Bitter cold, ice, sleet and snow impact West Texas (23-25 January 2026)

Winter storm wallops West Texas
23-26 January 2026

Steamy wintry scene from Buffalo Springs on Monday (26 January 2026). The image is courtesy of Linda Honeycutt via KCBD.

The ongoing mild to warm and persistently dry winter of 2025-2026 made an abrupt one-eighty in late January 2026. The abrasive change was fueled by the passage of an Arctic cold front, in conjunction with several disturbances passing over aloft which was able to tap abundant low-level moisture from the Gulf. The result was high temperatures plunging from near and above average (in the 50s and lower 60s) to the single digits and lower teens, along with a prolonged period of wintry weather.

The dramatic changes kicked off on Friday (23 January) as an Arctic cold front advanced through the South Plains region throughout the day. In advance of the front, mild temperatures, from the middle 30s to the lower 40s, and areas of fog and drizzle were in place around daybreak. This turned out to be the warmest part of the day as gusty northeasterly winds carried increasingly cold air southwestward in the region during the day. In Lubbock, the temperature dropped below freezing around midday, and remained sub-freezing until just after noon the following Tuesday, resulting in almost four continuous days (95 hours and 35 minutes to be exact) at or below freezing!

The above map illustrates the magnitude of the temperature gradient, with temperatures early Friday afternoon ranging from the single digits and teens across the northern Texas Panhandle to the 50s and lower 60s in the Concho Valley and Edwards Plateau. In addition to being bitterly cold, the Arctic air was initially quite dry, quickly scouring out any residual fog and drizzle. However, shortly after the cold air infiltrated the region, Pacific moisture began to stream over from the southwest resulting in the onset of wintry showers. The first moisture fell as freezing rain at many locations, but quickly switched to sleet as the lower levels of the atmosphere cooled. 

Despite temperatures tumbling well below freezing, into the single digits for most by Saturday morning, sleet continued to be the predominate mode of precipitation when the heavier showers moved overhead Friday night into Saturday. The culprit for the wintry mix was a stubborn "warm" layer about a mile above the ground where temperatures persisted above freezing, as high as 40 degrees or so. This "warm" layer aloft caused the snowflakes falling into it to partially or fully melt, depending on how warm and deep the above freezing layer was. Oftentimes this would result in freezing rain at ground level, but in this case the bitterly cold air below the "warm" layer was deep enough and cold enough for the rain drop or partially melted snowflake to completely refreeze, becoming sleet before hitting the ground.  

Even though temperatures moved very little during the day Saturday, with highs only reaching the upper single digits to lower and middle teens, the warmth aloft kept periods of sleet showers going much of the day. Since sleet accumulates much more slowly than snow (with the same amount of liquid equivalent), totals were on the lighter side, ranging from a few tenths up to an inch or two in most spots. Regardless, roads quickly became slick and remained so as ice and sleet covered the roadways Friday evening and did not improve any on Saturday.

Not to be overlooked, in addition to the wintry precipitation and difficult travel conditions, breezy winds combined with the bitter cold temperatures to produce dangerous wind chills. To exposed skin, it felt like 0 to -15 degrees, even worse at times, throughout the day on Saturday.    

The cold air and relatively moist conditions created interesting optical effects, including light pillars. As the name implies and the picture below illustrates, light pillars look like a vertical beam of light which are created when light from a point source is reflected by numerous ting, flat hexagon-shaped ice crystals suspended in the lower atmosphere. These types of crystals are favored in cold and moist condition not often experienced this far south.

The cold air and winter storm and was not confined to West Texas or even the southern High Plains, but affected a large portion of the Lower 48, as the below graph shows. Heavy snow, sleet and/or freezing rain resulted in major impacts from New Mexico to New England. Even where wintry precipitation didn't fall, exceptionally cold air affected the Midwest and Great Lakes.

Eventually, late Saturday afternoon into Saturday evening, the "warm" layer aloft dropped below freezing which allowed the sleet/snow mix to change over to exclusively snow. This coincided with a stronger round of lift associated with a storm system approaching from the Desert Southwest. The net result was more widespread moderate to heavy snow, including some huge snowflakes falling as the switchover from sleet to snow occurred. 

Snow quickly piled up on top of the layers of ice and sleet already in place Saturday night into early Sunday. The most persistent bands of heavy snow targeted the western South Plains and the south-central Texas Panhandle, though the entire region saw some snowfall.

Temperatures remained bitterly cold into Sunday morning with lows in the single digits. Combined with a breeze, wind chills well below zero were common. 

Temperatures finally moderated Sunday afternoon, though still only "warmed" into the upper teens and lower 20s at most spots. Where sunshine returned by mid-afternoon, and they received the least amount of wintry precipitation, highs did reach the middle 20s over the southwest Texas Panhandle. 

A final upper level disturbance emerging from the southern Rockies brought the last wave of light to moderate snow to parts of the region on Sunday. This snowfall was less widespread, and the system didn't have a lot of moisture to work with, but it produced a very light and fluffy snow which accumulated quickly where the more intense bands moved through. This last burst of snow targeted the central South Plains and Rolling Plains providing another quick 1 to 2+ inches for many.

The snowy scenes made for nice pictures, though the prolonged cold was difficult on outdoor wildlife and kept roadways hazardous for many days.