National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce
Click a location below for detailed forecast.

Last Map Update: Sun, Oct 12, 2025 at 5:32:43 am CDT

 

 

 

Local Weather History For October 12th...
2012: Unusually moist air for mid-October was carried into the Texas South Plains on the 11th ahead of a vigorous upper
low in the Four Corners region. By the afternoon of the 12th, this upper low tracked into Colorado accompanied by a strong
subtropical jet that overspread the South Plains. With surface dewpoints in the mid to upper 60s and diminishing
stratocumulus clouds, strong instability developed by late afternoon over the central South Plains. Very strong wind shear
already in place was made even stronger near a warm front that began lifting slowly north between Lubbock and Plainview.
By 5 PM, a pair of strong and severe storms erupted near Shallowater and began moving north-northeast. One of these storms
developed strong low-level rotation as it crossed the warm front near Hale Center and assumed an easterly motion. This
rotation culminated in two tornadoes over open land in eastern Hale County. Earlier, this same storm produced very large
hail up to baseball size that damaged several vehicle windows at a rest stop on I-27. Also, large hail up to golf ball
size accompanied a left-moving supercell that raced northward near I-27. Both of these supercells decayed around 7 PM
before a third supercell late this evening entered Yoakum County from neighboring Lea County, NM. Although NWS-Lubbock
Doppler Radar indicated the likelihood of large hail west and northwest of Plains, this final supercell did not produce
any known severe weather before it evolved into a line of strong thunderstorms while overspreading much of the South
Plains before midnight.