Time to batten down the hatches around here

15 years ago

Here it comes! A powerful late March winter storm will dive into the area tonight bringing strong winds, colder air, and snow. The winds will blow from the north at 20 to 30 mph and temperatures will quickly fall below freezing overnight tonight. Any rain will quickly mix and change over to snow. The snow combined with those strong north winds means near-blizzard conditions will be possible early in the morning on Friday especially across northeastern New Mexico, the Oklahoma Panhandle, and northern Texas Panhandle.

TOMORROW'S FORECAST FOR AMARILLO

Friday, March 27, 2009

Tomrrow's forecast

Blowing Snow

29Â° : 24Â°

*****BLIZZARD WATCH/WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FOR LATE THURSDAY THROUGH EARLY SATURDAY. MODERATE TO HEAVY SNOW POSSIBLE!***** *****VERY HAZARDOUS AND POSSIBLY DANGEROUS DRIVING CONDITIONS EXPECTED!***** It's amazing that so far this season, we have only had 2.9 inches of snow officially here in Amarillo. By Friday morning, we could already have an inch or two of snow on the ground with moderate to heavy snow (and strong winds) occurring. The Winter Storm WATCH that was in effect for the High Plains has been upgraded to a Blizzard WATCH for the central and western Panhandles, including the cities of Amarillo, Canyon, Dumas, Stratford, Guymon, Boise City, Dalhart, Hartley, Channing, Boys Ranch, Vega, Adrian and Hereford. For the southern part of the Blizzard WATCH, 4 to 7 inches of snow will be possible (including Amarillo and Canyon). The northern part of the Blizzard WATCH will have the potential to see 7 to 14 inches of snow with isolated totals approaching 18 inches possible (Dalhart, Boise City, Guymon, Dumas, Spearman, and Perryton). Winds will be blowing from the north at speeds AVERAGING 25-35 mph with gusts upwards of 50-60 mph likely. This will create "white-out" conditions with visibilities not much beyond the hoods of cars very likely. Travel is NOT encouraged at all from 6am to 3pm Friday with the possibility that travel will be hazardous all day long. Be sure and stay tuned to Storm Search 7 for the latest on this developing Winter storm system! In the meantime, snowfall will average 3-6 inches throughout the High Plains with the above mentioned areas seeing more snow...perhaps much more. With the blowing snowfall, drifts could reach as high as 2-4 feet causing problems of their own! Temperatures on Friday will struggle to make it out of the 20s with early day high temperatures in the 30s likely. Wind chill values will hover near or below zero throughout the day making it very hazardous if a motorist were to get stranded in a vehicle and not be able get out to seek help. Again, travel is discouraged anywhere on the High Plains and if possible, cancel or postpone travel until Saturday, when we start to warm back up...slowly.

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Comments (29)

pjtexgirl
15 years ago
WTF? We're in Texas right? I feel sorry for you. PJ
texaslynn
15 years ago
I feel for you, too. And I was just worried about the strong wind knocking my blooms off (which it is out there doing right now!)
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carrie751
15 years ago
Oh, Richard, do you have things you will have to cover? I was just concerned with my tomatoes, and a few other things that will NOT like the upper 30's. MN has been a strange lady this year.
I am hoping you plan on staying home Friday !!!
Gardener972
15 years ago
Can I come visit? I grew up in northern Kansas and miss the snow.
bossjim1
15 years ago
Hey Richard, we just got 2" of rain in a little less than an hour, but sure wouldn't trade. Stay inside, and stay warm.
Jim
shebear
15 years ago
Isn't there an old saying about "the only thing between the Texas Panhandle and Canada is a barbed wire fence."

You knew we had to have just one more "cold spell" before April.
mikeandbarb
15 years ago
I was hoping that the warm weather was here to stay. Well, MN had other plans. I've already planted maters and peppers, covered them last night. Guess the flowers I got will just have to suck it up not to mention all of the plants that have broke dormancy, like Hosta's , daylily leaves are looking great and I figured I'd be seeing some scapes soon, still could but with the cold it can make the first set of flowers deformed :(

Stay warm inside with a good movie,some chilli and hot coco.
rcnaylor
Original Author
15 years ago
Well, the snow isn't as deep as they predicted - yet. Chill factor is 5 degrees. Gusts to 43.

I moved most of the plants I had going in.

One thing I am worried about is 2 Russian pomegranates I have had just started leafing out. They hadn't blossomed, and they had already taken 8 degree weather when they were dormant, but, you know how us gardeners worry.

Of course, the plums, cherries and pears that had bloomed will get friz. Oh well, gardening in the panhandle. You gotta be a little daft to begin with. ;)

Its supposed to snow all day. There is still time for some of those 10 to 20 foot drifts they say might hit the northern Panhandle to get here.
rcnaylor
Original Author
15 years ago
The main part of the storm hasn't arrived yet, but its sure not looking much like spring around here:
justintx
15 years ago
Hang in there RC! And shut that dang gate.
;-)
J.D.
shebear
15 years ago
Yeah I'm thinking we need some northern border patrol. Something to keep those Canadian northers out of here this time of year.
carrie751
15 years ago
I agree, shebear, keep it in Canada where they are used to it.
R.C., looks miserable, but as J.D. asked, "Please shut the gate" !!!!!
knittlin
15 years ago
Hoo, boy! Sorry to see that. But y'all in Amarillo made the national news ~ just saw footage of the snow on Headline News. I hope everyone who has things sprouting won't get too much damage. I'm going to some friends' house tonight for a get together and we expect it to blow in down here during it. That'll drive us in off the deck.

Day before yesterday, we had quite a big storm blow through. Hail the size of golf balls twenty miles west of me and forty or so northeast. This is what I got:
{{gwi:45279}}

Luckily, there wasn't a lot of it. My trees and one pepper plant took the brunt of it.
TxMarti
15 years ago
We called mil about an hour ago in Pampa and she said the thermometer has too much snow on it to read. Brrr.
pjtexgirl
15 years ago
HOLY MOLY this sure is wierd. I think of March as the start of spring. Canada thinks it can just come over here and cause all kinds of havoc!!! PJ
lou_spicewood_tx
15 years ago
PJ,

Remember 2 years ago, we had snow over Easters weekend? That was in April.....
mikeandbarb
15 years ago
I heard we could get some snow,sleet tonight and tom. morning :(

I don't want it so hot you can fry and egg on the sidewalk but I was so enjoying the nice weather we were having.
fliptx
15 years ago
No snow/freeze here, but the hail was CRAZY yesterday. Most of it was in the pea to golf ball size range, but I saw a few chunks the size of tennis balls. They hit the ground so hard they'd bounce back up four or five feet. Somehow, luck was on my side and the really big ones didn't hit my car or garden.
rcnaylor
Original Author
15 years ago
It got deeper before it quit. Here's a couple from yesterday afternoon.
carrie751
15 years ago
Brrrr, Richard, that is more snow than I ever want to see at my house. I can take the heat so much better.
lou_spicewood_tx
15 years ago
Poor plants!
melvalena
15 years ago
I was thinking about taking the grand kids and driving to the snow... after looking at the maps and thinking about it.. its just not worth the drive, unless we planned to spend the night at a motel. In the end I decided against it. :(

I think it would have been a fun quick trip.
Maybe next year I'll plan ahead for such a trip with them.
carrie751
15 years ago
And I am sure Richard will be hoping you have to do it sooner than the end of March (grin) !!!
rcnaylor
Original Author
15 years ago
Well, here is the "final count" on our spring blizzard up here (before and after):

{{gwi:57065}}

{{gwi:57062}}

{{gwi:57063}}

{{gwi:57061}}
pjtexgirl
15 years ago
Lou, yep snow on Easter! I was surprised!!!
RC that is just gorgeous! What stunning colors!

Thank goodness you had that protecting covering of snow. Weather like that with out water is a sure plant killer! (We had very cold/windy/dry spells in the Mojave that would decimate a garden just like that!) PJ
beachplant
15 years ago
BRRRRR! I'll quit complaining about the 45 with wind chill of 34 we had Friday. Your poor plants! Hope you warm up soon.
TallyHO!
blubelle
15 years ago
I remember that type of weather very well..grewup in it in Pampa.
I can remember my freshman year of HS it Spring weather that morning and by noon was a blizzard so bad you couldn't see 1 foot in front of you...that was a fun week...lol
uhohgardner
15 years ago
uh, RC, it looks like someone kind of left a kid in a swing out in the snow in that picture.
Missing anyone?
Thanks for blocking that stuff from getting here!
Lonny
rcnaylor
Original Author
15 years ago
Ha. Thanks guys. It was kind of pretty as a juxtaposition. Can't complain about the weather guys on this one. They told us when it looked like full blown summer that winter was coming the next day. So, I decided to get some before shots for the after.

The cold did do a number on some plants, the fruiting ones that had come out. But, on most of the blooming ones in the pics, they were set back some but will be OK.

Blue Bell, the least you could have done is come up and help us close the door, we may have another shot of snow tonight. Crazy.

And, uhohgardner, sharp eye. The good news is the only thing we found that had been buried under the snow once it all melted was a newspaper whose headline (would have) warned us "Blizzard on the way". Ha. All children accounted for. ;)

They say we got more snow last Friday than we had in the prior three years combined.