Second Season Scare Spins Up Seventeen Spinning Cyclones

By Aaron Graves

Not one, not two, but 17 November tornadoes! October and November are known to bring be a second severe weather season in our area, but this year took the cake! As can be seen on the map to the right, there was a total of 17 tornadoes on November 16, two of which were rated EF3.

Dalhart, as usually, was too far west to see any real severe weather, but not by much. We were included in the tornado watch issued by the National Weather Service, and northern Dallam County saw some rain early in the afternoon as storms developed. Late in the evening, a secondary wave of wind and rain blew through, bringing us 0.05" of precipitation, as recorded at the airport.

Pampa tornado lit up by a power flash, from Chris Sanner of TornadoTitans.com

The storms that developed further east were the problem, 
particularly for the Pampa area. Dalhart's junior high basketball teams were in Pampa and had to take shelter from two back-to-back tornadoes. Both of those tornadoes were rated EF3. The first struck over open country but did some damage to trees and power lines. The second tornado came within three miles of Pampa and hit an oil plant.

Sturdy, commercial steel frame buildings were completely leveled at the Haliburton oil plant, according to a damage survey by the NWS. A number of cars were tossed on top of the rubble. A manufactured home south of Pampa was also destroyed.

All of this spring-like severe weather was followed the next day by cold temperatures and snow! We went from a high of 75 degrees on Nov. 16 to a high of 41 on Nov, 17. It snowed - at times quite heavy - in Dalhart, but it didn't stick. However, Texline received 4 inches, Boise City 6 inches, and Clayton was under a blizzard warning. Dalhart received another 0.09" of precipitation from the snow flurries on the 17th.

So what's up with all the wacky weather? Actually, nothing unusually. In spring, warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico pushes north and interacts with cooler, dry Arctic air. It's this mix that provides the basic set-up for severe weather. Other factors are involved in producing tornadic storms, but as this boundary between hot and cold air masses moves further north over the summer months, so does the general tornado threat. During October and November, as cold air begins to push the warm air back down south, the severe weather threat returns to our area. Thus, a second season of severe weather.

What was unusual was having those extra ingredients in place to spawn tornado producing supercell thunderstorms this far west. That's more of an Oklahoma thing this time of year. However, it's not unheard of. Just last year, residents of Dalhart and Hartley were taking shelter after dark on Oct. 9 from a tornado-warned storm. Also unusual was the intensity of the event. The atmospheric ingredients necessary for two EF3 tornadoes are more common during the spring.

As I post this blog (Wed. Nov. 25), Dalhart is again looking at a chance of thunderstorms this evening and overnight, followed by ice and snow over the next few days. A Winter Storm Warning has been issued by the National Weather Service. Just 40 miles away, Dumas is under an Ice Storm Warning. This should make for an interesting blog next week.