Winter Storm — Lee, Texas

2021-02-13 to 2021-02-15 · Lee, Texas

Event narrative

Snowfall overnight on the 14th and 15th blanketed the county with as much as 6.0'. Some snow totals included 4.0' in Lincoln, 5.5' in Giddings, and 6.0' in Dime Box.

Wider weather episode

A series of weather systems brought several rounds of winter weather to South Central Texas from February 11 through February 18. The second round came on the 13th and 14th with cold air still in place in the low levels, another upper level shortwave trough moved across Texas providing lift for precipitation. The deeper atmosphere had warm air above the cold leading to a second round of freezing rain. The third round of winter weather was initiated by another upper level shortwave trough on the 14th and 15th. This system brought cooler air above the boundary layer and turned precipitation to snow. Most of the area had only snow, but there were also short periods of freezing rain in a few places. In addition to the snow, bitterly cold air and breezy winds combined to bring extreme wind chill values on the 15th. With a FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) the state of Texas DSHS has produced some fatality numbers (direct vs indirect) for this event. However there are no details provided on gender, exact location, or time of death. Direct deaths are from hypothermia. Indirect deaths are listed as deaths from falls, carbon monoxide, heating related fire, motor vehicle accidents, drowning, exacerbation of chronic illness, and frostbite. In some cases where fatality information was obtained by emergency managers, some details have been documented. Dates of deaths were placed on Feb 15 as an estimate and to be consistent of when some of the coldest temperatures occurred. In addition overall monetary losses for individual counties cannot be computed with the substantial number of insured loss claims due to water pipes bursting in homes and businesses along with monetary loss due to rolling power blackouts. Insured loss numbers are not passed onto individual NWS offices. In the more urbanized counties where population is larger, overall uninsured and insured losses likely will total in the 100s of millions of dollars. The state of Texas will likely accumulate Billions in losses with this winter event.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 943641. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.