Severe Weather in the Southern Plains

Twelve tornado reports were submitted to the National Weather Service yesterday afternoon, in what has been a fairly active week for weather in the southern Plains. The main culprit for the consistent severe weather: a cut-off low pressure system that has been parked over the Four Corners. This setup primes the Plains environment for sufficient storm initiation and maintenance.

The most current SPC Storm Report map (below) shows that 164 total reports have been sent in from Thursday: 12 tornado reports, 17 wind reports, and 135 hail reports – 11 of which reported hail at least 2″ in diameter. The following map was updated at 10:14 AM CDT.

StormReports
SPC Storm Reports for 04/16/15, via NOAA

Today is the second of what will be three days in a row (including Saturday) that Texas has been placed in an “enhanced” risk of severe weather by the Storm Prediction Center. An enhanced risk calls for numerous severe storms with a few tornadoes, several wind reports, and damaging hail 1-2″ in diameter (SPC). The following map shows today’s Convective Outlook, produced at 8AM.

Enhanced risk
SPC Convective Outlook, Issued at 7:50AM, via NOAA

 

Some awesome shots were captured from yesterday’s storms in the Panhandle, a few of which are featured below:

The following video shows a tornado northeast of Briscoe, Texas.