Amarillo survived the Blizzard of ’13

I wanted to wait until things really calmed down in the Texas panhandle before doing a quick recap of the incredible blizzard that brought the area to a stand-still.

This was a very unique scenario. One which eventually gave Amarillo hurricane force wind gusts and more than a foot-and-a-half of snow.

A lot of people have asked me, “How crazy is this?” and I’m forced to answer, “Really!” But, I got curious, just HOW crazy is this? How unique was this event? How did Amarillo get so “lucky” with snowfall?

Amarillo finally got hit

The joke in Amarillo is that weather seems to go around it. Severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, rain, snow, even the most damaging winds tend to “go around” the city like it has a futuristic “force field” around it for protection.

But every few years Amarillo gets hit. And it happened on Monday. It happened to the tune of 19.1″.

The snow started Sunday night. A few light snow showers moved through and a lot of people scurried to social media.

Many posts/tweets looked like this:

“That isn’t a blizzard!”

“So much for the snow…”

“Nice job weatherguys!”

But that was just the first round. As we eclipsed the midnight hour Sunday into Monday wind speeds increased, the snow intensified and visibility diminished. All happening nearly simultaneously and in dramatic fashion.

We watched a few moderate-to-heavy snowbands set up right o top of Amarillo early Monday morning. At 1:30am when I drove to KAMR, I-27 was covered in 1″ to 3″ of snow and it was falling heavily with wind gusts to 35mph. Visibility was down to about 1/8 of a mile at that point.

Then I drove back home around 2:30am and conditions had deteriorated again. Thundersnow moved through the city. Lightning flashes and heavy snowfall accompanied by dangerous winds and whiteout conditions made driving a near impossibility. In only an hour more than an inch of snow had fallen and began drifting.

By the time Today in Amarillo began we – officially – realized 9″ of snow in Amarillo. Winds were gusting to 50mph. Visibility was near zero.

It was a nasty start to a soon-to-be nasty morning.

Coming down in sheets

The heaviest continual snow fell between 2:00am and 7:00am.By the end of Today in Amarillo we were looking at 12.5″ of snow.

The forecast for 6″ to 10″ was no longer going to work.

Throughout the morning, moderate to heavy snow continued to wrap around into the city. Winds whipped between the buildings – gusting to 60+ mph, leading to drifts in downtown that were nearly three feet deep.

At 9:00am I received a call from my co-anchor and photog. They were in a very-capable 4WD SUV… stuck in the snow. A lot of snow. The roads in downtown were impassable without four-wheel drive – and as it turns out – barely passable with it.

By lunch we had tallied 17″ of snow.

White, quite white

All morning long, the radar showed multiple bands of moderate snowfall banding from southwest to northeast. The propagated from east to west wrapping around the area of low pressure. The heaviest bands set up across the Texas panhandle from places like Claude to Pampa, Umbarger to Spearman and from Bushland to Fritch.

As the area of low pressure tracked to the east, it slowed.

At the end of Today in Amarillo at 7am it was just to the east of Lubbock, Texas. At noon, it approached Childress, Texas. At that point, for a short period, it even appeared to become stationary.

This allowed the moderate-to-heavy snowbands to continue to track over the top of the city of Amarillo.

The total

After it was all said and done, we tallied 19″ of snow for the day. Drifts were over 4′ and 5′ tall. People were stranded on highways and the city was at a standstill.

Here are some of the final tallies for snow and wind across the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles.

Snow:

Wind:

This high-res satellite image was taken the day after the blizzard.

Definitely crazy. But now, things are calming down.