Severe Storms & Flooding on July 16, 2014

It seems like the severe weather calendar is about a month behind schedule as we've continued to see severe weather well into July.  In fact, severe weather, heavy rain, and flooding impacted the western Panhandles on July 16.  Isolated to scattered showers and thunderstorms developed across the northwest Panhandles during the afternoon hours, and a few became supercell thunderstorms.  These storms produced hail up to golf ball size, damaging winds, and even a few tornadoes as they moved south and even south southwest at times.  Two EF-0 tornadoes occured near Stratford, TX and another EF-0 tornado occurred near Cactus, TX.  A line of showers and storms moved in from New Mexico during the early evening hours, and this line eventually overtook the supercells.  All of this activity consolidated and evolved into a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) that continued to produce reports of funnel clouds, golf ball hail, and damaging winds.  These storms also produced very heavy rain that resulted in flash flooding in Amarillo and Canyon.

Tornado south of Stratford, TX (Brandon Green)	Supercell near Stratford, TX (Greg Wright)	Supercell near Sunray, TX (Shona Moore)

Estimated 24-hour storm total precipitation July 16-17	Hydrograph responds to rain at Wayside, TX	Severe, tornado, and flash flood warning polygons

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT...SUMMARY
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
1218 PM CDT FRI JUL 18 2014

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0600 PM     HAIL             5 W GRUVER              36.27N 101.50W
07/16/2014  E1.00 INCH       HANSFORD           TX   TRAINED SPOTTER

0641 PM     HAIL             10 W GRUVER             36.27N 101.59W
07/16/2014  E1.00 INCH       HANSFORD           TX   LAW ENFORCEMENT

0655 PM     HAIL             14 WSW GRUVER           36.18N 101.64W
07/16/2014  E1.00 INCH       SHERMAN            TX   STORM CHASER

0655 PM     TSTM WND GST     14 WSW GRUVER           36.18N 101.64W
07/16/2014  E70 MPH          SHERMAN            TX   STORM CHASER

            ESTIMATED 70 TO 75 MPH WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH THE REAR
            FLANK DOWNDRAFT.

0708 PM     TORNADO          2 NE STRATFORD          36.36N 102.05W
07/16/2014                   SHERMAN            TX   TRAINED SPOTTER

            STORM SPOTTER REPORTED A BRIEF TORNADO NEAR HIGHWAY 54
            NORTHEAST OF STRATFORD.

0719 PM     HAIL             STRATFORD               36.34N 102.07W
07/16/2014  E1.50 INCH       SHERMAN            TX   TRAINED SPOTTER

0723 PM     TSTM WND DMG     3 S STRATFORD           36.29N 102.07W
07/16/2014                   SHERMAN            TX   TRAINED SPOTTER

            POWER LINES DOWN ON HIGHWAY 287

0726 PM     TORNADO          2 S STRATFORD           36.31N 102.07W
07/16/2014                   SHERMAN            TX   STORM CHASER

            A STORM CHASER OBSERVED A TORNADO SOUTH OF STRATFORD.
            THIS TORNADO DAMAGED UTILITY LINES AND A SMALL
            OUTBUILDING NEAR US HIGHWAY 287.

0730 PM     TSTM WND DMG     STRATFORD               36.34N 102.07W
07/16/2014                   SHERMAN            TX   LAW ENFORCEMENT

            20 FOOT TREE DOWNED IN STRATFORD AND POWER POLES AND
            FENCES DOWNED JUST SOUTH OF STRATFORD.

0823 PM     TORNADO          5 WSW CACTUS            36.02N 102.09W
07/16/2014                   MOORE              TX   EMERGENCY MNGR

            EMERGENCY MANAGER PROVIDED STORM SPOTTER VIDEO OF A
            TORNADO WEST SOUTHWEST OF CACTUS. CORN STALKS WERE
            REPORTEDLY BLOWN DOWN IN A FIELD NEAR HIGHWAY 281.

0835 PM     HAIL             4 WSW CACTUS            36.02N 102.08W
07/16/2014  E1.75 INCH       MOORE              TX   PUBLIC

            GOLFBALL SIZE HAIL DAMAGED CORN AND SORGHUM CROPS ALONG
            HIGHWAY 281.

0911 PM     TSTM WND GST     2 W DUMAS               35.86N 102.00W
07/16/2014  E65 MPH          MOORE              TX   AMATEUR RADIO

            ESTIMATED 60 TO 70 MPH WINDS.

1008 PM     HAIL             6 NE VEGA               35.31N 102.35W
07/16/2014  E1.75 INCH       OLDHAM             TX   LAW ENFORCEMENT

1016 PM     HAIL             6 NNW DAWN              34.99N 102.26W
07/16/2014  E1.00 INCH       DEAF SMITH         TX   EMERGENCY MNGR

1055 PM     FLASH FLOOD      1 WNW AMARILLO          35.21N 101.83W
07/16/2014                   POTTER             TX   EMERGENCY MNGR

            WATER COLLECTED UNDER THE RAILROAD BRIDGES AT SOUTHEAST
            3RD AVENUE AND SOUTHEAST 10TH AVENUE. CLOSED THE GATE AT
            BOTH LOCATIONS.

1105 PM     FLASH FLOOD      2 WSW AMARILLO          35.20N 101.85W
07/16/2014                   POTTER             TX   EMERGENCY MNGR

            3 FEET OF WATER IN THE UNDERPASS AT INTERSTATE 40 AND
            WASHINGTON STREET WITH ONE CAR STALLED.

1210 AM     FLASH FLOOD      1 NNW CANYON            35.00N 101.93W
07/17/2014                   RANDALL            TX   NWS EMPLOYEE

            LARGE DUMPSTERS FLOATING IN WATER...FLOOD GATES BY GOLF
            COURSE CLOSED ON HUNSLEY HILLS...AND AN UNOCCUPIED CAR
            STRANDED IN WATER.