National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Wet and Cool in the East this Memorial Day Weekend; Well Above Normal Temperatures in the Northern Plains

A wet Memorial Day weekend is in store for the East, with widespread rainfall of 1 to more than 2 inches expected from the Gulf Coast to southern New England. Well above normal temperatures are forecast to build across the northern Plains. Another round of heavy to excessive rainfall is expected to impact the western Gulf Coast this weekend with Flood Watches in effect. Read More >

picture of our office during a heavy snow event
picture of our radar during a heavy snow event
bushes covered with snow
snow measurement of 6.5 inches
snow covered bushes
live oak trees
live oak trees
bird in snow covered tree
upper air dome
view of our office
live oak trees
snow measurement of 8.5 inches

 

n December 11, 1998, 9.75" of snow was recorded at the Midland International Airport (location of the Midland/Odessa National Weather Service Office). This snowstorm brought the heaviest one day totals, and the most for the month of December ever recorded locally. The previous record amount of snow occurred on January 24, 1974 when 6.8" of snow fell, January 9 1955 with 5.9", and November 16 1980 with 5.7". The rainfall equivalent from this record snowfall was a very welcomed 0.50".

 

snow cover as seen from  the GOES 8 satellite
image courtesy of the TNRCC

 

Clear skies over west Texas and southeast New Mexico on December 12th clearly showed the extent of the snowfall. This is a high resolution visible image from the TNRCC, showing the snow coverage at 1800Z or 12pm CST. This snow covered an area from west of the Interstate 10/20 junction (near the city of Kent, Texas) to the city of Jal, New Mexico. At both of these places, 11" was measured. The snow coverage extended northeast to just north of Andrews, to northeast of Big Spring. The snow coverage then went southwestward to between Garden City and Big Lake, to near Fort Stockton, to the northern Davis Mountains.