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June 16th
1962: A tornado blew down and twisted four high-voltage transmission poles along the Lynn-Garza county line, about 15 miles east and two miles north of Tahoka.
1963: At some point this night, a tornado twisted off a roof on the north side of house near Olton. The house, located about five miles SSE of Olton, belonged to Leonard Stamp and also had windows blown out. The Stamps family was in the house at the time and described the sound as that of a train. Torrential rains with the parent storm resulted in between 80 and 100 percent devastation to crops on several farms in the area that were previously hard hit from hail, tornadoes and flooding rains earlier this month. Additional severe storms this night severely damaged crops in a 2x5 mile area in northern Floyd County and also in Hale County from the Happy Union area to five miles south of Lockney. At the Widner property about four miles southwest of Lockney, high winds tore 15 feet from a quonset barn, destroyed a windmill and barracks building, moved a full 1,000 gallon butane tank about 30 feet, and blew out windows at the house. High winds also pushed four box cars parked on the siding at Muncy Switch down the tracks toward Floydada. 1968: Lightning struck and killed John Bean of Silverton this afternoon while he was fishing at a small lake near Quitaque. Later this afternoon, severe thunderstorms wrought havoc in north and northeast sections of Lubbock, and also in parts of Castro, Bailey, and Floyd Counties. In Muleshoe, a small tornado produced a measured wind gust to 115 mph at the airport before two T-type hangars were demolished. The two aircraft inside each hangar were untouched. The sheet iron hangars were lifted apart and the twisted remains were strewn over a portion of the airport. From the roof of an old airport building, a 30-foot tower was lifted completely out of the roof. Other hangar doors were damaged several hundred feet away when lifted off their tracks. After this tornado dissipated, a funnel cloud was observed six miles southeast of the airport; although it is unclear if this was the remnants of the tornado or a new vortex altogether. Also this afternoon, non-tornadic winds wrecked a hangar and caused extensive damage to aircraft at the Town and Country Air Park on South Quirt Ave north of Lubbock. The nearby Weather Bureau Office measured a wind gust to 70 mph. Similar winds blew bricks from the 7th and 8th stories of the First National Bank building under construction at Broadway and Ave M. These winds also blew over a trailer house three miles east of Lubbock and damaged a few fences, trees and signs in the northeast side of Lubbock. Heavy rains also flooded many underpasses in Lubbock. Farther east, a hailstorm inflicted $25,000 crop damage northeast of Paducah and the parent storm produced a funnel cloud with a distinct audible roar 9-12 miles northeast of the city. At some point this night, a severe windstorm which may have included a tornado, destroyed cotton storage buildings and unroofed homes and buildings on the northeast side of Crosbyton. Large trees and fences were felled and sheets of metal were sent flying into electrical lines disrupting the power service. Evidence to support a possible tornado included a 2x6 timber that was driven through the west wall of the Don Collier home. Just before this storm arrived, Tommy Hawkes, enroute from the lake to Crosbyton, mentioned seeing two funnels between him and the city, but these may have been scud clouds and not necessarily funnels or tornadoes. Farther east at the R.W. Self home, a boat was blown toward the highway and the Self's pickup truck was deposited upright on the highway. 1975: Late this afternoon, thunderstorm winds up to 70 mph peeled about 5,000 square feet of corrugated tin roofing from a cotton warehouse in Tulia. About 1,000 bales of cotton inside suffered water damage. Total losses reached $10,000. 1986: A linear cluster of severe storms lashed Hockley, Lubbock, Lynn, Terry, and Garza Counties with winds as high as 81 mph at times and hail up to two inches in diameter. The worst damage was concentrated in and around Lubbock where high winds drove hail sideways at times causing widespread damage to trees, buildings, windows, cars, power lines, fences, and vehicles. Both Reese AFB and the Lubbock airport measured peak gusts to 72 mph while Texas Tech recorded an 81 mph gust. 1996: Severe thunderstorms with golf ball size hail and damaging winds caused up to $25,000 in crop and property damage in northwest Hockley County this afternoon. One barn in Pettit had its roof blown off. Later in the day and farther northeast, additional severe storms produced a measured wind gust to 76 mph at the Childress airport. 1997: Scattered severe thunderstorms visited the South Plains and Rolling Plains this afternoon and continued well into the evening hours. At least four brief and weak tornadoes were reported this day. The first occurred southwest of Whiteface in Cochran County while the remaining tornadoes were spotted south of Guthrie and also north-northeast of Jayton. All of these tornadoes remained over open land. Earlier this afternoon, a hailstorm north of Bovina caused up to $25,000 in damage to area corn, wheat and sorghum fields. By early evening, storms off the Caprock produced numerous reports of high winds and downed trees spanning from Childress south to Dickens and Spur. 2004: A line of severe storms took aim on the western South Plains late this evening causing several instances of hail, at times as large as baseballs southwest of Morton where home windows were broken. In total, these storms caused an estimated $2M in damage to crops mostly from wind-driven hail. 2006: Isolated to scattered severe storms erupted along a dryline over the eastern portions of the West Texas South Plains and the extreme southeastern Texas Panhandle during the late afternoon and evening hours. A few of the storms maintained supercellular characteristics, and produced large hail up to the size of golf balls and damaging thunderstorm wind gusts. Several barns were destroyed along with cotton crops over the extreme southeastern Texas Panhandle. 2008: An active round of severe thunderstorms produced hail up to the size of golf balls and damaging winds to areas of the Rolling Plains late this afternoon and evening. Thunderstorms tracked southeast from the Caprock Canyons area of the extreme southeastern Panhandle, to the southern Rolling Plains. A number of storms resulted in hail. The most significant damage occurred in the vicinity of Aspermont where winds up to 80 mph caused significant roof damage to several structures and one home. Damage to utility poles was widespread. This was the second time in two weeks that this community experienced significant wind damage. Although damages were estimated near $250,000 in Aspermont, no injuries were reported. 2012: Late this afternoon, slow-moving thunderstorms deluged northwest Lynn County for an hour resulting in localized, but significant flooding of fields and rural roads. One farmer near West Point was reportedly isolated by floodwaters of unknown depth before waters receded into nearby playa lakes. NWS Lubbock radar estimated two to three inches of rain had fallen in the vicinity of West Point. |