Thunderstorm Wind in Bee County, Texas

Mesonet Station TW102 at Pawnee Ranch.

Severe winds on this date were driven by a southeastward-moving shortwave trough that had overspread the region while a surface low over northwest Texas, an advancing cold front, and a dryline provided the focus for thunderstorm initiation. Strong daytime heating beneath steep mid-level lapse rates and a moist Gulf air mass produced moderate to strong instability, with MLCAPE values generally ranging from 2,500 to 3,500 J/kg. To our north and west, initial storms developed as supercells capable of producing very large hail, but we anticipated rapid upscale growth into a forward-propagating mesoscale convective system (MCS) and bowing line segment by the time the system reached our CWA. The combination of abundant instability, a dry mid-level air mass, and strengthening forcing aloft favored the development of a strong cold pool, allowing the convective system to accelerate south-southeastward across South Texas. As storms merged and became increasingly outflow-dominant, widespread damaging straight-line winds produced corridors of significant wind damage as the system advanced toward the Texas Coast overnight.