Author: David Drummond

Winter storm is underway in far west Texas and headed further in to Texas!  El Paso is seeing rare snowfall in the lower elevations, ranging from 3″ so far up to a foot in the higher elevations!  A quick look at the radar shows this may also be convective snowfall, so there could be some thundersnow as well.

Farther east across southeast New Mexico, the Texas South Plains and the Permian Basin, winter storm warnings have been hoisted along and west of a line from about Levelland, TX to Ft. Stockton, Texas, with a Winter Storm Watch in place for about 60 miles east of that line.

Conditions in this area will begin to deteriorate over the next several hours, with precipitation most likely starting as rain or sleet, and changing over to snow late tonight or early Tuesday morning.  By late Tuesday the area should be blanketed with snow, with accumulations maximized in the Seminole/Hobbs area and points south and west of there, 4 inches or more expected.

I’m preparing to go out and cover this event for media, and I may be out as early as pre-dawn tomorrow, and then on and off throughout the day.  Chase vehicle is geared up and ready for some snow chasing!  Once I get out, I’ll have the LIVE ChaseCam up and rolling as well.  It may be hit and miss depending on the event, so checking in with my Twitter or Facebook page will get you the most up to date information on when it will be live.

Winter is officially arriving in west Texas this week. Already a strong cold front has plowed through almost the entire state, bringing an end to the unseasonably warm fall weather we have been having.  Just Friday we were in the mid 70s across west Texas!

Current temps are still above freezing across most of west Texas, but with the sun setting that will soon change.  A cold rain took place overnight, and through much of today from the Lubbock area north through the Texas Panhandle, while some reports of snow, as much as two inches, fell in the Amarillo area, despite temps remaining slightly above freezing today.

Tonight should be mostly calm on the precipitation side this evening, but as an area of low pressure will slide east out of northern Mexico and in to far west Texas, precipitation will be on the increase, and could bring anything from cold rain to sleet to heavy snow, depending on your location.  Currently, the largest amounts of snow through late Monday appear they will fall over the Davis and Guadalupe mountains of far west Texas and eastern New Mexico as depicted in the graphic below.

As the low shifts further eastward, larger snow amounts are expected to shift eastward with it, bringing in heavier snows across the Permian Basin and Texas South Plains.  This is a classic winter weather setup for west Texas.

There is still some questions in the forecast models about the mode of precipitation, some favoring rain/sleet mix, and others favoring snow, and thus the only Winter Storm Watches issues so far have been for the mountain areas to the west.  This could change soon though as forecasters have great confidence in the evolution of this system, so stayed tuned to your local media sources, and have your NOAA Weather Radio on.  You can also check the National Weather Service pages for updates at:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lub/

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/maf/

Should a good snowfall indeed come to life, I’ll certainly be out gathering pictures and video for all you folks!