Dust Storm — Randall County, Texas

2023-02-26 · Randall County, Texas

Event narrative

Several reports were made for visibility down to a quarter of a mile or less, especially along the south loop 335 in south Amarillo. Even a AWOS located in the county measured 1/4 mile visibility for a few hours.

Wider weather episode

A vigorous upper level system passed over the southern Great Plains on Sunday February 26th, 2023. This brought widespread strong winds and blowing dust to the Panhandles, particularly during the late afternoon and evening hours as a Pacific cold front rapidly moved eastward, with the large amount of dust leading to greatly reduced visibility and treacherous driving conditions. East of this front, severe thunderstorms developed which led to two tornadoes in the southeastern Texas Panhandle and additional damaging winds.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1082730. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.