Steve Miller TX
An excerpt from "Texas Weather" by Harold Taft and Ron Godbey, copyright 1975:
Shortly after midnight on the morning of June 15, 1960, under clear skies and otherwise normal conditions, a damaging, scorching northwest wind struck terror and near disaster to a 25-mile stretch across the northwest side of Lake Whitney for nearly 3 hours.
It was like any other Texas night in mid-June. The temperature was in the 70's, the stars were out and a light breeze was blowing. There had been some lightning earlier, but no one paid much attention to it. The without warning....it struck. A searing blowtorch-like wind hit hit with speeds estimated at 80-100mph, and the temeprature jumped from near 70 to 140 degrees!!!
The Mooney Village Store lost the roof and was badly damaged. The interior was smashed and loaves of bread and canned goods blown from the shelves. The strong winds smashed down a huge tree at the home of Mrs. Vergie Moon, near the damaged store. She said it took three people to keep the wind from blowing down her front door. The D.L. Downeys took refuge in their storm cellar, which was soon filled with neighbors seeking shelter from this quite unusual and frightening storm.
The heat and searing wind were stifling. Mothers wrapped their crying babies in wet sheets and towels to protect them from the intense heat. Fire sprinkler systems were set off, car radiators boiled over and panic-striken women were crying, thinking the end of the world had come.
The cotton field (picture) of rancher Pete Burns was scorched by the hot wind. It was an average stand of cotton which he had plowed on Tuesday. The wind and the heat carbonized it, leaving only a few burnt stalks standing. Corn fields in the area, green when the sun went down Tuesday evening, were scorched and wilted at sunup Wednesday.
No one knows for sure how hot it was, but the thermometer outside the Charley Riddle Bait & tackle Shop in Kopperl, jumped from near 70 degrees at midnight to 100 degrees in just a few minutes and the highest was 140 degrees. There was nothing wrong with the thermometer. It was working all right the next day and if anything was reading a little low.
The event would have gone undocumented except for veteran cameraman Floyd Bright who, hearing the incident the next morning, recorded it all on film.
As to what happened....edited for brevity
Scattered thunderstorms had earlier been detected on radar but they disappeared off the scope shortly before midnight. Weather observations at Waco showed a temperature at midnight of 87F.
It may be that the downward thrust of air (downdraft) continued even after the rain shaft dissipated. in doing so, it would heat at a rate of 5.5F for every 1000 feet.
The downward force of this air from the old dried-up thunderstorm must have been fierce, for heated air tends to rise, not fall. The bases of the thunderstorms that night were 8-10K feet. If the air temperature in the dissipating cloud at a height of 20K feet was 20-25F, then the falling air would be heated by compression another 100F by the time it reached the ground and this added to the initial temperature would be close to the 140F observed.
Except for the film story on file at the television station in Fort Worth, there is no other record of this most unusual Texas storm.
Shortly after midnight on the morning of June 15, 1960, under clear skies and otherwise normal conditions, a damaging, scorching northwest wind struck terror and near disaster to a 25-mile stretch across the northwest side of Lake Whitney for nearly 3 hours.
It was like any other Texas night in mid-June. The temperature was in the 70's, the stars were out and a light breeze was blowing. There had been some lightning earlier, but no one paid much attention to it. The without warning....it struck. A searing blowtorch-like wind hit hit with speeds estimated at 80-100mph, and the temeprature jumped from near 70 to 140 degrees!!!
The Mooney Village Store lost the roof and was badly damaged. The interior was smashed and loaves of bread and canned goods blown from the shelves. The strong winds smashed down a huge tree at the home of Mrs. Vergie Moon, near the damaged store. She said it took three people to keep the wind from blowing down her front door. The D.L. Downeys took refuge in their storm cellar, which was soon filled with neighbors seeking shelter from this quite unusual and frightening storm.
The heat and searing wind were stifling. Mothers wrapped their crying babies in wet sheets and towels to protect them from the intense heat. Fire sprinkler systems were set off, car radiators boiled over and panic-striken women were crying, thinking the end of the world had come.
The cotton field (picture) of rancher Pete Burns was scorched by the hot wind. It was an average stand of cotton which he had plowed on Tuesday. The wind and the heat carbonized it, leaving only a few burnt stalks standing. Corn fields in the area, green when the sun went down Tuesday evening, were scorched and wilted at sunup Wednesday.
No one knows for sure how hot it was, but the thermometer outside the Charley Riddle Bait & tackle Shop in Kopperl, jumped from near 70 degrees at midnight to 100 degrees in just a few minutes and the highest was 140 degrees. There was nothing wrong with the thermometer. It was working all right the next day and if anything was reading a little low.
The event would have gone undocumented except for veteran cameraman Floyd Bright who, hearing the incident the next morning, recorded it all on film.
As to what happened....edited for brevity
Scattered thunderstorms had earlier been detected on radar but they disappeared off the scope shortly before midnight. Weather observations at Waco showed a temperature at midnight of 87F.
It may be that the downward thrust of air (downdraft) continued even after the rain shaft dissipated. in doing so, it would heat at a rate of 5.5F for every 1000 feet.
The downward force of this air from the old dried-up thunderstorm must have been fierce, for heated air tends to rise, not fall. The bases of the thunderstorms that night were 8-10K feet. If the air temperature in the dissipating cloud at a height of 20K feet was 20-25F, then the falling air would be heated by compression another 100F by the time it reached the ground and this added to the initial temperature would be close to the 140F observed.
Except for the film story on file at the television station in Fort Worth, there is no other record of this most unusual Texas storm.
So, it has a level of sentimental value to me.
