Rare for late summer, a tightly-wound upper low tracked east this day from the Four Corners into western Kansas. Dry westerly winds from New Mexico created a dryline that moved into the western South Plains. Combined with an axis of upper lift extending south of the upper low, isolated strong storms quickly developed in a moderately unstable environment late this afternoon. By early evening, a storm with a mesoanticylcone developed near Brownfield and tracked northeast (left of the mean storm motion) before collapsing in rural southwest Lubbock County. Although NWS radar indicated the likelihood of severe hail and damaging winds, no ground truth was available throughout the life of this storm. By late evening, lingering outflow boundaries collided in southwest Lubbock County and gave rise to intense multicell storms; one of which produced a destructive downburst that traveled from just northwest of the Lubbock South Plains Mall northeast to the Lubbock Airport and into rural northeast Lubbock County. A swath of straight-line winds estimated as high as 70 mph at times caused light to moderate structural damage at two large home improvement stores and removed the roof from an apartment building. Isolated power outages resulted from downed trees, tree limbs and frequent cloud-to-ground lightning. Tragically, one man died after lightning struck a house and ignited a corrugated stainless steel natural gas line in the roof. The destructive storm later decayed in northeast Lubbock County before reintensifying southeast of Floydada where downburst winds downed several power poles late in the night.

Thunderstorm Wind in LUBBOCK, TEXAS
From 24-AUG-12 22:00:00 to 24-AUG-12 22:23:00 (CST-6)
Location: DOUD
Magnitude: 61.00 EG
Property damage: 350.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: NWS Storm Survey

A downburst with winds estimated as high as 70 mph at times traveled northeast from near Frankford Avenue and Spur 327 in southwest Lubbock to the Lubbock International Airport and to just north of Idalou. Peak winds on the periphery of this downburst were officially measured at 63 mph at 2200 CST at a Texas Tech University West Texas Mesonet located 3WNW of the University, 59 mph at 2203 CST at the Lubbock ASOS, and 65 mph at 2223 CST at a KAMC weather station in Idalou. The downburst caused moderate damage to a greenhouse located at Lowe's Home Improvement store. At a nearby Home Depot store, the canopy to a greenhouse was partially damaged and several steel fence posts embedded in concrete were bent. At an apartment complex located near 50th Street and Slide Road, the roof of one unit was blown off. Damage to homes was generally light and consisted of some downed fences, broken rain gutters and torn roofing shingles. Many trees lost limbs of various sizes and in a few cases entire trees were toppled. Power outages were confined mostly to small grids in and around the path of the downburst. Total monetary damage from this downburst is estimated around $350,000; much of which was incurred at the home improvement stores.

Lightning in LUBBOCK, TEXAS
From 24-AUG-12 22:00:00 to 24-AUG-12 22:00:00 (CST-6)
Location: LUBBOCK AIRPARK
Property damage: 30.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: Broadcast Media

Lightning struck a home in the 3900 block of 110th Street in Lubbock late this night causing a corrugated steel natural gas line in the roof to ignite. The subsequent explosion was directed into the garage of the house which at the time was occupied by two men. One man, 31 year-old Brennan Chase Teel of Rockwall, Texas, was directly in the path of the explosion and was fatally injured. The second man was behind a truck at the time which acted to shield the explosion around him; although he required temporary hospitalization for smoke inhalation. The garage door was severely damaged upon buckling outward from the explosion. A fire also developed in the attic where the lightning channel struck, but was promptly extinguished by local firefighters who witnessed the close lightning strike and smoke plume. The remainder of the house suffered light to moderate smoke damage. Monetary losses were estimated as damage figures were not available.

Thunderstorm Wind in FLOYD, TEXAS
From 24-AUG-12 23:15:00 to 24-AUG-12 23:15:00 (CST-6)
Location: LAKEVIEW
Magnitude: 56.00 EG
Property damage: 6.00K
Crop damage: 0.00K
Reported by: COOP Observer

A COOP observer reported three power poles down on the west end of his farm.