Winter Storm — Hemphill, Texas

2026-01-23 to 2026-01-25 · Hemphill, Texas

Event narrative

The highest snowfall amounts occurred across the southeastern part of the county, but the majority of the county received four to seven inches of snow. The lowest amount occurred in a small area of the northwestern part of the county, where two to four inches of snow fell. Five inches of snow was measured to the west-northwest of Briscoe, 6.2 inches fell to the south-southeast of Lora and three inches of snow was estimated just to the north of Canadian.

Wider weather episode

A significant winter storm occurred across the southern, eastern, and northeastern United States during January 23-26, 2026. A strong low pressure system moved across Baja California toward the Desert Southwest and then across the southern to northeastern portions of the country during this time frame. This low pressure system was preceded by a strong arctic cold front, which dropped surface temperatures down to record breaking lows across portions of the southern United States, including the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. Winter impacts were felt across nearly half of the country, with around an inch of freezing rain occurring at some areas across the southeastern US, inches of sleet across portions of north Texas, and up to one to two feet of snow for the Midwest into New England. This winter storm brought mostly snow to the region, but also there was some sleet mixed in across the southern and southeastern Texas Panhandle during the onset of precipitation across the region. Two to three day snow accumulation across the area ranged from just over an inch across the northwestern Panhandles to around nine to ten inches for the southeast Texas Panhandle. Frigid temperatures were also associated with this system and wind chill values dropped to as low as -20 to -25F in the early morning hours during this time period. Temperatures remained below freezing across most of the Panhandles from early Friday morning behind the cold front passage until midday on Monday, January 26. The combination of the dangerously cold temperatures and impactful snowfall led to the closure of multiple school districts across the region as well as businesses and local government buildings. A few locations also saw infrastructure impacts such as pipes bursting in the region. Several counties also opened warming centers for the prolonged cold weather.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1312367. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.