National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Severe Thunderstorms and Heavy Rainfall in the Central and Southern Plains Through Tonight

Severe thunderstorms capable of very large hail, damaging wind gusts, and a few tornadoes will continue through tonight across parts of the central and southern Plains. Heavy rain will pose a threat for flash flooding across portions of central and coastal Texas. Thunderstorms may also cause isolated wind damage across the Southeast. Read More >

Overview

An upper level low pressure system moving east across far west Texas northeast on Saturday towards the Red River valley area of NW Texas by Saturday night resulted in good moisture advection into the Panhandles region. This resulted in light snow to develop early Saturday morning for the NW Panhandles where 1-2" of snow accumulated in the early morning hours. Later in the morning hours and continuing into the evening hours, a series of mesoscale bands of snow developed across the central and southern Texas Panhandle pivoting east to west at first, just north of the main system passing south of the area. Later in the evening, these bands of snow then shifted back east as the main low pressure system finally exited the region. Within these bands of snow, snowfall rates of 0.5-0.7"/hour were reported for several hours in some locations. Winds gusts of 35-45 mph at times also caused areas of blowing snow with snow drifts over a foot in some locations. Highest snowfall totals for this event occurred across portions of Deaf Smith, Randall, and Armstrong counties as a result of hours under mesoscale banding, along with north winds with upslope flow across portions of Palo Duro Canyon. Highest values of reported snowfall totals were 4-8" along the Highway 60 corridor from just east of Hereford to portions of south and west Amarillo.
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