NWS Lubbock, TX Local Weather Events: Stormy period: September 15-18, 2016

National Weather Service Lubbock Significant Weather Events

September 15-18, 2016: Thunderstorms and Rainfall

A storm near Lake Alan Henry as viewed from South Lubbock on August 15th — A strong thunderstorm near Lake Alan Henry as viewed from south Lubbock Thursday evening, September 15th.

Several rounds of showers and thunderstorms affected the South Plains area of West Texas in mid-September, in what has been a fairly active and wet month for the region thus far. Many areas saw several inches of rainfall. The map below shows the radar estimated amounts and with reports from the West Texas Mesonet. Four to five inches of rain fell across central Lynn County including the town of Tahoka. Heavy rain Thursday night in eastern Hockley and western Lubbock Counties caused quite a bit of street flooding across western portions of the city of Lubbock.

Plot of 72 hour total rainfall that fell across the South Plains area. — Plot of rainfall that fell across the South Plains area from about noon Thursday, Sept. 15th through noon Sunday, Sept. 18th.

Severe weather was fairly limited. One severe thunderstorm developed Thursday night across Hockley County, and then moved into western Lubbock County, where it weakened. This storm produced severe wind gusts at Anton and hail up to dime size at Reese Center. The storm had a well-defined circulation for a time and spotters reported seeing a wall cloud and possibly a brief funnel cloud. The image below shows the reflectivity product from the Lubbock radar of the severe thunderstorm just east of Levelland Thursday night.

Radar image of severe thunderstorm Thursday night, Sept. 15th, 2016 — Base reflectivity image from the Lubbock WSR-88D at 10:40 pm on Sept. 15th, 2016

The image below if of the severe thunderstorm at the same time as the image above, but in this case the Doppler storm relative velocity, which shows the well-defined circulation just to the northwest of the town of Smyer.

Radar image of a severe thunderstorm on the night of Sept. 15th, 2016

After a pretty dry June and July, rainfall has been on the increase recently across much of the South Plains area. The graph below shows the total rainfall at the Lubbock Airport this year, which is catching up to average but still lags by several inches.

Graph of precipitation at Lubbock through September 18th, 2016 — Graph of precipitation at Lubbock through September 18, 2016. Also shown is the wet year of 2015 for comparison. Click on the image to enlarge it.

In contrast, Childress has received ample rainfall so far in 2016, running above average and not too far below 2015, which was one of the wettest years on record.

Graph of precipitation at Childress through September 18th, 2016 — Graph of precipitation at Childress through September 18, 2016. Also shown is the wet year of 2015 for comparison. Click on the image to enlarge it.