Winter Storm — King, Texas

2021-02-14 to 2021-02-15 · King, Texas

Wider weather episode

For a few days in mid-February, the South Plains saw some of the coldest air it had observed in a decade. The polar vortex was displaced by a strong ridge of high pressure at the north pole. This allowed the polar vortex to dip down into south-central Canada. Cold air initially began to creep into the region from the northeast beginning the previous week on the ninth. The coldest air came on Valentine's Day into the 15th resulting in very cold wind chills across the entire region. Along with the cold air, a bout of heavy snow began early in the morning of the 14th lasting until early on the 15th. Temperatures rose enough and winds became light enough during the day on the 15th to keep wind chills above -15F. The intense and long-duration cold resulted in significant impacts locally. In addition to keeping roads hazardous, cold weather caused numerous pipes to freeze and burst causing significant property damage. The power grids were also stretched beyond their limit, but blackouts were relatively short-lived and localized around Lubbock. Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport officially dropped below 32F on the evening of the 11th and didn't warm back up above freezing until the 19th resulting in 186 consecutive hours below freezing. Numerous daily record minimum temperatures and record minimum highs were set during this period. The coldest temperature recorded in Lubbock was 0F, which was the lowest temperature recorded in Lubbock since December 1989.

Reported snowfall accumulations from NWS cooperative weather observers follow:

6.5 inches at Friona (Parmer County), 5.8 inches at Muleshoe (Bailey County), 5.0 inches at Happy (Swisher County), 5.0 inches at Guthrie (King County), 5.0 inches at Slaton (Lubbock County), 4.5 inches at Paducah 15S (Cottle County), 4.3 inches at Estelline (Hall County), 4.0 inches at Turkey (Hall County), Paducah 10S (Cottle County), Aspermont (Stonewall County), Jayton (Kent County), Tahoka (Lynn County), Levelland (Hockley County), Dickens (Dickens County), and Roaring Springs (Motley County), 3.8 inches at Floydada 9SE (Floyd County), 3.5 inches at Morton (Cochran County), Plains (Yoakum County), and Hart (Castro County), 3.0 inches at Lake Alan Henry (Garza County), Silverton (Briscoe County), and 2.5 inches at Littlefield (Lamb County).

A list of sub-zero temperatures (F) recorded by the Texas Tech University West Texas Mesonet and National Weather Service cooperative observers during the arctic outbreak follows:

-16 at Friona (Parmer County), -12 at Tulia, Vigo Park, and Happy (Swisher County), -11 at Hart (Castro County), -8 at Silverton (Briscoe County) and Hackberry (Cottle County), -7 at Lake Alan Henry (Garza County), New Home (Lynn County) and Childress (Childress County), -6 at Earth (Lamb County), South Plains (Floyd County), Northfield (Motley County), Roaring Springs (Motley County), Paducah (Cottle County), Jayton (Kent County), Aspermont (Stonewall County), and Olton (Lamb County), -5 at Plainview (Hale County), and Memphis (Hall County), -4 at Abernathy (Hale County), White River Lake (Crosby County), Spur (Dickens County), and Floydada (Floyd County), -3 at Muleshoe (Bailey County), and Post (Garza County), -2 at Amherst (Lamb County), Slaton (Lubbock County), and Tahoka (Lynn County), -1 at Wolfforth (Lubbock County), and Plains (Yoakum County).

A list of observed wind chill values below the -15 degrees (F) local warning criteria per the Texas Tech University West Texas Mesonet follows:

-30 at Friona (Parmer County), -28 at Tulia (Swisher County), -26 at Silverton (Briscoe County), -24 at Hart (Castro County), Aiken and Plainview (Hale County), and South Plains (Floyd County), -23 at Turkey and Memphis (Hall County), and Paducah (Cottle County), -22 at Olton (Lamb County), -21 at Childress (Childress County), and McAdoo (Dickens County), -20 at Roaring Springs (Motley County), and Ralls (Crosby County), -19 at Levelland (Hockley County), -18 at Lubbock (Lubbock County), Tahoka (Lynn County), Post (Garza County), and Aspermont (Stonewall County), -17 at Guthrie (King County), -16 at Muleshoe (Bailey County), Sundown (Cochran County), Denver City (Yoakum County), Brownfield (Terry County), and Jayton (Kent County).

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 940546. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.