Intense heat fuels isolated severe storms (9 July)

Intense heat fuels isolated severe storms
9 July 2020

Thunderstorm actively dropping a load of rain and hail Thursday evening (9 July), resulting in a downburst on the west side of Lubbock. The image is courtesy of Thomas Paholski.

Extreme heat baked West Texas on Thursday, July 9th. Afternoon temperatures peaked at 105 to 110+ degrees. The hottest temperature recorded, 115˚F, occurred in Palo Duro Canyon, while temperatures near 110˚F affected Caprock Canyons State Park. Unfortunately, the intense heat did lead to one visitor being air lifted from Caprock Canyons Thursday afternoon.

High temperatures observed on Thursday, 9 July 2020. The data are courtesy of the West Texas Mesonet.

The extreme heat, combined with just enough moisture and converging winds, caused isolated thunderstorms to develop late Thursday afternoon. A couple of these storms became severe as they tracked southward through the evening hours. The most intense storm of the evening formed across the southeast Texas Panhandle and tracked southward into the northern Rolling Plains, producing damaging wind gusts and small hail.

Lubbock WSR-88D radar base reflectivity animation valid from 4:52 pm to 7:48 pm on 9 July 2020. Regional radar animations valid the evening of 9 July can be found at: 5:58 pm to 7:08 pm; and from 8:18 pm to 9:28 pm.

The West Texas Mesonet site near Memphis recorded a peak wind gust of 63 mph. This storm went on to drop quarter size hail in Estelline and walnut sized hail in Northfield. In addition, downburst winds damaged several homes and sheds and downed power poles west of Estelline. The only positive was that a few spots received welcome rainfall and cooler temperatures.

Wind damage incurred west of Estelline Thursday evening (9 July 2020). The picture is courtesy of Craig Collins.


Wind damage incurred west of Estelline Thursday evening (9 July 2020). The top pictures are courtesy of Craig Collins.

Additional isolated thunderstorms developed near Lubbock Thursday evening. One small but strong storm formed near the Lubbock Airport then moved southeastward across the eastern portion of the city where it dropped a burst of heavy rain and produced damaging winds. The winds toppled a brick wall of an old roofless structure (below), downed power poles and caused considerable property damage at Joyland. In addition, a few people were injured by falling tree limbs at Joyland.


Brick wall downed by strong thunderstorm winds in East Lubbock Thursday evening (9 July). The picture is courtesy of Nick Wilson.

The thunderstorms did produce an impressive lightning show too, as captured by Pam Elrod east of Tahoka. The storms eventually weakened late Thursday evening.

Storm east of Tahoka Thursday night (9 July 2020). The image is courtesy of Pam Elrod.

The National Weather Service in Lubbock deployed a damage survey team to the southeast Texas Panhandle the next day, July 10th, The survey confirmed that a series of microbursts affected the region, with localized wind gusts as strong as 80 to 100 mph. See the below image for a summary of the findings.

Summary of Damage Survey conducted by the National Weather Service in Hall and Childress Counties.

The preliminary storm reports and NWS Damage Survey results for this active July evening can be viewed below.

Storm Reports for July 9th

PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX
903 PM CDT THU JUL 09 2020

..TIME...   ...EVENT...      ...CITY LOCATION...     ...LAT.LON...
..DATE...   ....MAG....      ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
            ..REMARKS..

0630 PM     TSTM WND GST     1 NE MEMPHIS            34.73N 100.53W
07/09/2020  M63 MPH          HALL               TX   MESONET

0634 PM     HAIL             ESTELLINE               34.55N 100.44W
07/09/2020  M1.00 INCH       HALL               TX   TRAINED SPOTTER

0645 PM     TSTM WND DMG     4 W ESTELLINE           34.55N 100.51W
07/09/2020                   HALL               TX   TRAINED SPOTTER

            ROOF BLOWN OFF HOME AND POWER POLES DOWN

0801 PM     HAIL             NORTHFIELD              34.29N 100.60W
07/09/2020  E1.25 INCH       MOTLEY             TX   CO-OP OBSERVER

            WALNUT SIZE HAIL

0842 PM     TSTM WND DMG     DOWNTOWN LUBBOCK        33.59N 101.84W
07/09/2020                   LUBBOCK            TX   EMERGENCY MNGR

            BRICK WALL KNOCKED OVER FROM THUNDERSTORM WINDS. TIME
            ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.

0846 PM     TSTM WND DMG     2 E DOWNTOWN LUBBOCK    33.59N 101.81W
07/09/2020                   LUBBOCK            TX   EMERGENCY MNGR

            DOWNED UTILITY POLE AND METAL SHEET ROOF BLOWN OFF
            STRUCTURE. TIME ESTIMATED FROM RADAR.

NWS Damage Survey for July 9, 2020

NWS Damage Survey 
Wind Damage near Memphis and Estelline Texas in eastern Hall and 
far western Childress Counties

The survey found considerable damage to homes, metal structures and 
other outbuildings and trees at several homesteads along Route 86 to 
the west of Estelline and at another homestead roughly 7 miles 
south-southeast of Memphis.  

The damage was found to be in generally uniform in direction from 
northeast to southwest or southeast to northwest and in a broadly 
divergent pattern indicative of severe straight line winds associated 
with microbursts. 

Damage indicators ranged from the 60 mph to 100 mph range for 
estimated wind speeds. These indicators included broken glass in doors 
and windows, failure of porch/carport, hardwood tree trunk snapped, 
and failure of metal systems building anchorage, which provided the 
100 mph rating.

Additional Information (not surveyed):

Per James Edwards, roughly 15 power poles were "downed" and 
several center pivots were overturned across eastern Hall County to near 
Tell (in far southwest Childress County)

WTM GUSTS:
MEMPHIS: 63 MPH from SE at 630 PM CDT
NORTHFIELD: 56 MPH from NE at 740 PM CDT
ESTELLINE: 56 MPH from SE at 750 PM CDT
LESLEY: 49 MPH GUST FROM E at 749 PM CDT


Survey was conducted by NWS Lubbock and James Edwards, Hall County 
Emergency Manager

EF Rating: EF-1
Estimated Peak Wind: 80-100 MPH

Path length:         25 miles
Path width:          15 miles
Fatalities:          0
Injuries:            0

Start date:          07/09/2020
Approx. Start time:  6:15 PM CDT

End date:            07/09/2020
Approx. End time:    8:15 PM CDT

* Note that a combination of the damage survey, radar data, and West 
Texas Mesonet data was used to estimate the times and areal extent of 
the damage. This data is considered preliminary.