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Severe Thunderstorms in West-Central Texas; Critical Fire Weather Threat in the Rockies and Plains

Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms capable of producing large hail and damaging wind gusts will be possible this evening across west-central Texas. Elevated to Critical fire weather conditions will persist across the southern Rockies and portions of the southern Plains through this weekend. Read More >

Overview

The approach of a mesoscale convective vortex (MCV) in the late afternoon/early evening of the 26th resulted in enhancing the effective shear (~50-60 knots) over the region. Initially, a large band of rain showers moved across the region early evening, however behind this band of showers, a line of storms developed over northwest Indiana and slowly organized southeast.  By 10:00 pm EDT, a spearhead echo developed over southwestern Kosciusko county south of Mentone and rapidly surged southeast affecting the towns of Silver Lake, North Manchester, Bippus and Huntington.  A narrow corridor of intense wind damage resulted along this path with winds estimated at 85-90 mph.  Some street flooding was also noted in Huntington City and points north as well as in Roanoke

1001 pm EDT 0.5 degree radar reflectivity 1001 pm EDT 0.5 degree radar reflectivity
1001 pm EDT. White arrows in this image denotes approximate position of developing rear inflow jet. Dashed black line denotes position of leading outflow boundary just ahead of this line of storms. Black oval encapsulates the area of strong inbound winds taking shape at the rear of the line of storms. 1010 pm EDT. White arrow denotes approximate position of rear inflow jet which just 9 minutes later had progressed to the leading edge of the line of storms. The white arc denotes a surge in the 0.5 degree reflectivity data occurring at this time with intense wind damage ongoing in the Silver Lake area.
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