2013 Weather Review

       Weather in the Panhandles is always diverse, but this year it was a little less extreme than in the last few years. The year started out mostly quiet, with cooler and wet weather early in the month quickly becoming warmer and drier. A snowy and cold February followed, with 5 days of snow bringing a staggering, 2nd greatest February total of 25.6 inches of snow to Amarillo. Most of this snow came in a prolific blizzard that will be remembered by residents of the Panhandles for years to come. A total of 19.1 inches of snowfall and wind gusts up to 75 mph on the 24th and 25th combined to bring everything to a standstill around the city. Nearly every business was closed, and even the snowplows and rescue vehicles were stranded during the storm. The snow gave Amarillo a new record for single snowiest day in February (19.0 inches, Feb. 25), its third all-time snowiest event (19.1” total, Feb. 24-25), its 2nd snowiest February, and pushed the yearly total to 9th snowiest in 122 years of record-keeping.
      Cold and dry air lingered over the Panhandles, making for a dry and cool start to the year. The last spring freeze across the area came in early May and nearly set a record for latest freeze on record. Though drought had expanded and worsened across the Panhandles by May, a wet pattern set up for the Panhandles and would continue through late summer. Spring and summer thunderstorms brought beneficial rains, periodic street and river flooding, and the occasional round of severe weather. Amarillo was hit particularly hard by the May 28th hailstorm that pummeled the western and northern sides of town with hail to the size of baseballs. The storm, which had earlier produced two brief EF0 tornadoes in Deaf Smith County and a funnel cloud just west of Amarillo, ended up causing an estimated $500 million in damage to homes, cars, businesses, and farms as it passed through. This made it the 10th costliest storm in Texas history, according to the Insurance Council of Texas. The heavy runoff from the summer’s rain left all three Texas reservoirs with more water than they started the year and caused four river floods by summer’s end. The rain also eased the ongoing drought conditions across most of the Panhandles and all but eliminated it in the eastern Texas Panhandle.
      Only 10 days hit triple-digit temperatures this year, far less than the record 50 in 2011 and 24 in 2012. In fact it was only the 18th warmest summer, and 2 record low temperatures were even set in July. Weather during the fall and first part of winter became drier, with only 1.00 inch of precipitation and 6.5 inches of snow after September. Temperatures at the end of the year were cooler than normal, and Amarillo’s first freeze arrived the morning of October 18th. There was no white Christmas this year, but perhaps the Panhandles had seen enough snow earlier in the year. With sunny skies and a high near 60 degrees, a warm and quiet day closed another year of exciting weather in the Panhandles.
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YEAR 2013 SUMMARY FOR AMARILLO

Climate Graphs for 2013

Amarillo	Dalhart	Borger

Top 5 Regional Weather Events of 2013

March was much quieter than the previous month, resuming the drier and warmer than normal pattern recent years have brought to the Panhandles.  Severe thunderstorms set up just east of Amarillo on the afternoon of the 8th, bringing the only appreciable rainfall to the area for the month.  Scattered severe thunderstorms spread east on the afternoon of the 17th and brought 60 mph wind gusts and wind damage to Amarillo as they passed through.

April
    Hi:  97° F, 30th
    Low:  20° F, 11th and 24th
    Average:  54.9° F (1.4° F below normal)
    Precipitation:  0.05 inches (1.35 inches below normal)
    Snowfall:  Trace (0.7 inches below normal)
    Records:   Tied the record high temperature of 89° F on the 8th.
                     Tied the record low temperature of 20° F on the 11th.
                     Set the record low temperature of 26° F on the 19th.
                     Set the record cold high temperature of 35° F on the 23rd.
                     Set the record low temperature of 25° F on the 23rd.
                     Set the record low temperature of 20° F on the 24th.
                     Tied the record high temperature of 94° F on the 29th.
                     Set the record high temperature of 97° F on the 30th.
                     Set the record warm low temperature of 62° F on the 30th.
                     This tied for the 7th driest April on record.

April was a month of temperature extremes, with several strong cold fronts bringing sub-freezing temperatures every few nights.  Record lows were set 4 times in Amarillo, and even one record cold high temperature record was set.  April had its warm days too, reaching into the 80s and 90s between cold fronts.  Amarillo’s high of 97 on the 30th was the 4th earliest occurrence of temperatures that warm since 1892.  With lingering winter cold affecting the Panhandles, spring rains were delayed and stayed well east and south of the Panhandles entirely.  This also meant no widespread severe weather for the Panhandles this month.  The cool and dry weather spelled disaster for the area’s winter wheat crop, and drought rapidly worsened across the Panhandles.

 May
    Hi:  100° F, 17th
    Low:  27° F, 3rd
    Average:  68.3° F (2.7° F above normal)
    Precipitation:  2.80 inches (0.51 inches above normal)
    Snowfall:  Trace (0.2 inches below normal)
    Tornadoes:  4 total - 4 rated EF-0
    Records:  Tied the daily record snowfall of a trace on the 1st.
                    Set the record low temperature of 28° F on the 2nd.
                    Tied the record high temperature of 100° F on the 17th.
                    Tied the record warm low temperature of 70° F on the 27th.
                    Tied the daily record snowfall* of a trace on the 28th. (*Hail)
            
Spring rains finally made an appearance during May, delivering an extra half inch of rain above normal to Amarillo.  Amarillo nearly set its latest freeze record, when winter gave one last gasp and brought a late season hard freeze on the 2nd and 3rd.   This was the 7th latest spring freeze on record for the city and was only 4 days earlier than the latest on record.  The already struggling winter wheat in the Panhandles took another blow from this late freeze.  The chill quickly gave way to hot weather, and the first 100 degree day for the year came on the 17th.  Severe weather season returned with the warmer, wetter weather.  Though scattered storms brought the occasional high wind gust or hail to Amarillo during the month, the most notable episode of severe weather occurred on the 28th and 29th.  High surface winds and gusts from afternoon thunderstorms downed trees, power lines, and signs across the city on the 28th.  Two EF-0 tornadoes were reported in Beaver County.  After sunset, a lone thunderstorm produced large hail and two EF-0 tornadoes in Deaf Smith County as it moved north then east.  Though no tornado impacted Amarillo, the storm produced a funnel cloud just west of the city at 11:30 pm on the 28th and hailstones to the size of baseballs through town near midnight.  In total the hailstorm caused an estimated 500 million dollars of damage in Amarillo and the surrounding area, damaging cars, homes, businesses, and crops along its path.  Drought worsened across the area.

June
    Hi:  105° F, 27th
    Low:  51° F, 2nd
    Average:  77.8° F (3.4° F above normal)
    Precipitation:  2.80 inches (0.36 inches below normal)
    Snowfall:  0.0 inches
    Records:  Set the record warm low temperature of 70° F on the 4th.

June was a warmer and much wetter month for the Panhandles in general.  June 27th was Amarillo’s hottest day of the year, with a high temperature of 105 degrees.  Rainfall was a little shy of normal, but it was measured on 11 days during the month.  Widespread summer thunderstorms across the Panhandles throughout the month were enough to ease drought by a category or two by month’s end and get summer crops off to a good start.  On the evening of the 7th, 3 to 4 inches of rain fell in western Cimarron County, causing the Cimarron River near Kenton to flood and reach 20.5 feet, the 5th highest crest for that site.  Though not as damaging as the May hailstorm, hail to the size of ping pong balls fell across the south side of Amarillo on June 20th.  Other severe storms brought high winds and hail to the area throughout the month.

Generally quiet and dry weather conditions prevailed through most of the month area wide, but severe weather impacted the northern Panhandles on the 10th and 28th.  A 71-mph wind gust was measured at Goodwell, OK on the 10th, and heavy rain and localized flooding also accompanied severe storms on the 28th in Beaver County, OK where Gate received nearly 4.50 inches of rain for the month.  The 28th also marked the last day of the year that severe weather occurred in the Panhandles.  The first fall freeze occurred right on schedule across most of the Panhandles on either the 17th or 18th, with Amarillo's first freeze coming on the 18th.

Despite a handful of days with mild temperatures, November was a colder and wetter than normal month across most of the Panhandles as a series of arctic fronts swept across the area.  Most of the precipitation during the month fell as rain, but a powerful upper-level storm system brought prolonged freezing temperatures and a widespread mixture of snow, sleet, and freezing rain to the Panhandles between the 22nd and 24th.  Freezing rain and freezing drizzle were the primary precipitation types on the 22nd, which contributed to multiple vehicle accidents.  Snow quickly began during the afternoon of the 23rd and lasted through the 24th.  Every location in the Panhandles received snow, but amounts ranged from 1 inch in Beaver, OK to 10 inches near Wellington and Hedley, TX.  In addition to the wintry precipitation, temperatures remained below freezing for almost 5 consecutive days in most places, including nearly 118 consecutive hours at Amarillo.

After thawing out in late November and early December, an even stronger arctic cold front blasted across the area on the 4th, sending temperatures well below freezing again for nearly 4 consecutive days this time.  Fortunately, all of the area was spared of anything more than light snow accumulations and a very light glaze of ice from freezing rain.  A stronger but wetter storm system brought freezing rain and heavy snows to the Panhandle late on the 20th and into the 21st.  Very little snow fell across the southeastern Texas Panhandle, but a swath of 6 to 12 inches of snow occurred across the northwestern Texas Panhandle into the eastern Oklahoma Panhandle.  The highest snowfall amount of 11.5 inches occurred in Dumas, TX, and this heavy snow led to many motorists being stranded on Highway 287 between Dumas and Amarillo.