Winter Weather — Swisher, Texas

2024-01-08 · Swisher, Texas

Wider weather episode

A powerful storm system emerging over the southern High Plains brought a variety of impacts to the region on the eighth. Scattered showers and thunderstorms formed over the central and eastern South Plains and swept eastward through the predawn hours although no severe weather occurred from this activity. A dry slot from this system then moved over the area around daybreak bringing increasing westerly winds following a Pacific cold front. The strong winds brought patchy blowing dust to the area through the afternoon hours. As the upper low lifted into the northeastern Texas Panhandle during the afternoon, stronger northwesterly winds aloft developed on the back side of the low. It was at this point when stronger winds aloft mixed down to the surface bringing widespread severe wind gusts to the extreme southern Texas Panhandle and portions of the South Plains and Rolling Plains. As this occurred, a narrow band of snow developed across the extreme southwestern Texas Panhandle within a TROWAL region detached from the main TROWAL in the northern Texas Panhandle. Severe wind gusts created blowing snow resulting in near zero visibility in white out conditions. Several roadways, including US Highway 385 north of Dimmitt, were closed during the height of the storm. The dangerous travel conditions resulted in numerous vehicles running off the road and becoming stranded in ditches. In total, two to four inches of snow was measured over much of Parmer and Castro Counties.

Snowfall totals from NWS cooperative weather observers and local law enforcement are listed below:

4.0 inches at Friona (Parmer County),

2.0 inches at Hart (Castro County),

1.5 inches at Dimmitt (Castro County),

1.3 inches at Plainview (Hale County),

1.0 inch at Tulia (Swisher County), and

1.0 inch at Muleshoe (Bailey County).

High wind gusts from the Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet network are below:

66 mph at Childress (Childress County),

65 mph at McAdoo (Dickens County),

65 mph at Caprock Canyons State Park (Briscoe County),

65 mph at White River Lake (Crosby County),

64 mph at Tulia (Swisher County),

64 mph at Memphis (Hall County),

63 mph at Happy (Swisher County),

63 mph at Paducah (Cottle County),

62 mph at Silverton (Briscoe County),

61 mph at Turkey (Hall County),

61 mph at Lesley (Hall County),

61 mph at Shallowater (Lubbock County),

61 mph at Slaton (Lubbock County),

60 mph at O'Donnell (Lynn County),

59 mph at Floydada (Floyd County),

59 mph at Olton (Lamb County),

59 mph at Graham (Garza County),

58 mph at Brownfield (Terry County), and

58 mph at Morton (Cochran County).

The following high wind reports are from Automated Surface Observing Stations (ASOS):

68 mph at Childress Municipal Airport (Childress County) and

67 mph at Lubbock International Airport (Lubbock County).

Sustained high winds of 40 mph or greater were observed by the Texas Tech University West Texas mesonet sites below:

45 mph at Hart (Castro County),

45 mph at Aiken (Hale County),

44 mph at Dimmitt (Castro County), and

44 mph at Abernathy (Hale County).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1147071. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.