Hail — Lubbock, Texas

2020-05-20 · near Woodrow, Lubbock, Texas

Event narrative

A thunderstorm developed along an outflow boundary in Lynn County and rapidly grew into a severe supercell thunderstorm as it moved northward toward the city of Lubbock. This storm quickly began to rotate anticyclonically as it moved into the southern portion of Lubbock County. As the storm entered the southern portion of the city of Lubbock numerous reports were initially received of hail up to baseball size. The largest hail stone reported was three inches in diameter. The storm continued to move northward through the central part of the city producing hail up to tennis ball size. The swath of giant hail ended around Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport at 1819 CST. While this initial storm was affecting the central portion of the city, a second severe thunderstorm developed over Wolfforth and moved to the northeast. This storm produced hail up to two inches in diameter from just east of Wolfforth to Texas Tech University. In the aftermath, numerous vehicles and roofs on homes were damaged, primarily from the initial thunderstorm that moved through the central part of Lubbock. Total losses were estimated at over $100 million.

Wider weather episode

Severe thunderstorms erupted for a second straight day across the South Plains. A large upper level low over the western United States allowed for low level moisture to remain in the region under low level southeasterly flow. A weak short wave moved out of central New Mexico into West Texas during the afternoon hours which aided in convective development along a dryline. Two general areas of convection matured into severe thunderstorms: one in the southwestern Texas Panhandle and another in the southern South Plains into the Permian Basin. Although there was no initial development in the central South Plains, this area saw the largest hail of the afternoon. Storms across the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle generally produced hail up to ping pong ball size. At the same time, a severe thunderstorm near Post (Garza County) produced hail up to tennis ball size. The initial thunderstorms in the southern South Plains generated an outflow boundary that surged northward lifting very unstable air. Multi cellular thunderstorms developed along this outflow boundary in Lynn County but quickly moved northward into Lubbock County. One of these storms took on a anticyclonic circulation as it moved into southern Lubbock County. This storm would go on to produce a widespread swath of hail with sizes generally between hen eggs and tennis balls. The largest hailstone observed was three inches in diameter around the intersection of Quaker Ave. and 114th Street. The swath of giant hail began on the south side of the city of Lubbock (Lubbock County) and ended around Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport (Lubbock County). One of the other thunderstorms that developed on the outflow boundary also produced severe hail at the same time over the western portion of Lubbock County. This swath of hail was observed from just east of Wolfforth (Lubbock County) to Texas Tech University (Lubbock County) and consisted of hail mostly around golf ball size. Total damages in Lubbock County were estimated at $100 million due to substantial and widespread roof and vehicle damage.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (33.4807, -101.8568)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 885048. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.