Power Outage in Hobbs, NM

Numerous wooden powerline poles were broken along US Highway 62/180. The estimated wind speed is 118 MPH. Property damage cost is an estimation.

Numerous wooden powerline poles were broken along East Crockett Road, west of Simpson Road. Wind speeds were estimated to be 115 MPH. Property damage cost is an estimation.

A wooden power pole was broken near the base. Wind speeds were estimated to be 118 MPH. Property damage cost is an estimation.

Several wooden power poles were broken. The estimated wind speeds were 118 MPH. Property damage cost is an estimation.

Lea County Emergency Manager reports multiple downed power poles along Highway 18 in Hobbs. The exact locations and time is estimated from radar. Property damage cost is an estimation.

A thunderstorm produced wind damage near Hobbs. Six power poles were snapped along Highway 18 near University of the Southwest. A few trees were uprooted at Rockwind Golf Course. The time was estimated by radar. The peak wind speed was estimated to be 95 mph. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.

A thunderstorm moved across Lea County and produced wind damage in Hobbs. A power pole was downed by winds in central Hobbs at the intersection of Sanger and Shipp. A large tree was blown over by the wind. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.

A thunderstorm moved across Lea County and produced wind damage in Hobbs. Windows were blown out at KHOB Radio on N. Bensing Road and power poles were blown down along N. Bender Boulevard. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.

Thunderstorms moved across Lea County and produced wind damage eight miles west of Hobbs. Powerlines were blown down by the thunderstorm winds and started a fire. The wind speed was estimated and the cost of damage is a very rough estimate.

A storm moved across Lea County and produced wind damage near Knowles. A trained spotter reported several power poles blown down just west of NM 132 and NM 133. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.

A storm moved across Lea County and produced wind damage in and around Hobbs. A local storm spotter reported power lines down and a mobile home blown over on Jones Road. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.

A storm moved across Lea County and produced wind damage northwest of Hobbs. A local storm spotter reported building damage and power lines down near the intersection of Bensing and Lawrence Roads. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.

A thunderstorm moved over Lea County and resulted in brown-out conditions, snapped power poles, and downed trees in Hobbs. Wind gusts were estimated to be around 65 mph. The cost of damage is a rough estimate.

A thunderstorm moved over Lea County and knocked down power lines west and south of Hobbs as well as in Hobbs. Fires started due to the downed power lines. A transformer exploded and others burned on power poles in Hobbs. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.

A thunderstorm moved over Lea County and power lines were knocked down from Lovington to Hobbs along State Highway 18. Wind gusts were estimated to be 60 mph. The cost of damage is a very rough estimate.

A thunderstorm moved over Lea County and produced a severe wind gust. Two power poles were blown over on the east side of State Highway 8 about 0.12 miles south of the Maddox Road intersection. The damage cost is an estimate.

A power pole was knocked down between the cities of Tatum and Lovington, NM. The exact location of the report was not available. Therefore, the location was estimated according to radar.

Two distribution power poles were blown down due to damaging winds. A 60 mph wind gust was also measured at the Lea County Coop Plant.

A 24 foot long gooseneck cattle trailer and center pivot irrigation system were blown over by strong thunderstorm winds. Additionally, five powerline poles were downed along New Mexico State Highway 206.

A trained spotter measured sustained winds of 59 mph and at least one wind gust of 78 mph. Also reported power outages in Tatum due to the strong wind gusts. No other damage was reported. Another trained spotter reported 60 to 70 mph winds in Gladiola, east of Tatum on U.S. 380.

At 4:50 pm MDT, spotters indicated the presence of two wall clouds. Primary indications are that the new wall cloud spawned a second tornado with the supercell thunderstorm 7 1/2 miles west of the community of McDonald, just south of Lea County Road 147. Survey of damage along county road 147 led to an estimation of tornado width of 50 yards at this point. |The tornado continued to intensify as it moved northeast. Significant damage was seen 7 1/2 miles southwest of Tatum over ranchland. At this location, 13 wooden power poles were damaged, three snapped off at ground level and others snapped three to twelve feet above ground. A water trough weighing an estimated 300 pounds was thrown from the tornado for several hundred feet. The tornado was visually estimated to be a half mile in width and described as clean in appearance. Damage along this track supports this estimate. It is believed that this tornado lifted just south of N.M. Highway 380, six and a half miles west of Tatum. Spotters also confirmed that the tornado exhibited multiple vortex structure at times during its life cycle.

Power lines were downed by thunderstorm winds southwest of Hobbs.

A second storm blew down a power pole and several large light poles on the south side of Hobbs on the evening of the 23rd.

Severe thunderstorm winds gusting to 65 miles per hour accompanied large hail that fell three miles north of Hobbs. Outflow winds knocked power poles down across town creating widespread power outages in the city of Hobbs.

Damaging thunderstorm winds struck the Hobbs vicinity around 22:00 MST. Law enforcement officials estimated that winds gusted to 60 MPH near the Hobbs Airport at 21:45 MST. The severe thunderstorm winds spread east into the city during the next fifteen minutes, downing large trees and power lines. Downed power lines left the southern half of the city without electricity by 23:00 MST. The thunderstorm winds were followed by large hail.

An isolated thunderstorm produced damaging winds in Hobbs during the early evening hours of the 23rd. The Hobbs Police Department reported that large trees, power poles and lines were blown down by the severe winds.

A trained weather spotter reported severe thunderstorm winds which resulted in downed power lines in the city of Hobbs.

Power poles and trees blown down. Power knocked out to much of city.

A strong squall associated with a frontal boundary and weak upper level disturbance moved into the forecast area causing widespread severe weather and isolated flooding. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch was issued at 6:10 PM CDT and remained in effect until 1 AM CDT and was then extended until 5 AM as the line continued to push south. Damage reports began reaching the office around 9:30 PM CDT (8:30 MDT) as the line entered the northwestern portion of the forecast area and continued until 3:30 AM CDT when the line exited the forecast area. ||As the storm entered Lea County New Mexico, reports of wind speeds in excess of 70 mph began coming into the office. These high winds continued as the line surged forward into West Texas. In Seminole, 98 mph (measured) wind speeds toppled several radio towers including a 320 foot tower that fell on a church and bus damaging both. In addition, the roof of Beall's Department store was destroyed and two mobile homes were rolled and destroyed injuring four people. ||As the line continued its southward progression, so did the damaging winds. Many locations began experiencing power outages including two of the three television stations in the Midland/Odessa area, and Midland International Airport. WFO Midland and the Gaines County Emergency Operation Center continued working on back up generator power until commercial power was restored to the area. A 93 mph wind gust was measured at Midland International Airport just prior to the power loss, which rendered it inoperable for the remainder of the night. ||The event continued into the early morning hours on Wednesday, where Dryden reported a 63 mph wind gust prior to thunderstorms exiting the area. ||Post storm damage surveys indicated that damage across the area was caused by a derecho. A derecho is a ���widespread and long-lived wind storm associated with a band of rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms.��� ||While straight-line winds are common across West Texas ��� especially during the late spring and early summer ��� the magnitude of the wind speeds for this event is quite rare. As an example, the 93 mph wind reported in Midland eclipsed the old record of 86 mph set in February 1960, and was the strongest wind ever recorded in Midland since the NWS began official record keeping in 1930. ||During this long-lived weather episode, all but two of the 26 counties within WFO Midland���s CWA experienced severe weather. The majority of these locations experienced high wind events, which resulted in power outages across the area. Because of backup power capability, WFO Midland was able to maintain warning operations throughout the entire severe weather event. ||Summary of measured wind reports: ||Dryden (K6R6) - 55 kts (63 mph) |Big Spring (KBPG) - 51 kts (59 mph) |Fort Stockton (KFST) - 57 kts (66 mph) |Guadalupe Pass (KGDP) - 62 kts (71 mph) |Wink (KINK) - 58 kts (67 mph) |Midland (KMAF) - 81 kts (93 mph)* |Odessa (KODO) - 55 kts (63 mph) |Seagraves 1 SW (KSGV) - 66 kts (76 mph) |Andrews 2 E (KANS) - 51 kts (59 mph)* |Seminole 2 NNE (KSMS) - 85 kts (98 mph)* |Lamesa 2 SE (KLES) - 45 kts (52 mph)* |Gail 2 ESE (KGGS) - 43 kts (50 mph)* |Pecos (KPEQ) - 56 kts (64 mph) |McDonald Observatory - 61 kts (70 mph) |Tatum, NM Co-op Observer - 68 kts (78 mph) ||*These sites lost power shortly after observations, it may be assumed that peak wind gusts were somewhat higher than observed.

Deep moisture in advance of a powerful upper level storm system combined with wind shear and instability to produce conditions favorable for severe storm development. These storms developed in the higher terrain of southeastern New Mexico and west Texas. Large hail was the primary threat of these storms, with the largest hail falling in Terrell County, Texas along U.S. Highway 90 about the size of golfballs.

Severe thunderstorms swept through Lea County during the late afternoon and early evening hours of the 1st. These storms brought large hail up to the size of quarters and severe thunderstorm winds. Gusts to 65 miles per hour blew power lines down knocking out power to much of Hobbs including several traffic signals. Small grass fires ignited by lightning strikes also were reported across Hobbs.

Severe thunderstorms affected the plains southeastern New Mexico during the late evening of the 2nd. These storms were characterized by bow-shaped radar structures, and produced damaging winds near Hobbs. In addition, severe winds spread across Lovington as strong pressure gradients developed in the wake of the convection. Damage was limited to trees, power lines, and poles. No injuries were reported.

Thunderstorms moving east into the plains from the New Mexico mountains became severe across parts of Eddy and Lea Counties during the evening of the 9th. These storms resulted in large hail and damaging winds which blew down power lines and poles.