Scattered Severe Thunderstorms Across the Northern Plains; Fire Weather Concerns in the Western U.S.

Scattered severe thunderstorms are forecast across central and eastern North Dakota, as well as far northwest Minnesota Saturday (Slight Risk level 2 of 5). Damaging wind gusts are the primary threat. Elevated to critical fire weather conditions will persist through the weekend across the Western U.S. Isolated dry thunderstorms could lead to new fire starts over portions of the northern Rockies. Read More >

Overview

On March 24, 2024, a strong upper level system was positioned north of the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. A diffuse dryline held in place further west than initially forecast, helping to initiate isolated thunderstorms in the moist sector across the eastern Panhandles. Despite marginal moisture, these storms went on to produce four tornadoes, large hail, and damaging straight-line winds. Three tornadoes were confirmed in Ochiltree County, the strongest of which produced EF-1 damage a few miles south of Perryton, Texas. Another isolated supercell also produced an EF-1 tornado near Shamrock, Texas, damaging the rodeo barn near town. The largest hail observed was golf ball size from the south Perryton storm, and the strongest wind gust observed was 67 mph in Clarendon, Texas. West of the dryline, strong southwest winds developed in the dry sector through the afternoon and early evening hours. As a result, several gusts over 58 mph ushered in plumes of blowing dust to portions of the southwest and central Texas Panhandle.

Tornado
Photos & Video
Radar
Environment

Tornadoes

Tornado - South Perryton
Ochiltree County

Date	March 24, 2024
Time (Local)	2:58 - 3:11 PM
EF Rating	EF-1
Est. Peak Winds	105 mph
Path Length	1.59 miles
Max Width	100 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: The tornado developed in a field to the south of County Road M. It then crossed County Road M, where it snapped three power poles and overturned a portion of an irrigation pivot. The tornado then crossed Highway 83 where it caused loss of roofing material to a round top quonset. As the tornado continued to track to the northeast, it threw mud on several power poles and deposited debris along County Road L. The tornado tracked northeast before dissipating in a field. Video footage exists that confirms this tornado was rather wide and possibly had multiple vortices.

Track Map

Tornado - Ochiltree General Hospital
Ochiltree County

Date	March 24, 2024
Time (Local)	3:05 - 3:07 PM
EF Rating	EF-0
Est. Peak Winds	80 mph
Path Length	0.72 miles
Max Width	30 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: This brief tornado touched down shortly after the first tornado as the mesocyclone occluded. Damage to a barn included loss of a door and some lifted roof panels near County Rd K, with additional damage to the Ochiltree Hospital where shingles and some roof material were blown off just before the tornado lifted.

Track Map

Track Map EF-Scale

Tornado - West Ochiltree County
Ochiltree County

Date	March 24, 2024
Time (Local)	2:43 - 2:45 PM
EF Rating	EF- Unknown
Est. Peak Winds	N/A
Path Length	0.73 miles
Max Width	30 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: This tornado was photographed and filmed by multiple sources. It remained in a field and resulted in no known damage.

Track Map

Track Map EF-Scale

Tornado - Northwest Shamrock
Wheeler County

Date	March 24, 2024
Time (Local)	3:17 - 3:18 PM
EF Rating	EF-1
Est. Peak Winds	100 mph
Path Length	0.18 miles
Max Width	25 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0
Summary: This quick, brief tornado touched down to the north of I-40. Spotters had reported a funnel cloud had crossed I-40, but no damage was noted. The tornado caused damage to the Dalton O’Gorman Rodeo Arena. Here it caused roof damage where a large section of the eastern half of the roof was blown off and the south facing wall was blown down. No other damage occurred in this area so it is believed to be a narrow path. The tornado lifted soon thereafter.

Track Map

Track Map EF-Scale

Tornado damage to Ochiltree General Hospital in S Perryton, TX.

(@Casey_supAStar)

Tornado damage to irrigation pivots off of Highway 83 3 miles south of Perryton, TX.

Tornado damage to the rodeo barn near Shamrock, TX.

Tornado damage to a metal outbuilding in S Perryton, TX.

The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:

EF0 Weak 65-85 mph	EF1 Moderate 86-110 mph	EF2 Significant 111-135 mph	EF3 Severe 136-165 mph	EF4 Extreme 166-200 mph	EF5 Catastrophic 200+ mph

Photos & Video


The South Perryton Tornado taken from 3 miles south of US-83 on SH-70. (David Hyrum Vaughn)	Tornado near Shamrock, TX (Dominic Ruiz)	Cloud of dust moving into Amarillo with high based showers. (Sherri Gannaway)	Dust cloud moving into Amarillo. (Chelsea Gallagher)


Quarter sized hail in S Perryton (Perryton Fire EMS)	Outflow dust cloud from I-40 in Amarillo. (Angelina Marie)	West Ochiltree County tornado (Matt Corells)	Blowing dust moving through Bushland at 3:45 PM (Diana Penn)

Radar


GOES 16 Day Cloud Phase RGB showed storms developing after 1 PM along the dryline.	Mature storms tracked across the plains, moving toward the OK state line by 5 PM. Other high based cells developed in the dry sector, resulting in wind and dust.	The Perryton storm was a low topped tornadic supercell briefly, before weakening northeast of Perryton.	The Shamrock storm took on supercell characteristics fairly early in its lifecycle, and remained supercellular well into western OK.

Environment

Fig 1 (above): A storm system moved across the area resulting in a surface low near the Raton Mesa. This low helped pull moisture into the central and eastern Panhandles by mid-day, with a diffuse dryline forming by early afternoon. Storms developed along the dryline, and by 2 PM initiation was under way. Instability and shear were marginal for a tornado threat, but the backing of low level winds behind the dryline helped to locally enhance storm relative low level shear, and intense lift helped overcome the limited instability. Cloud bases were also high with moisture also being marginal, but some storm mergers helped to locally reduce the cloud bases, thus increasing the tornado threat. Very cold air aloft was present, so it didn't take super tall/strong updrafts to produce severe hail.

Media use of NWS Web News Stories is encouraged!
Please acknowledge the NWS as the source of any news information accessed from this site.

AMA RSS Feed

Scattered Severe Thunderstorms Across the Northern Plains; Fire Weather Concerns in the Western U.S.

March 24th: Tornadoes, Severe Storms, and Dust