NWS Lubbock, TX Local Weather Events: June 17, 2013 Thunderstorms

Giant Hail, Severe Wind Gusts, and Flooding Across the Far Southwest Panhandle and South Plains

Monday 17 June 2013

Giant hail that fell on east 13th Street in Lubbock during the early evening of June 17, 2013. Photo courtesy of Vishy'Le Colbert via FOX 34.

Thunderstorms developed during the late afternoon hours along a frontal boundary draped across the South Plains. The first storm of the day went up between New Deal and Idalou before eventually propagating to the south across Lubbock County and into Lynn County. Numerous reports of large hail were received with the largest stones topping out near grapefruit to softball size in northeast Lubbock. Additional storms formed along a southwestward moving outflow boundary produced by this initial storm.

Radar imagery from 5:38 pm CDT to 6:48 pm CDT on Monday 17 June 2013.

Upslope flow across the higher terrain of New Mexico was responsible for a broken line of storms that pushed into West Texas during the early evening hours. These storms posed a severe wind threat as they moved east into more unstable air and strengthening wind fields due to the onset of a low level jet.

Radar imagery from 7:28 pm CDT to 8:38 pm CDT on Monday 17 June 2013.

The two aforementioned areas of storms congealed into an eastward moving line during the early to mid-evening timeframe, continuing the wind threat across the South Plains. In addition to the ongoing threat for severe wind gusts, flooding was also an issue in Lubbock and later on in Tahoka as the initial storm of the day maintained itself and moved slowly south. Multiple roadways accrued standing water with two cars getting stuck in high water under an overpass on US Highway 87 in Tahoka.

Preliminary storm reports for the 17th can be found HERE. A graphical display of these reports is also available below, in addition to the maximum wind gusts observed for the day and the 24-hour rainfall totals recorded during this event. The wind gust and rainfall data are courtesy of the West Texas Mesonet. Note that many of the severe wind and damage reports across the southern Texas Panhandle occurred with a separate round of thunderstorms during the early morning hours of the 17th.


Toggle Local Storm Reports for June 17, 2013	Toggle Maximum Wind Gust (mph) on June 17, 2013	Toggle 24 hr rain totals (inches) ending at 8:30 am on June 18, 2013