Power Outage in Tulia, TX

A large downburst toppled multiple trees from Tulia to roughly four miles west of Tulia. Some of these trees damaged power lines, fences and structures. The Swisher County Emergency Manager estimated the high winds lasted up to seven minutes.

A large downburst toppled multiple trees from Tulia to roughly four miles west of Tulia. Some of these trees damaged power lines, fences and structures. The Swisher County Emergency Manager estimated the high winds lasted up to seven minutes.

Along with very large hail, damaging rear flank downdraft winds from a high precipitation supercell struck many areas in northern Swisher County. A Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet northeast of Tulia measured a wind gust to 67 mph at 1755 CST. Much of the monetary damage to buildings, vehicles and winter wheat was from the combination of wind and very large hail, although some power lines were downed in the town of Happy as reported by Fire Department officials. The majority of property losses are included in the hail event entry for Swisher County.

A downburst toppled around one dozen power poles near Farm-to-Market 1424 and Road K northwest of Tulia.

A large downburst damaged several power poles across northern Swisher County and blew over a semi-trailer on Interstate 27 near Tulia. It was not known if the driver was injured or not. Also, multiple homes in and around Tulia sustained varying degrees of roof and fence damage. Large swaths of crop damage were also noted to area corn and grain fields, mostly from wind blown sand and dirt.

Law enforcement officials reported numerous downed power poles along and near Interstate 27, while storm chasers measured a 69 mph wind gust northwest of Tulia.

The Tulia police department reported power lines blown down near the intersection of TX Highway 86 and FM 1424 west of Tulia.

The Tulia police department reported that power poles were blown down west of Tulia, causing a power outage in the city of Tulia. The strong winds were accompanied by hail.

A strong tornado delivered a crippling impact on the local economy of Tulia, Texas, when it devastated industrial and residential sections of the small community of 5,000 residents around 19:00 CST on the 21st. A two block wide swath of damage paralleled U.S. Highway 87 in west Tulia for fifteen blocks. Three persons were treated at area hospitals for injuries, almost thirty homes sustained damage or were destroyed along with twenty businesses, and approximately five hundred people were displaced or made homeless.|Local officials and newspaper accounts indicated that several of the businesses that were heavily damaged during the tornado served as staples to the Tulia economy prior to the storm. U.S. President George W. Bush declared Swisher County a federal disaster area on May 1, 2007. |This destructive tornado developed near a power plant at the intersection of Broadway Street and U.S. Highway 87 in west Tulia at 18:57 CST. The tornado moved north and caused extensive damage to a local supermarket at the intersection of U.S. Highway 87 and |Sixth Street. A large portion of the roof was removed on the east side of the structure, and one exterior wall collapsed inward. Smaller sections of two additional exterior walls additionally collapsed. |A local auto dealership, located near the supermarket, also sustained a large amount of structural and inventory damage. Forty-one vehicles were damaged by flying debris, and a motor home on the property was overturned. A large overhead door on the east side of the structure's show room failed, resulting in the failure of the west wall. A large storage container was blown into the southwest corner of the building and caused the partial collapse of the roof.|Several large metal industrial-style buildings sustained major damage due to the failure of large overhead doors and buckling of roof purlins on the south side of the buildings. One such structure collapsed onto a collection of classic cars, and resulted in a $250,000 loss. |Two storm chasers escaped injuries when they were struck by the tornado along the industrial stretch of U.S. Highway 87. Their vehicle was blown into a brick building, and then a tractor-trailer was blown broadside against the chase vehicle.|Damage also was observed to the north and northeast of the industrial area, with severe damage in residential areas including a mobile home community between Eighth and Ninth Streets just west of Highland Elementary School. Five mobile homes were damaged, with two others completely destroyed. |The most significant residential damage occurred in a subdivision along Northwest Ninth Street through Northwest Eleventh Street. Across this area, a number of homes suffered roof losses. Roofs were totally removed from at least two single-family homes on Tenth Street near Airport Road, with partial exterior wall collapses also noted. |The tornado dissipated near the Tulia Municipal Airport at 19:01 CST.|Meteorologists from the National Weather Service in Lubbock, Texas, Texas Tech University, and engineers from numerous private and governmental agencies surveyed the Tulia damage. All indications suggest that the maximum winds with the Tulia tornado were between 125 and 135 mph. This makes the Tulia tornado an EF-2 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita scale for tornado intensity. The total economic loss is estimated at $2.0 million.|

Strong to severe westerly winds brought blowing dust and minor damage to the South Plains region of west Texas. The winds additioanally fanned raging wildfires. Winds over the South Plains region of west Texas gusted as high as 66 MPH. This downed power lines and caused light roof damage. Around 14:00 CST, severe wind gusts caused a tractor-trailer to roll over while traveling along Interstate 27 near Abernathy (Hale County). The driver walked away with no injuries. Numerous homes across the region lost shingles from roofs, particularly in Lubbock. Neither significant structural damage nor injuries were reported. A list of severe wind gusts recorded by the Texas Tech West Texas Mesonet and area observing stations follows:Abernathy (Hale County).........58 MPHAmherst (Lamb County)..........59 MPHChildress (Childress County)...58 MPHDimmitt (Castro County).........62 MPHFloydada (Floyd County).........58 MPHFriona (Parmer County)...........65 MPHGraham (Garza County)..........66 MPHHart (Castro County)...............61MPHMemphis (Hall County)...........60 MPHMuleshoe (Bailey County).......61 MPHOlton (Lamb County)..............60 MPHPaducah (Cottle County)..........58 MPHPlainview (Hale County)..........58 MPHPost (Garza County)................62 MPHTahoka (Lynn County)............58 MPHTulia (Swisher County)...........60 MPHSilverton (Briscoe County)......64 MPHWolfforth (Lubbock County)....59MPH

The Texas Tech West Texas Mesonet recorded a total of seven severe wind gusts across the South Plains region during the daytime hours on the 12th. The high westerly winds, with gusts up to 62 MPH, blew dust and smoke from ongoing wildfires over much of the region. Visibilities were dramatically reduced during much of the afternoon. Minor roof damage to several homes was reported in Lubbock, and a few power lines were additionally blown down by the winds. No injuries were reported.Friona (Parmer County)..........59 MPHTulia (Swisher County)...........60 MPHSilverton (Briscoe County)......59 MPHTahoka (Lynn County)............59 MPHLubbock (Lubbock County).....58 MPHHart (Castro County)..............62 MPHPlains (Yoakum County)........60 MPH

A tornado that was tracked by storm chasers and law enforcement officials snapped several power poles.

A shortwave diving southward on the east side of an upper ridge led to scattered thunderstorm development on the evening of the fourth across southeastern Kansas into the Oklahoma Panhandle. This activity congealed into a line of storms that moved south through the western Texas Panhandle and across the western South Plains producing isolated strong to damaging wind gusts. The Parmer County Sheriff's department reported that a carport was blown into powerlines due to strong winds. A little farther south a Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Morton measured a wind gust to 59 mph. Additional thunderstorms developed around sunrise near an outflow boundary across Swisher County which produced one additional severe wind gust to 60 mph per the Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet site near Vigo Park.

A strong upper level system moving across the Rocky Mountains along with a surface trough into eastern New Mexico aided in producing numerous thunderstorms across the South Plains and extreme southern Panhandle. A couple of these storms became severe in Swisher County, producing wind gusts near 70 mph which were strong enough to knock numerous power poles down.

Accumulating snowfall occurred over the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle during the daytime hours of the 29th. The snow was part of a powerful and slow moving winter storm that impacted the southwestern U.S. Snow developed over much of the Texas Panhandle as warm air advection processes occurred above the frontal layer of a cold Great Basin airmass that pushed southward across west Texas during the pre-dawn hours of the 29th. The heaviest snow fell within a narrow band that was oriented southwest to northeast across eastern Castro County, where snowfall was significant enough to result in damage to unharvested cotton crops. The same storm system again resulted in accumulating snowfall on December 1st as it ejected eastward over southwest Texas. Reported snow accumulations that occurred on the 29th follow:||Nazareth...4 inches (Castro County), Dimmitt...2 to 3 inches (Castro County), Friona...1 inch (Parmer County), Happy...1 inch (Swisher County).