From Severe Weather to Winter, December 26-27th 2018

Overview

A dynamic, deepening upper level low moved from southern NM at lunchtime Wed to near Dalhart by midnight on December 26th. SSE low level flow brought mid 50s surface dewpoints to the southern TX Panhandle as a surface low deepened over the western TX Panhandle during the afternoon. It was a somewhat atypical set up with some strong convection along a Pacific front arcing across West Texas. Sunshine east of the convection tried to deepen the mixed layer. As the upper low deepened, backing mid level winds disrupted favorable shear profiles. As the afternoon rolled on, increasingly veer-back-veer soundings noted a hinderence to supercell formation. However, the backing aloft was strong enough that a left-moving supercell could not be ruled out.

Ultimately, hail up to quarter size and a brief EF-0 tornado occurred in the southern TX Panhandle on the afternoon of December 26th. The severe weather was short lived, as it was then followed up with a concern for snow potential for the northwestern Panhandles overnight. As the surface cyclone built northeast into Kansas, wrap around snow became the main focus. Guidance 925, 850, and 725 mb frontogenesis fields indicated a deep area of deformation present across our far northwestern CWA. Banding snowfall ended up causing upwards of 10 inches of snow in Guymon, OK overnight from December 26th into the morning of December 27th. Wind gusts above 30 mph made blowing snow conditions feel like a blizzard for those particularly in Cimarron, Dallam, and Hartley counties.

• Tornadoes, Wind & Hail
• Rain/Snow
• Photos & Video
• Storm Reports

Tornadoes, Wind & Hail:

Tornado - Southeast Clarendon Donley County Date Dec 26, 2018 Time (Local) 4:24 PM CST EF Rating EF-0 Est. Peak Winds 65 mph Path Length 0.6 miles Max Width 100 yards Injuries/Deaths 0/0 Summary: Damage was relatively minor and consisted of many small and some large broken tree limbs, a few peeled up shingles and sheet metal damage. The more significant damage occurred along a 50-100 yard wide and 1/2 mile long path which extended from southwest to northeast across the southeast side of Clarendon. The presence of a relatively narrow damage path was consistent with a weak tornado embedded within the line of storms. Track Map

 

The Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:

EF0 Weak 65-85 mph	EF1 Moderate 86-110 mph	EF2 Significant 111-135 mph	EF3 Severe 136-165 mph	EF4 Extreme 166-200 mph	EF5 Catastrophic 200+ mph

 

Besides the tornado, several reports of penny to quarter size hail were seen in Randall County and the McLean West Texas Mesonet site reported winds of 56 mph. 

 

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Rain/Snow

Between the rain and snow on December 26-27th, the Panhandles received quite a bit of well needed moisture. Below are 2 graphics for the 24hr liquid precipitation amounts ending on the 27th and 28th. 

 

 

 

The snowfall totals from overnight on December 26th through the 27th brought most of the area some white stuff just 2 days after Christmas.

 

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Photos & Video

 

Pea to dime size hail in Amarillo (Credit: Mike Gittinger)	Dark clouds at the NWS  Amarillo Office	Satellite on 9:30pm on Dec 27th Showing T-storms and Snow	3 West of Slapout (Credit: Rachel on Twitter)

9 SW of Elkhart, KS (Credit: Beverly Sparkman)	Early morning on 27th in Guymon, OK (Credit: Dakota Gomez)	Dalhart, TX (Credit: Dalhart Cloud Chaser on Twitter)	Hwy 87 in Dalhart, TX (Credit: Dalhart Cloud Chaser on Twitter)

 

Guymon, OK Dec 27th (Credit: Erika Gamboa)	Goodwell, OK (Credit: Jaci Quintana)	Texhoma, TX (Credit: Kristen Ediger)	Outside of Goodwell, OK (Credit: Rachel Garrison)

 

Guymon, OK (Credit: Scott Watson)	West Perryton, TX (Credit: Vicki Gurley)	West side of Amarillo, TX (Credit: Mike Gittinger)	West side of Amarillo, TX (Credit: Mike Gittinger)

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Storm Reports

Report Time	County	Location	ST	Event Type	Mag.	Source	Lat	Lon	Remark
12/26/18 15:01	RANDALL	6 WNW CANYON	TX	HAIL	0.75	PUBLIC	35.02	-102.01	PENNY SIZED HAIL REPORTED NEAR CANYON.
12/26/18 15:06	RANDALL	6 NW CANYON	TX	HAIL	1.00	TRAINED SPOTTER	35.05	-101.99	QUARTER SIZED HAIL REPORTED JUST SOUTH OF THE RANDALL COUNTY FEED YARD.
12/26/18 15:21	RANDALL	7 ESE BUSHLAND	TX	HAIL	0.75	NWS EMPLOYEE	35.17	-101.94
12/26/18 16:02	POTTER	6 E BUSHLAND	TX	HAIL	0.75	TRAINED SPOTTER	35.19	-101.96	PENNY SIZED HAIL NEAR I-40 AND HELIUM ROAD, JUST WEST OF AMARILLO.
12/26/18 17:05	GRAY	1 ENE MCLEAN	TX	TSTM WND GST	56.00	MESONET	35.24	-100.57
12/27/18 5:00	DALLAM	DALHART	TX	SNOW	5.00	TRAINED SPOTTER	36.06	-102.51
12/27/18 5:22	SHERMAN	STRATFORD	TX	SNOW	6.00	CO-OP OBSERVER	36.34	-102.08
12/27/18 6:09	DALLAM	DALHART	TX	SNOW	4.00	LAW ENFORCEMENT	36.06	-102.51
12/27/18 6:15	SHERMAN	TEXHOMA	TX	SNOW	8.00	EMERGENCY MNGR	36.49	-101.81
12/27/18 6:50	TEXAS	GUYMON	OK	HEAVY SNOW	8.00	EMERGENCY MNGR	36.69	-101.48	ESTIMATED 6 TO 8 INCHES OF SNOW ON GROUND THROUGHOUT TEXAS COUNTY. NUMEROUS ACCIDENTS AND JACKNIFED TRUCKS REPORTED. HIGHWAY 54 CLOSED FROM LIBERAL TO TEXHOMA.
12/27/18 7:00	DALLAM	TEXLINE	TX	SNOW	3.00	COCORAHS	36.38	-103.02
12/27/18 7:00	SHERMAN	STRATFORD	TX	HEAVY SNOW	6.00	COCORAHS	36.33	-102.07
12/27/18 7:12	SHERMAN	STRATFORD	TX	SNOW	7.00	DEPT OF HIGHWAYS	36.34	-102.07
12/27/18 8:28	CIMARRON	2 ESE BOISE CITY	OK	SNOW	2.00	CO-OP OBSERVER	36.72	-102.48	2.0"
12/27/18 8:40	MOORE	DUMAS	TX	SNOW	2.00	LAW ENFORCEMENT	35.86	-101.96
12/27/18 9:00	TEXAS	5 WNW HARDESTY	OK	SNOW	4.00	COCORAHS	36.63	-101.29
12/27/18 9:03	CIMARRON	2 ESE BOISE CITY	OK	SNOW	5.00	CO-OP OBSERVER	36.72	-102.48
12/27/18 9:53	DALLAM	TEXLINE	TX	SNOW	3.00	EMERGENCY MNGR	36.38	-103.02
12/27/18 9:54	HARTLEY	CHANNING	TX	SNOW	1.00	CO-OP OBSERVER	35.68	-102.33
12/27/18 9:59	HANSFORD	GRUVER	TX	SNOW	1.00	TRAINED SPOTTER	36.26	-101.41
12/27/18 10:00	RANDALL	2 WNW CANYON	TX	SNOW	1.00	NWS EMPLOYEE	34.99	-101.95
12/27/18 16:00	TEXAS	2 WSW GUYMON	OK	HEAVY SNOW	10.00	UTILITY COMPANY	36.68	-101.51	AIRPORT MAINTENANCE ESTIMATES 10 INCHES ON GUY RUNWAYS

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