken windows or damaged roofs. A total of thirteen people in Levelland received minor injuries from broken glass but all were released from treatment.

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

80 mph at Olton (Lamb County),

78 mph at Aiken (Hale County),

71 mph at Hart (Castro County),

70 mph at Plainview (Hale County), and

60 mph at Friona (Parmer County).

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.1800, -101.7800)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1171397. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.