National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Severe Weather and Flash Flooding Threat in the Central U.S. This Weekend

Heavy rain and severe weather is forecast across the central and southern Plains this weekend. Large hail and strong winds will be the primary threats. A Slight Risk (level 2 of 5) for severe thunderstorms has been issued. Consecutive days of heavy rainfall may lead to flash flooding across Missouri and Oklahoma on Sunday. A Moderate Risk (Level 3 of 4) for excessive rainfall has been issued. Read More >

Overview

During the afternoon of the 24th of June a few thunderstorms had popped up along the HWY 60 corridor. Later in the evening thunderstorms moved into the combined Oklahoma and Texas Panhandles from New Mexico. These storms lined out from I-40 near Endee, NM and ran northeast to around Texline. As this SW to NE oriented line of storms moved east the storms in the north ran into a better environment for the potential to become strong to severe, and did become severe with wind gusts of 70 mph measured at a mesonet site near Palo Duro Reservoir. As this storm approached Perryton around 9 PM CDT one of the storms started to rotate, enabling hail growth and strong winds. Hail was reported north of Perryton up to the size of ping pong balls which combined with strong winds to damage some windows on a farmhouse along with other damage around the property. As this storm moved northeast it created winds estimated at 85 mph, damaging several power distribution poles from Balko to Elmwood, OK, leaving much of Beaver County without power. This storm quickly weakened not long after causing the power loss.

For June 25th, during the afternoon hours of peak heating, thunderstorms formed along a boundary from Endee, NM to Amarillo and from Amarillo up to Canadian. Also some thunderstorms formed in SE CO and eventually traveled along the northern edge of the OK Panhandle from west to east. The environment was primed for strong damaging winds and large hail. Automated weather equipment located throughout both the OK and TX Panhandles measured wind gusts from these storms at well over 60 mph. The highest wind gust measured was 85 mph at the mesonet site near Hooker, Oklahoma. Some thunderstorm wind damage was also reported, especially in Texas County, Oklahoma. The largest hail stone reported was 2 inches in diameter near Clarendon, TX.

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