May 26th, 29th, and 30th 2021: Severe Storms, Tornadoes, and Rainfall

Overview

The period of May 23rd through May 30th brought a highly active weather pattern to the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles, with most days featuring either severe thunderstorms or the plausible threat of the development of severe thunderstorms. A Watch was issued on 7 of these 8 days; 5 days with a Severe Thunderstorm Watch and 2 with a Tornado Watch. Either large hail, damaging winds, wind damage, or tornadoes were reported on 5 of these 8 days. Two of these days, May 26th and May 30th, featured multiple tornadoes, with May 29th featuring a notable supercell in Cimarron County.

May 26th, an upper level storm system, initially over the southwestern United States, approached the area and sent various disturbances across the region. With ample moisture, instability, and increased wind shear, thunderstorms initiated along a dryline and progressed towards the northeast and east. A couple of the storms became supercells, which were the cause of the 4 reported tornadoes on this date. The only tornado that affected damage indicators occurred in the Perryton area, which received a rating of EF-0 with estimated wind speeds up to 75 mph. The longest tracked tornado, which occurred north of Gruver, was caught on video by multiple storm chasers with a path length approaching 1.9 miles.

May 29th, storms developed on the higher terrain to our west and threatened the western Panhandles. During the evening hours, a supercell thunderstorm tracked into the western Oklahoma Panhandle from southeastern Colorado. Despite contemporaneous reports from multiple chasers that a large tornado was in progress, following the viewing of later video and picture evidence, the collection of testimony from other chasers in the area, and the completion of a damage survey that found no damage, it was concluded that no tornado occurred with this supercell. While no tornado occurred, this supercell was a prolific hail producer, with multiple reports of baseball size hail. Given the sparse road network, it is possible that the largest hailstones generated by this storm were not located by storm spotters. Later that night, a robust line of storms entered the western Texas Panhandle from New Mexico, with an 86 mph wind gust recorded by the West Texas Mesonet site southwest of Romero.

May 30th, persistent low level winds out of the east brought substantial moisture to the region, allowing thunderstorms to break out as an upper level disturbance approached from the southwest. With surface winds out of the east in place underneath winds aloft out of the southwest, low level wind shear was sufficient for multiple tornadoes to develop with some of these thunderstorms. A total of 13 tornadoes were confirmed. Seven tornadoes occurred in Cimarron County, mainly in the vicinity of Felt, all of which occurred over open land, resulting in no EF rating being assigned to any of these tornadoes. Six tornadoes occurred in Dallam and Sherman Counties, all of which were rated EF-0 or were unable to be rated due to a lack of damage indicators. Additionally, heavy rainfall occurred in many locations given the large amount of moisture in place, with flash flooding occurring in Amarillo, Canyon, and Wellington. Some locations received more than 4 inches of rainfall.

May 26th, 2021
May 29th, 2021
May 30th, 2021

Tornadoes:

Tornado - North of Gruver #1
Hansford County

Date	May 26th, 2021
Time (Local)	5:56pm - 6:00pm CDT
EF Rating	EF-Unknown
Est. Peak Winds	Unknown
Path Length	1.9 miles
Max Width	20.0 yards
Injuries/Deaths	0/0
Summary: The track of this tornado was not accessible by road as it moved through a farm field, but was noted on radar and documented by storm chasers in the area.

Track Map

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


Tornado near Waka (Jeff Staton)	Supercell thunderstorm near Perryton (Matt Woods)


Tornado near Waka (Thomas Beal)	Funnel cloud over Pampa; this did not touch down (Armando Garcia III)

Report Time (CDT)	County	Location	State	Event Type	Magnitude	Source	Lat	Lon	Remark
2021/05/26 17:16	POTTER	4 NW WASHBURN	TX	HAIL	1.25	STORM CHASER	35.21	-101.63	MOSTLY HALF INCH TO QUARTER, A FEW HALF DOLLAR SIZE HAIL.
2021/05/26 18:14	CARSON	3 WSW PANHANDLE	TX	HAIL	1	STORM CHASER	35.32	-101.43
2021/05/26 18:28	HANSFORD	7 NNE GRUVER	TX	HAIL	3	STORM CHASER	36.34	-101.35	LATE REPORT OF 3 INCH HAIL RECEIVED WITH PICTURE.
2021/05/26 18:29	CARSON	PANHANDLE	TX	HAIL	1.5	TRAINED SPOTTER	35.34	-101.39
2021/05/26 18:33	HANSFORD	8 NNE GRUVER	TX	HAIL	2	STORM CHASER	36.36	-101.36	REPORT RECEIVED VIA SPOTTER NETWORK.
2021/05/26 18:38	HANSFORD	8 NNE GRUVER	TX	HAIL	2.75	STORM CHASER	36.36	-101.35	LATE STORM CHASER REPORT OF BASEBALL SIZE HAIL.
2021/05/26 18:40	CARSON	1 N PANHANDLE	TX	HAIL	2	PUBLIC	35.36	-101.38	TWITTER REPORT WITH PICTURE OF MEASURED 2 INCH HAIL.
2021/05/26 18:42	BEAVER	BRYANS CORNER	OK	HAIL	0.88	EMERGENCY MNGR	36.62	-100.82	ACCUMULATING HAIL OCCURRING.
2021/05/26 18:49	CARSON	4 SW PANHANDLE	TX	HAIL	2.5	PUBLIC	35.31	-101.43	PICTURE RECEIVED VIA TWITTER.
2021/05/26 18:53	CARSON	PANHANDLE	TX	HAIL	2.5	PUBLIC	35.35	-101.38	PICTURE RECEIVED VIA TWITTER.
2021/05/26 18:56	POTTER	7 E AMARILLO	TX	TSTM WND GST	60	ASOS	35.22	-101.71	RICK HUSBAND INTL AIRPORT ASOS MEASURED 60 MPH WIND GUST.
2021/05/26 19:05	HANSFORD	9 NW WAKA	TX	TSTM WND GST	77	MESONET	36.36	-101.18	PALO DURO RESERVOIR 1 NW.
2021/05/26 19:14	BEAVER	3 N ELMWOOD	OK	HAIL	1.25	EMERGENCY MNGR	36.66	-100.52
2021/05/26 19:39	CARSON	5 N PANHANDLE	TX	HAIL	2.5	TRAINED SPOTTER	35.42	-101.38
2021/05/26 19:45	OCHILTREE	8 N FARNSWORTH	TX	HAIL	0.75	PUBLIC	36.43	-100.94	REPORT FROM MPING: DIME (0.75 IN.).
2021/05/26 20:11	CARSON	4 NE WHITE DEER	TX	HAIL	1	TRAINED SPOTTER	35.46	-101.12
2021/05/26 20:11	BEAVER	7 E ELMWOOD	OK	TSTM WND GST	62	MESONET	36.62	-100.39
2021/05/26 20:14	CARSON	1 S SKELLYTOWN	TX	HAIL	1	TRAINED SPOTTER	35.55	-101.17
2021/05/26 20:20	OCHILTREE	2 N PERRYTON	TX	HAIL	2.5	TRAINED SPOTTER	36.43	-100.8	GOLF BALL TO TENNIS BALL SIZE HAIL REPORTED.
2021/05/26 20:23	OCHILTREE	8 E PERRYTON	TX	HAIL	2.5	STORM CHASER	36.39	-100.67
2021/05/26 20:47	OCHILTREE	PERRYTON	TX	FLOOD		TRAINED SPOTTER	36.39	-100.8	TRAINED SPOTTER REPORTS WATER OVER ROADWAY ON 9TH AND MAIN AS WELL AS 15TH AND MAIN.
2021/05/26 20:47	GRAY	2 N PAMPA	TX	HAIL	1	TRAINED SPOTTER	35.57	-100.97


2.25" diameter hailstones found 6 miles north of Kenton (Joe Moore)	Supercell near Black Mesa Park (Ryan Nostrud)


Shelf cloud 6 miles south of Stratford (Greg AK)	Tornado southeast of Felt (Matt Phelps)


Cone tornado southwest of Boise City (806 Storm Chasers)	Tornado near Felt (Blake Brown)


Trees shredded due to hail near Black Mesa Park (Mike Gittinger)	Two tornadoes simultaneously in progress southwest of Boise City (806 Storm Chasers)


Post-flooding debris on North Carrizo Creek (Mike Gittinger)	Post-flooding debris on North Carrizo Creek (Mike Gittinger)

Report Time (CDT)	County	Location	State	Event Type	Magnitude	Source	Lat	Lon	Remark
2021/05/29 20:25	CIMARRON	4 N KENTON	OK	HAIL	2	STORM CHASER	36.96	-102.97	REPORT RECEIVED VIA SOCIAL MEDIA.
2021/05/29 20:40	CIMARRON	4 E KENTON	OK	HAIL	2.5	TRAINED SPOTTER	36.91	-102.9
2021/05/29 20:45	CIMARRON	BLACK MESA PARK	OK	HAIL	2	STORM CHASER	36.85	-102.88	LARGEST HAIL STONES FOUND WERE 2 INCHES WITH ACCUMULATING HAIL. REPORT RECEIVED VIA SOCIAL MEDIA.
2021/05/29 20:47	CIMARRON	4 NNE KENTON	OK	HAIL	1.75	EMERGENCY MNGR	36.96	-102.95
2021/05/29 21:05	CIMARRON	4 N BLACK MESA PARK	OK	HAIL	2.75	TRAINED SPOTTER	36.9	-102.88
2021/05/29 21:26	CIMARRON	5 NE BLACK MESA PARK	OK	HAIL	2.5	TRAINED SPOTTER	36.9	-102.82	REPORT RECEIVED AT 9:40 PM. TIME ESTIMATED BASED ON RADAR.
2021/05/29 21:42	CIMARRON	6 N KENTON	OK	HAIL	2.5	PUBLIC	36.99	-102.97	LATE REPORT RECEIVED VIA SOCIAL MEDIA WITH PICTURE AT 9:25 PM.
2021/05/29 22:47	CIMARRON	7 N FELT	OK	HAIL	2.75	TRAINED SPOTTER	36.67	-102.79	LATE REPORT OF BASEBALL SIZE HAIL, WITH TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
2021/05/29 22:47	CIMARRON	8 NW BOISE CITY	OK	HAIL	2.75	TRAINED SPOTTER	36.81	-102.61	CORRECTS PREVIOUS REPORT 7 N OF FELT TO BE 8 NW OF BOISE CITY. LATE REPORT OF BASEBALL SIZE HAIL, WITH TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.
2021/05/29 22:51	CIMARRON	11 N BOISE CITY	OK	HAIL	0.75	STORM CHASER	36.88	-102.52
2021/05/30 01:22	OLDHAM	11 SSW ROMERO	TX	TSTM WND GST	86	MESONET	35.58	-103.01	WEST TEXAS MESONET RECORDED 86 MPH WIND GUST.