Thunderstorm Wind in Castro County, Texas

A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Hart measured severe wind gusts from 2245 CST through 2249 CST. A peak wind gust of 65 mph was measured at 2246 CST.

Increased deep layer wind shear along with an approaching mid-level short wave trough initiated and created a few organized thunderstorms from the late afternoon through evening hours across the South Plains and extreme southern Texas Panhandle. The initial isolated thunderstorm activity over the South Plains produced hail as large as ping pong ball size and a severe wind gust. During the late evening hours, a convectively reinforced front moving southward across the southern Texas Panhandle led to more scattered thunderstorm activity. Relatively dry sub-cloud layers allowed this late evening activity to produce several severe wind gusts in the extreme southern Texas Panhandle.