Heavy Snow — Kent, Texas

2020-02-04 to 2020-02-05 · Kent, Texas

Wider weather episode

On the fourth, a large upper level storm system was moving southeast across the Intermountain West. Out ahead of this storm system was a strong stream of moisture with embedded areas of lift associated with weaker short waves. The first of these short waves moved over south-central New Mexico into the southwestern Texas Panhandle. Moderate to heavy snow fell out of the concentrated band of precipitation from Friona through Dimmitt and Tulia. Snow totals of three to five inches were common by the time this snow band finally diminished late on the fourth. After a brief lull in activity, the main upper level storm system began to approach from the west. This caused a broad area of precipitation to develop across Far West Texas and the Permian Basin Tuesday night. Initially, some cold rain fell as it spread northeast, but it quickly changed to all snow over the South Plains and Rolling Plains as cold air deepened. This long-duration shield of snow was directed at the Rolling Plains, where snow persisted from Tuesday night through much of the day Wednesday before finally ending by evening. Most of the central and southern Rolling Plains tallied an impressive six to 12 inches of snow, double to triple their average seasonal snow totals.

Snowfall totals are listed below:

14.0 inches at Jayton (Kent County), 10.6 inches at Aspermont (Stonewall County), 9.5 inches at Lake Alan Henry (Garza County), 8.0 inches at Guthrie (King County), 7.5 inches at Post (Garza County), 7.0 inches at Spur (Dickens County), 5.5 inches at Friona (Parmer County), 4.5 inches at Denver City (Yoakum County), 4.5 inches at Tahoka (Lynn County), 4.0 inches at Paducah 10S (Cottle County), 4.0 inches at Hart (Castro County), 3.7 inches at Slaton (Lubbock County), 3.3 inches at Brownfield (Terry County), 3.0 inches at Kirkland (Childress County), 3.0 inches at Tulia (Swisher County), 2.7 inches at Muleshoe (Bailey County), 2.5 inches at Crosbyton (Crosby County), 2.0 inches at Roaring Springs (Motley County), 1.5 inches at Levelland (Hockley County), 1.3 inches at Childress (Childress County), 1.0 inches at Olton (Lamb County), and 1.0 inches at Lubbock (Lubbock County).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 870550. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.