NWS Lubbock, TX, Severe Storms Summary of April 28, 2016

National Weather Service Lubbock Significant Weather Events

April 28, 2016: Severe Storms

Supercell thunderstorm near Cee Vee, Texas — Panoramic photo of a supercell near the town of Cee Vee. Courtesy Bruce Haynie.

April 28th saw several thunderstorms develop in the vicinity of a dryline and cold front in West Texas. Two of the storms became supercellular and moved east-northeast from the east-central South Plains through the northern Rolling Plains and far southern Texas Panhandle. These storms were prolific hail producers, and also occasionally produced damaging wind gusts. Persistent wall clouds and several brief funnels were reported by storm spotters, and a possible brief tornado over open country. The southern supercell developed over southwest Floyd and northwest Crosby county. Our office webcam was able to get some nice pictures of the developing storm:

View from Lubbock at a building thunderstorm over Crosby and Floyd Counties — View from Lubbock of a building thunderstorm in northwest Crosby and southern Floyd Counties

Hail up to the size of hen eggs (about two inches in diameter) was widely reported with the supercells. In some areas the hail piled up to such a degree that "hail fog" formed. Hail (ice) on the ground will begin to evaporate, cooling the air immediately above it. This can cause fog to develop in some instances.

Photo of hail south of Quitaque, Texas — Hail and hail fog in the vicinity of a wind farm south of Quitaque, Texas. Photo is courtesy of Russ Smith.

The image below is reflectivity from the Lubbock radar at 6 pm Thursday evening. It shows a snapshot of the two supercells in Floyd and Hall Counties.

Radar image at 6 pm showing two sueprcell thunderstorms — Image from the Lubbock WSR-88D radar at about 6 pm showing the two supercell thunderstorms to the north and east of Lubbock.

Lightning from thunderstorms can cause fires which in times of drought can grow to become large wildfires.

Lightning-sparked wildfire near Matador Texas. Photo courtesy Quincy Vagell.

Here is a map showing the preliminary storm reports received by our office from this event.

Satellite images on the afternoon and evening of April 28, 2016. Click on each image for a larger view.

Finally, here are two satellite images from the event. The one on the left shows the thunderstorms in their developing stages at about 3:45 pm. The image on the right shows the mature supercells moving into the northern Rolling plains and eastern Texas Panhandle around 6:45 pm. The dryline can also be seen in both images, which had remained nearly stationary during this three-hour period.