Thunderstorm Wind — Culberson, Texas

2020-08-17 · near Van Horn, Culberson, Texas

Event narrative

A thunderstorm that moved across Van Horn produced a localized area of damaging straight-line winds as the core of this storm collapsed just south of the town. Culberson County Office of Emergency Management reported ten snapped powerline poles one to two miles south of Van Horn along Highway 90 that resulted in a town-wide power outage. It was determined by the National Weather Service that the damage was caused by a microburst after re-evaluating radar data and assessing the damage remotely using photos sent in by the Culberson County emergency management. Winds were estimated to be near 100 mph. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.

Wider weather episode

An upper ridge was over the western part of the country. An upper disturbance along the edge of this ridge moved over the area. A weak cold front had also moved into the area. These features, along with surface heating and low-level moisture leading to increased instability, allowed for thunderstorms to develop across West Texas and southeast New Mexico. One of these storms produced a microburst in Culberson County which resulted in wind damage.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (31.0241, -104.8305)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 907270. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.