National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Severe Thunderstorms, Heavy Rainfall and Dangerous Heat

Severe thunderstorms are expected today and Friday from the upper Midwest, central Great Lakes into the Ohio and mid-Mississippi Valley's. In addition, heavy rainfall threat increases on Friday across the Ohio Valley. Meanwhile, early summer-like heat wave across portions of southern Texas with new daily records are forecast today and through the weekend; The heat spreads across the Gulf States. Read More >

Overview

A dynamic upper level low pressure system moved slowly to the east across far southern Arizona and provided two rounds of snowfall across the panhandles. Out ahead of the main center of the upper level low, persistent moisture from the eastern Pacific surged northeast into the Panhandle’s region. Coupled with the slow propagation of the system to the east, two main disturbances moved northeast ahead of the main upper level low which was a favorable area for large scale lift and in return, snowfall developed across the panhandles.

The first round of snowfall occurred early Tuesday morning on the 11th. Areas of light snow moved northeast and spread across the northwestern and north central panhandles bringing about 1-3 inches of snow with the higher amounts across the northwestern panhandles. A more solid band of snow developed across portions of the southern and southeastern panhandles setting up south of Amarillo and extending northeast to Gray & Wheeler Counties. This band produced anywhere from 1 to near 4 inches for parts of Armstrong County. The second round of snow started late Tuesday night on the 11th and continued overnight before ending the morning of Wednesday the 12th.   This second round of snow was more confined to the central and southern Texas panhandle where an area of snow moved southwest to northeast across the aforementioned area before exiting the Panhandles early Wednesday morning. Some localized banding of snowfall produced moderate to heavy snowfall rates at times. Snowfall totals ranged from 2-4 inches for this second batch of snow. Both morning commutes on the 11th and 12th resulted in travel impacts across the Panhandles that resulted in multiple accidents and slick road conditions. The main source of precipitation for this upper level system finally exited the region mid-morning on Wednesday the 12th.

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