Hail — Potter, Texas

2020-06-19 · near Amarillo, Potter, Texas

Event narrative

A continuous swath of hail ranging from penny size up to golf ball and even hen egg size occurred along a continuous swath over a 50 minute period as a severe storm traveled from the west side of Amarillo across the city to the east side near the Airport. The swath of severe hail extended from the Potter/Randall County line north from 2 to 4 miles into Potter County reaching Route 66 / Highway 60 in some areas per reports. The largest hail fell near or just south of the downtown area near Interstate 40 which included the Woflin area of Amarillo. The event was described as a catastrophic event by insurance companies with well over 500 insurance claims made within a few days time after the event. Widespread roof damage was reported to homes and businesses including buildings at the Amarillo College main campus. Cars were reported dented across the area including at the National Weather Service office where ping-pong hail occurred.

Wider weather episode

Scattered thunderstorms developed during the afternoon and early evening along and ahead of an outflow-enhanced cold front. Storms developed within a strongly unstable but weakly sheared airmass. Scattered severe thunderstorms occurred over the south-central and central Texas Panhandle, with isolated coverage across the northwest and southeast Panhandle. One of the strongest storms produced a hail swath with up to 2 inch stones across the city of Amarillo generally along I-40. This was one three separate storm that produced severe hail in Amarillo on this day. In addition, several small and weak landspout type tornadoes were reported with these storms.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (35.2000, -101.9263)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 889062. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.