Severe weather erupted across the Texas Panhandle as expected Saturday evening. A PDS tornado watch was issued about 3:45 p.m. By late afternoon, the capping inversion over Northwest Texas was weakening with the approach of an upper level trough. As if on cue, thunderstorms exploded quickly ahead of an encroaching dryline and Pacific cold front before 7 p.m.
A circulation was noted on radar between Wildorado and Bushland. A tornado was reported on the ground just minutes later. Around 7:22 p.m., a tornado was reported between Hartley and Dumas. Tennis ball sized hail was reported near Four Way at 7:45 p.m. Just ten minutes later, a tornado was reported on the ground near Tulia. At 8:40 p.m., police in the town of Cactus reported heavy damage and a ban on traffic in or out of their city.
Shortly before 9 p.m., there were strong indications of a tornado on radar near Groom, Texas. A report of a tornado was received from Sunray in Moore County. Spotters and chasers were still tracking this storm at 10 p.m. The system was morphing into a big line of severe storms at the time of this report. There will be a significant threat of high winds and isolated tornadoes with the embedded supercells in the line.
It will be interesting tomorrow to see what kind of damage resulted with the storms.
Here is a late report from chaser Brian Barnes from the WX-CHASE list:
Got an amazing tornado this evening near Vega, TX! It formed right next to the highway and was heading straight for us…just as I took off we heard a “roll-thump-roll-thump”… back right tire was completely flat. I still had to get out of the way and managed to do so on 3 tires and a rim!!! Just barely missed it as it came across the highway… It was INSANE and the video is nothing short of incredible!
Close call Brian! Glad you’re safe…
