Heavy Snow in Texas, January 16 to 17, 2001

Name: Heavy Snow in Texas, January 16 to 17, 2001
Start: 2001-01-16T05:25
End: 2001-01-17T06:00
Location: Texas

January 16 to 17, 2001 · NWS AMA · 9 events in 9 counties and zones

S. central and western sections of the Texas panhandle.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 9 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 9

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS AMA wrote it up.

A strong storm system in the upper atmosphere developed over the southwestern U.S. and then moved northeast affecting the northern...central and western sections of the Texas panhandle. Heavy snow fell across this area with amounts ranging from five to seven inches most locations to between eight and ten inches in the northwestern sections of the Texas panhandle.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Amarillo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 16, 4:30 AM CST, 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 16, 4:30 AM CST, 55 minutes before

TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
430 AM CST TUE JAN 16 2001

UPSLP FLOW HAS DVLPD IN EARNEST ACRS PNHDLS.  STRENGTH OF PRESSURE
GRADIENT ON W SIDE OF COLD SFC RDG SUGGESTS THAT 15 TO 25 MPH ELY
SFC WNDS WL BE SUSTAINED THRU MUCH OF TDA.  ECHOES SEEN ON 88D OVR
NWRN ZNS FIT WELL WITH H5 VOT MAX DEPICTED BY 00Z MODELS...LIFTING
NEWD IN DIFFLUENT FLOW.  STGR SHTWV/VOT MAX EXPCD TO MOV INTO SWRN
SXNS ERY THIS AFTN...WITH STG DYNAMICS PASSING OVR FCST AREA TNGT.
SGFNT H7 WAA EXPCD TO CONT...AS WILL STG ISENTROPIC LIFT.  CNVTV
INSTBY EXPCD TO INCR LATE MRNG THRU AFTN TDA.  SFC TO H7 MSTR WL INCR
DURG DAY...AND UPR ATMOSPHERE IS NR SATURATION.  AMS WL BE COLD
ENOUGH FOR SNOW ALL SXNS...WITH THE PSBL EXCEPTION OF SERN TX
PNHDL...WHERE WEAK WM NOSE ALF MAY PRST DURG MRNG BFR CAA AND
EVAPORATIVE COOLING MODIFY PROFILE TO POINT OF ALL SNOW. UPSLP
COMPONENT WL DMSH ONLY SLGTLY LATE TNGT.  THUS...WL ISSUE HVY SNOW
WARNING FOR ALL SXNS TDA AND TNGT.  UNCERTAIN ABT EVOLUTION OF H5
LOW...BUT IT APRS THAT IT WL OPEN UP INTO POS TILTED TROF LATE WED OR
ERY THU.  WL KEEP LOW CHC POPS FOR LGT SN WED AND WED NGT.  WL ASSESS
EXTDkD LATER AND UPDT FCST IF NECESSARY.  03

.AMA...
TX...HEAVY SNOW WARNING TODAY AND TONIGHT TX ZNS 01>20.
OK...HEAVY SNOW WARNING TODAY AND TONIGHT OK ZNS 01>03.

COCKRELL

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

9 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Dallam

When: January 16, 5:25 AM CST to January 17, 6:00 AM CST
Where: Dallam forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 36.278, -102.602 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Hansford

When: January 16, 5:25 AM CST to January 17, 6:00 AM CST
Where: Hansford forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 36.278, -101.354 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Hartley

When: January 16, 5:25 AM CST to January 17, 6:00 AM CST
Where: Hartley forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.840, -102.603 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Hutchinson

When: January 16, 5:25 AM CST to January 17, 6:00 AM CST
Where: Hutchinson forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.840, -101.355 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Moore

When: January 16, 5:25 AM CST to January 17, 6:00 AM CST
Where: Moore forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.838, -101.893 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Oldham

When: January 16, 5:25 AM CST to January 17, 6:00 AM CST
Where: Oldham forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.405, -102.603 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Sherman

When: January 16, 5:25 AM CST to January 17, 6:00 AM CST
Where: Sherman forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 36.278, -101.893 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Carson

When: January 16, 5:25 AM CST to January 17, 6:00 AM CST
Where: Carson forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.404, -101.354 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Potter

When: January 16, 5:25 AM CST to January 17, 6:00 AM CST
Where: Potter forecast zone
Reported by: LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates: 35.401, -101.894 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Texas in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Texas, January 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5228227, 5228228, 5228229, 5228230, 5228231, 5228232, 5228233, 5228234, 5228235.