NWS Lubbock, TX, 2009 Weather Events

Storms Produce Hail and Wind - 1 June 2009

Radar animation from the Lubbock WSR-88D between 5:58 pm on Monday (1 June 2009) to 4:56 am on Tuesday (2 June 2009). Click on the animation for a larger view. The images are courtesy of The National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Radar animation from the Lubbock WSR-88D between 5:58 pm on Monday (1 June 2009) to 4:56 am on Tuesday (2 June 2009). Images are shown approximately every hour. Click on the animation for a larger view. The images are courtesy of The National Center for Atmospheric Research.

An area of showers and thunderstorms developed across the northwest South Plains and southwest Texas Panhandle during the afternoon of Monday, 1 June 2009. This activity congealed into a small complex the moved east and then more southeast across Rolling Plains during the evening hours. Instability and wind shear was rather limited during the afternoon hours, so widespread severe weather was not observed, but a few storms occasionally became strong to briefly severe, especially into the evening and overnight hours when moisture increased slightly as a southerly low level jet developed. The intensifying low level jet along with an approaching upper level storm system also supported the redevelopment of a couple of strong thunderstorms that tracked from the northeast South Plains into the northern Rolling Plains during the early morning hours Tuesday (2 June).

Graphic displaying hail swaths, as estimated by the Lubbock radar, from Monday afternoon (1 June) through early Tuesday morning (2 June 2009). The "hotter" colors indicate large hail. Click on the image to view a larger version.

The stronger thunderstorms produced localized heavy rain along with areas of hail and gusty winds, including some storms which briefly eclipsed severe thresholds. A wind gust to 62 mph was measured near Turkey by the West Texas Mesonet just after 8 pm, with a report of 1 inch diameter hail in Ralls shortly after 10 pm. The above image displays hail swaths, as estimated by the Lubbock radar during this thunderstorm event. One notable swath, from just north of Plainview east-southeast into the Rolling Plains, occurred during the overnight hours with the two isolated storms that formed around midnight.

For a more complete list of the preliminary storm reports for this event CLICK HERE.

Image showing the Lubbock radar rainfall estimates

Visible satellite animation created during the afternoon and evening hours of Monday, 1 June 2009. Click on the animation for a larger view. Images are shown every hour from 12:45 pm to 7:45 pm. The images are courtesy of The National Center for Atmospheric Research.