06/26/2007 NOW: TX / NM

[David Drummond]

I am surprised there has been no discussion on the Derecho that has been going on all evening across west TX and easter NM. Widespread wind damage reported from the Clovis, NM area now down to Midland, TX.

Currently, 12 counties side by side are under a severe thunderstorm warning due to the winds.

The highest wind I can find so far was in Gaines County when apparently the mesonet station broke at 2335 with a wind gust of 98 mph! Lots of damage in that county that I am hearing about. Just one example, a radio tower down there.

 

[David Drummond]

0021 Midland Airport recording a wind gust of 93. I expect we will see some widespread power outages tonight. This shows no signs of stopping before it gets to the Rio Grande as conditions are favorable out ahead of it to continue.

I just noticed SPC has issued a new watch for it as well.

 

[Dick McGowan]

Yeah, I've been watching this unfold for awhile,


I snapped this screenshot near Seminole.....at first I thought it was an error, but the warning text confirmed it.

AT 1110 PM CDT...SKYWARN SPOTTERS REPORTED DOWNED RADIO TOWERS AND
MAJOR ACCIDENTS AS A RESULT OF DAMAGING WINDS IN GAINES COUNTY.

AT 1114 PM CDT...THE PUBLIC REPORTED TREES DOWN...ROOF
DAMAGE...TREES ON VEHICLES...AND HORSE TRAILERS FLIPPED OVER IN
SEAGRAVES.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

Interesting high-end wind event given the way things looked earlier today (out of the SLT risk area, and for reasons that I agreed with). The 00z MAF sounding showed strong instability (~2900 j/kg MLCAPE), but shear was marginal. Current mesoanalysis would indicate a weakening trend may commence relatively soon with increasing CINH and decreasing CAPE as nocturnal cooling continues. However, there remains very strong convergence along the leading edge of the cold pool / outflow (temps near 60F about 40nm behind the gust front), so the forward-propagating bow echo may continue well south of I10. FWIW, the latest radar data from MAF indicates that the gust front may be surging out ahead of the convection, which may be a sign that CINH is increasing as parcels have a more difficult time reaching their LFC (or the depth and/or slope of the cold pool is decreasing).

The Seminole meteogram can be viewed at http://wedgefest.wind.ttu.edu/meteograms/meteo_SEMI.png , noting that it stops at ~10:40 pm CDT after recording a wind gust of 85kt / 97.5 mph. The KMAF METAR also reported 81 kt wind gust:

[SIZE=-1]SPECI KMAF 270521Z AUTO 01039G81KT 1 1/4SM -TSRA BR SQ FEW002 BKN030 OVC049 18/17 A3017 RMK AO2 PK WND 36081/0519 WSHFT 0455 LTG DSNT ALQDS TSB08RAB0459 P0001[/SIZE]

 

[David Drummond]

I noted Roswell and Portales, NM sustained damage as well...they are roughly 100 miles apart.

It was pretty bad when it came through home here 35 sw of Lubbock, I haven't heard much on the scanner other that tree limbs and power lines down, and one possible fire from a downed line. It was like a hurricane for about 30 minutes though.

Nice b-day present, even if it was at night.

 

[Jeff Snyder]

I've been watching a complex of training storms just WNW of Austin, TX for the past few hours, with tremendous rainfall rates and totals. GRK radar (near Austin) shows >7 inches (up to 9.5") of rain have fallen across eastern Burnet county. Unfortunately, the BMQ METAR site is a tad too far NW of the heaviest precip, so I'll have to see what any co-op observers have in terms of accumulated precip. I have to imagine that there is some very serious flooding occurring down there right now, though.

I'm glad the heavier precip is staying down there tonight, that's for sure. My neighborhood has flooded a couple of times in the past couple of days, and I definately need to dry out my yard!

 

[Jay Barnes]

Looks like there is severe flooding in the Marble Falls area, many water rescues are taking place and water is reported getting into some homes. For a time the entire town of Marble Falls was closed to all traffic due to the flooding. I live in northwest Austin and it's hardly rained at all here tonight, the storms look to have formed a small low pressure area and are sitting in the Marble Falls area raining like crazy, radar estimates are currently greater than 12 inches near the Marble Falls area. Just heard on the local news Lake Travis has risen 1.5 feet in the last hour. Looks like that derecho David was talking about is going to overtake this mini-low and associated area of thunderstorms in the next hour or so, should be very interesting!

UPDATE: Just heard on KXAN news that an LCRA rain gauge located 6 miles ENE of Marble Falls has recorded 16.72 inches of rainfall in the past six hours, time right now is 4:11 am....amazing!!