2019 Year In Review

Click on the tabs in the map for pictures of the January 2nd snowfall from area residents.

Freezing fog occurred across much of the area, when a cold front moved through the region late in the day on the 5th. Much of the landscape looked like the picture to the right, taken by Mike Cofer near Guymon, Oklahoma.

An upper level low moved over the Central Plains Wednesday as a closed surface low rapidly intensified over the eastern parts of Colorado. The 971 mb low centered over southeastern Colorado and southwestern Kansas with impressive pressure gradients at all levels drove widespread strong winds to the surface across the Panhandles.

Sustained winds of 40+ mph occurred across the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles with the highest sustained wind of 67 mph measured by the West Texas Mesonet site 7 miles south southeast of Amarillo, Texas at 3:02 PM CDT. Wind gusts across the Panhandles reached 60+ mph with the highest wind gust of 84 mph measured by the West Texas Mesonet site 1 mile west northwest of Fritch, Texas at 12:28 PM CDT. The Amarillo International Airport received a peak sustained wind of 64 mph at 1:27 PM CDT and a peak gust of 80 mph at 1:20 PM CDT. This wind gust is the second highest on record at the NWS Amarillo Office.

Widespread wind damage was reported across the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles including, but not limited to, multiple overturned semi trucks, uprooted trees, downed power lines, roofs blown off, building damage, and displaced objects such as trampolines. Multiple road closures and delays along with power outages occurred due to downed power lines and overturned semi trucks as very strong crosswinds caused travel difficulties for high profile vehicles.

Zoom in and out on the map to see the reports of high winds and/or damage on March 13, 2019

Damage pictures from the winds on March 13, 2019

Click on the tabs in the map on the right, to see pictures submitted by area residents.

A strong storm system moved across the Four Corners region. This low gradually shifted east-northeastward through the day. The atmosphere supported rotating storms and low level rotation supporting the potential for tornadoes. Several storms developed with hail that ranged from accumulating small hail, up to as large as baseball sized hail which was supported by very cold mid level temperatures and strong deep layer shear.

Very few wind reports came out of this storm, but there were a couple gusts around 60 mph. Several funnel clouds and two brief tornadoes have been confirmed with no reports of damage so far. One tornado was 8 miles southeast of Wilco in Hartley County, and the second was 9 miles southwest of Cactus in Moore County. 

Click on the numbered links to see some of the pictures from around the area of the storms from March 22, 2019.

A total of 25 tornadoes occurred across the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles during the month of May, 2019. The two biggest days were May 7th and May 23rd. On the 7th, there were 8 confirmed tornadoes, while another 8 were confirmed on the afternoon and evening of May 23rd.

Map on the right shows all the confirmed tornadoes for the month of May, 2019

Use the map on the right to zoom in and out to see all of the tornadoes on the 23rd.

A vigorous upper level low pressure system developing across the western United States was positioned over southern Nevada by Thursday morning, May 23rd, 2019 while a frontal boundary settled across the Panhandles. Significant wind shear and instability developed as moisture was drawn north into the Panhandles setting the stage for a very long duration, high end severe thunderstorm episode which lasted much of the day and into the evening hours.

In the morning, elevated supercell storms developed in the northwest Texas Panhandles on the cold side of a nearly stationary frontal boundary and moved northeast into the central Oklahoma Panhandle as the first upper level disturbances moved across the area. Hail up to golf ball size and wind damage was reported with these storms despite temperatures in the 50s.During the afternoon hours, upper level disturbances, daytime heating and the very pronounced frontal boundary stretching from near Amarillo northeast into Beaver County, Oklahoma became the main catalyst for surface based supercells which produced very large hail up to baseball size and tornadoes. Two very large and long tracked tornadoes produced damage across the northeast Panhandles. Both tornadoes were over ½ mile wide at some point. The tornadoes were rated EF-2s based on the damage, but they remained in very rural areas throughout their life-cycle. One tornado destroyed a home as it crossed the county line from Beaver to Ellis County Oklahoma. A total of eight tornadoes occurred during this event, however three of these were landspouts that developed along an outflow produced by storms early in the event. With the loss of daytime heating, supercells congealed into a line which produced gusty winds and hail across the eastern Texas Panhandle before finally moving east and exiting the region in the early morning hours on May 24th.

Below are the tornadoes working from the north towards the south of the forecast area. 

Photos from some of the tornado damage in the northeastern part of the forecast area.

Heavy rainfall in and near Amarillo.

Around 7-8 PM on Saturday, June 1st, the Amarillo area saw a fairly quick moving storm system move across the area. The rain only occurred for about an hour, but in less than 30 minutes, around 3/4" of rain fell across the city. As the storms produced heavy rainfall in such a short time, flash flooding was a big problem, especially near and just south of Interstate 40.

Video by Matt Grantham - click on the "play" button to play video. Video has no sound.

Click the video on the right to play (silent) video. Video is courtesy of the City of Borger Emergency Management

On Tuesday, June 18th several isolated, but long long-lived supercells tracked from west-northwest to east-southeast across much of the Texas Panhandle. While the storms led to several tornado warnings and did produce a short lived tornado, very large hail and straight line wind damage were the main impacts from these classic and picturesque supercells.

The strongest storm storm produced hail 2 to 3 inches in diameter from near Borger to Pampa, ripped the roof completely off a small business in southeast Borger and snapped numerous power poles along its path. This same storm produced a rope tornado near Kings Mill, just west of Pampa and just north of highway 60. Later in the night, a bowing line of thunderstorms produced strong wind gusts in Beaver County Oklahoma where an automated sensor recorded a peak wind gust of 64 mph. The storms congealed into a line of storm as they exited the Panhandles and tracked east across Oklahoma in the evening and overnight hours.

Fairly quiet few months. Had the occasional thunderstorm, but very little significant weather.

October 2019 was the 5th wettest October on record dating back to 1892 for Amarillo, TX. The beginning of October started out with the first day measuring 2.08” of rain breaking the old record of 1.36” in 1925. Amarillo also received an additional 3.30” over the next three days. A large area from the southwest to the northeastern Texas Panhandle received between 2 and 5 inches of rain in the first four days of October.  

A strong early season winter storm affected the area during the day on October 24, 2019. Around 5.5" of snow fell in Amarillo, with other areas receiving a bit more.

A vigorous storm system affected the panhandle and West Texas during the day on Tuesday, November 26th. The peak wind gust was 71 mph, which occurred in the early afternoon in Fritch, Texas.

The combination of high winds and dry conditions led to at least 4 wildfires to occur during the afternoon on Tuesday the 26th.

Highest Temperature in 2019: 104°F on August 7th and 19th

In 2019, there were 15 days which reached 100°F or higher.

Had the 5th warmest August on record and the 2nd warmest September on record. (Records go back to 1892)

Lowest Temperature in 2019: 7°F on February 8th and November 12th.

October was the 4th coldest October on record in Amarillo. (Records go back to 1892)

Record Highs and Lows Broken This Year:

Highest Wind Speed: 80 mph on March 13th. Third highest wind gust on record at Amarillo

Annual : 24.88 inches (through December 12th) Yearly Normal: 20.36 inches

Had the 5th wettest October on record in Amarillo, with 5.92"

5.5" of snow in Amarillo (through December 12th)

Had the third snowiest October on record.

Record Precipitation and Snow This Year:

Highest Temperature this year: 107°F on August 19th

In 2019, there were 28 days which reached 100°F or higher.

Had the 3rd warmest August on record and the warmest ever September on record. (Records go back to 1949)

Coldest Temperature this year: 10°F on February 8th

Had the 5th coldest October on record in Borger. (Records go back to 1949)

Record Highs and Lows Broken This Year:

Annual Total: 23.13 inches (through December 12th) Yearly Normal Precipitation: 22.85 inches

Borger received 6.5 inches of snow on October 24th, which brings the yearly total to 6.5 inches so far. This one event made this October the second snowiest October on record for Borger, TX.

Record Precipitation and Snow This Year: