May 25th and 26th, 1994 marked the occurrence of a unique severe weather episode on the High Plains of West Texas. Over these two days, a number of different severe weather events took place, including an intense downburst, two tornadoes, and large hail.
Fortuitously, the Lubbock Doppler radar had just become operational, and the
VORTEX program was conducting operations in the area. This study investigated
the storm-scale processes occurring during the events of this two-day episode.
Of particular interest was the connection of storm properties with the immediate
environment within which the storms developed. Particular emphasis was placed
on the reflectivity and velocity data for the Northfield tornadic supercell
(25 May) and the Reese non-tornadic supercell (26 May). Both storms developed
in markedly different weather scenarios, with the Northfield storm producing
two tornadoes and the Reese storm significant quantities of large hail. Studies
of both storms will continue, with an emphasis on the role of radar identifiable
outflow boundary interaction in the storm behavior on 25-26 May 1994.