Winter Storm in Texas, January 29 to 30, 1999

An intense winter storm severely impacted the northwestern South Plains and the extreme southwest Panhandle on the 29th and 30th. Over a foot of snow fell across parts of Parmer and Bailey Counties, where drifts reached as high as 6 feet and major highways were closed for hours. Five to seven inches of snow fell in Castro, Swisher, Lamb, and Cochran Counties. Some of these same areas received significant accumulations of freezing rain. The combined effect of this storm snapped numerous trees and tree limbs, and caused many thousands of people to lose power (some for more than two full days). In Swisher County alone, approximately 700 power poles were snapped or brought down due to the weight of the freezing rain and snow. The storm finally tapered off during the early hours on the 30th.The very early part of the storm may have contributed to 3 indirect fatalities and 8 indirect injuries due to a vehicle accident on U.S. Highway 84, seven miles southeast of Farwell in southern Parmer County. However, DPS officials attributed at least some of the blame of this accident to the "unsafe rate of speed" of the vehicle.