About NWS Amarillo

Amarillo

The city of Amarillo has a lot to offer and it is home to the majority of our staff, although a few also live in nearby Canyon, Texas or other surrounding communities.  The Amarillo area continues to grow and the population of the metro area including Canyon is quickly approaching 300,000.  There are several museums, theaters, gaming/escape opportunities, minor league sports, parks/golf courses, shopping areas, and numerous restaurants. Amarillo has many of the amenities of a larger city, while maintaining a small town feel. A few specific opportunities are highlighted below, or you can go to the  Visit Amarillo  page for more detailed information.

WFO Amarillo

Our current building has been in use since 1989. Part of the first wave of new Weather Forecast Offices built as part of the NWS' Modernization and Restructuring program, it replaced a nearby building that had been in use since 1975.

Hodgetown

Amarillo is home to the Sod Poodles, the Double-A minor league affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Sod Poodles play in the 10-team Texas League. Your favorite MLB team's Double-A affiliate may visit Amarillo one or more times a year!

Tascosa Drive-In

One of a only a few hundred drive-in movie theatres still active in the United States, Tascosa Drive-In shows double features during the warm season.

Harrington Medical Campus

Featuring three hospitals (a VA Medical Center, Northwest Texas Hospital, and BSA Hospital) and a branch of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, the Harrington Medical Campus in northwestern Amarillo is the regional rub for medical care. The area also includes two notable non-medical attractions: Amarillo Botanical Gardens and the Don Harrington Discovery Center, a children's science museum.

John S. Stiff Memorial Park

Amarillo features several municipal parks, many of which are co-located with neighborhood schools. A few others, including this park, are co-located with playa lakes. The flat nature of the caprock leads to water draining into these lakes rather than into a stream or river; the resulting stagnant water then evaporates. During our uncommon wet periods, these playa lakes can sometimes expand large enough to cause flooding issues.

This park features walking paths, tennis courts, baseball and softball fields, a swimming pool, a dog run, a skate park, and is also co-located with a branch of the Amarillo Public Library.

Canyon, Texas

The city of Canyon, named for the nearby Palo Duro Canyon, is home to West Texas A&M University and the Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum. In addition to telling the history of the Panhandle and Texas South Plains, the museum is also home to some letters and paintings by Georgia O'Keefe, who taught at what was then West Texas State Normal College from 1916-1918.

Canyon is close enough that it is home to some NWS Amarillo staff. Check out more about Canyon here: https://www.canyontx.com/35/Visiting

Palo Duro Canyon

Located just 28 miles and less than 30 minutes from downtown Amarillo, the top attraction in our CWA is Palo Duro Canyon. Located southeast of Amarillo, it is the second largest canyon system in the United States, after the Grand Canyon. With infrastructure originally constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps during the Great Depression, a state park covers a good portion of the canyon, offering camping, a few rental cabins, hiking trails, horseback riding, and an outdoor play during the summer.

Click on the image above to explore multiple photos of Palo Duro Canyon.

Palo Duro Canyon Mesonet

Temperatures on the floor of the canyon can surpass 110 degrees with dozens of visitors a year requiring rescue due to heat exhaustion. To assist with office decision support services and to build a temperature record in the canyon, a West Texas Mesonet site was installed in Palo Duro Canyon around a decade ago.

Hereford, Texas

Pronounced HUR-furd, this city is named after the Hereford breed of cattle from Herefordshire in England with a distinguishing white face. The beef industry remains of high importance for this city and the Panhandles in general.

Goodnight, Texas

Named for Charles Goodnight, this unincorporated community is home to the Charles and Mary Ann Goodnight Ranch House, originally built in 1888, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. Goodnight and John Adair founded the JA Ranch, which still operates today, in 1876.

Shamrock, Texas

Home to an annual St. Patrick's Day festival, the city of Shamrock also contains the U-Drop Inn. Built in 1936 along Route 66, it has unique art deco architecture. Our CWA features several historical buildings and locations along the old Route 66. An animated re-creation of this building appeared in the movie Cars.

Pampa, Texas

What about Pampa?

The second largest city by population in the NWS Amarillo CWA, Pampa's location east of the average springtime position of the dryline has resulted in numerous tornadoes tracking through or near the city. While a public domain photo of the tornado is not available, a large portion of the lifecycle of the June 8, 1995 tornado was captured on a law enforcement dashcam, becoming one of the  most widely viewed tornado videos  in history.

Lake Meredith

Formed by Sanford Dam, Lake Meredith has outdoor activities, primarily boating and fishing, and is located only around 45 minutes from Amarillo. The depth of the lake is highly variable, with low points occurring during drought in both the immediate area and on the high terrain upstream in New Mexico.

Adrian, Texas

Adrian is the midpoint between Los Angeles and Chicago along Route 66.

Boys Ranch, Texas

Close to the location of the ghost town Tascosa, an early 1880s boomtown, Cal Farley's Boys Ranch is a school for at-risk youth.

Rita Blanca National Grassland

Created in response to the Dust Bowl, the Rita Blanca National Grassland was created to preserve soil and hold it in place. It also provides a visual example of what the Panhandles may have looked like before extensive plowing occurred in the early 20th century.

Lipscomb, Texas

With a population of just 37 people as of the 2010 census, the county seat of Lipscomb County is our least populous county seat. Being a county seat, you may give a spotter talk here at some point.

Guymon, Oklahoma

Guymon is the largest city by population in the Oklahoma Panhandle. From 1850 to 1890, what is now the Oklahoma Panhandle was unattached to any U.S. state or territory as a result of various legislative compromises ahead of the Civil War. It became attached to the Oklahoma Territory in 1890, which become the state of Oklahoma in 1907.

Black Mesa

At an elevation of 4,973 feet, Black Mesa is the highest point in the state of Oklahoma. The high point is accessible via a hiking trail.