Thunderstorm Wind in Hale County, Texas

The Automated Weather Observing System at Hale County Municipal Airport measured a severe wind gust of 59 mph at 2230 CST. From 2232 CST through 2240 CST, a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Plainview measured severe wind gusts with a peak gust of 70 mph at 2232 CST.

A weak short wave trough tracked across the higher terrain along the New Mexico/Colorado border during the evening of the 26th. Large scale ascent from this short wave along with low level convergence in a surface pressure trough in eastern New Mexico initiated thunderstorms during the evening hours across eastern New Mexico. This initial thunderstorm activity generated a strong outflow boundary which then moved into the South Plains of West Texas. A very dry lower atmosphere allowed these storms to produce widespread severe wind gusts as they tracked eastward across the South Plains and extreme southern Texas Panhandle through the early morning hours of the 27th.