Heavy Snow in Texas, December 23, 2004

Name: Heavy Snow in Texas, December 23, 2004
Start: 2004-12-23T01:00
End: 2004-12-23T13:00
Location: Texas

December 23, 2004 · NWS AMA · 1 event in 1 county or zone

A low pressure system over the southern Rockies combined with a cold and moist air mass to produce four inches of snow at the National Park Service Lake Meredith in southwestern Hutchinson county.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

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Wind
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Heat and drought
Cold
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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

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 low pressure system over the southern Rockies combined with a cold and moist air mass to produce four inches of snow at the National Park Service Lake Meredith in southwestern Hutchinson county.

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 Dec 22, 10:05 PM CST, 2 hours 55 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Dec 22, 10:05 PM CST, 2 hours 55 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
1005 PM CST WED DEC 22 2004

.UPDATE...
MAJOR CHANGES TO THE FORECAST PACKAGE WERE TO BACK OFF ON TIMING OF
NEXT SNOW EVENT UNTIL THURSDAY RATHER THAN LATE TONIGHT.  00Z
MODELS SLOWER IN BRINGING THE NEXT UPPER TROUGH OUT OF THE GREAT
BASIN AND CENTRAL ROCKIES TONIGHT AND THEN MOVING IT TO NEAR THE
FOUR CORNERS REGION BY 18Z THURSDAY.  AS A REASULT OF THE SLOWER
TIMING OF THIS UPPER TROUGH...BACKED OFF ON POPS AND PRECIP TONIGHT
AND MOVED SNOW ADVISORY FOR 06Z THURSDAY TO 12Z THURSDAY.  ALSO...
UPDATED DEW POINT AND WIND GRIDS TONIGHT.  ON THE FIRE WEATHER
GRIDS...LOWERED HAINES INDICIES TONIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY TO 2 OR 3
(VERY LOW) DUE TO SNOW COVER AND UPDATED 20 FOOT WIND GRIDS.
OTHERWISE...NO OTHER CHANGES MADE TO PREVIOUS FORECAST.

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION...
SO MUCH TO DO...SO LITTLE TIME.  FIRST WAVE HAS MOVED EAST OF THE
AREA AND A FEW SNOW SHOWERS HAVE LINGERED ACROSS THE SWRN PORTIONS OF
THE TX PNHDL.  AMOUNTS HAVE GENERALLY BEEN UP TO 3 IN ACROSS THE SC
THRU NW TX PNHDL...WITH THE WFO HAVING THE LARGEST TOTAL AT 3.7
INCHES.  SHOULD SEE A BRIEF BREAK TONIGHT BEFORE INFLUENCES FROM
NEXT S/W START TO HEAD OVER THE REGION AROUND MIDNIGHT.  AFTER
EXCELLENT COORDINATION WITH MOST SURROUNDING OFFICES...WENT AHEAD AND
ISSUED SNOW ADVISORY FOR THE WRN TWO-THIRDS OF THE TX AND OK PNHDLS
FROM MIDNIGHT THRU 6 PM CST THURSDAY. ALSO ADJUSTED POP AND SNOW
GRIDS TO REFLECT THINKING ON PROGRESSION OF THE S/W AND SNOWFALL.
ALSO DROPPED LOW TEMPS TONIGHT ACROSS THE NORTHEAST WHERE CLEARING
HAS OCCURRED WHICH SHOULD ALLOW SOME RADIATIONAL COOLING BEFORE
NEXT WAVE APPROACHES.

TEMPERATURES SHOULD NOT SEE MUCH OF A DIURNAL RANGE TOMORROW AS NE
WINDS CONTINUE TO PULL IN ARCTIC AIR THRU THE LOWEST PART OF THE
ATMOSPHERE.  AGAIN...IT APPEARS THAT COLD CONDITIONS ALOFT WILL
PREVENT LARGE FLAKES FROM FORMING SO 1 TO 3 INCH AMOUNTS SHOULD FALL
IN THE ADVISORY AREA.  BUFKIT/GFS/ETA SOUNDINGS AND TIME-SERIES
ACROSS THE REGION INDICATE HEAVIEST SNOWFALL TO OCCUR ACROSS THE NW
TX AND OK PNHDLS SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT...ACROSS THE SC AND SW TX
PNHDL BTW 8AM AND NOON...AND THEN SLOWLY TAPER OFF THROUGH THE LATE
AFTERNOON.

COLD CONDITIONS TO CONTINUE THROUGH CHRISTMAS EVE WITH TEMPS FRI
MORNING DROPPING INTO THE SINGLE DIGITS AREA WIDE.  DID ADJUST LOW
TEMPS DOWN ON FRI MORN BY 2 TO 3 DEGREES AS SNOW COVER...CLEAR
SKIES...AND LIGHT WINDS ALLOW FOR EXCELLENT RADIATIONAL COOLING.
WIND CHILL VALUES LOOK TO BRIEFLY FALL BELOW ZERO...AND BEARS
WATCHING.  ALSO ADJUSTED HIGH TEMPS ON FRI TO ACCOUNT FOR SNOW
COVER BY DROPPING TEMPS ACROSS THE SW.  DID THE SAME FOR HIGH TEMPS
ON CHRISTMAS DAY...LOWERING THE SW TX PNHDL A BIT AND BUMPING UP
THE NE WHERE LITTLE SNOWCOVER SHOULD EXIST.

WITH ALL THE WINTER WONDERLAND GOING ON...NOT MUCH TIME TO ADJUST
FCST/GRIDS BEYOND DAY 5. PREV DISCUSSION HAD GOOD HANDLE ON THINGS.

FCSTID = JORDAN

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
AMARILLO     17  21   6  26 /  50  70  40  10
BEAVER        8  21   4  31 /  50  60  20  10
BOISE CITY   12  21   2  30 /  60  60  20  10
BORGER       16  23   7  28 /  50  60  30  10
BOYS RANCH   16  23   5  28 /  50  70  40  10
CANYON       17  22   6  26 /  50  70  50  10
CLARENDON    16  23   8  27 /  30  50  30  10
DALHART      14  23   6  28 /  60  70  30  10
GUYMON       10  21   3  31 /  60  60  20  10
HEREFORD     17  23   5  24 /  50  70  60  10
LIPSCOMB      9  21   3  30 /  40  50  20  10
PAMPA        15  22   7  28 /  40  60  20  10
SHAMROCK     15  24   6  29 /  30  40  20  10
WELLINGTON   16  26   8  30 /  30  40  30  10

&&

.AMA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
TX...SNOW ADVISORY FROM 6 AM THURSDAY THROUGH 6 PM CST THURSDAY
     FOR TXZ001>003-006>008-011>013-016>018.
OK...SNOW ADVISORY FROM 6 AM THURSDAY THROUGH 6 PM CST THURSDAY
     FOR OKZ001>OKZ002.

&&

14/11

Hazardous weather outlook, Dec 23, 12:18 AM CST, 42 minutes before

TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
1218 AM CST THU DEC 23 2004

OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-231200-
ARMSTRONG-BEAVER-CARSON-CIMARRON-COLLINGSWORTH-DALLAM-DEAF SMITH-
DONLEY-GRAY-HANSFORD-HARTLEY-HEMPHILL-HUTCHINSON-LIPSCOMB-MOORE-
OCHILTREE-OLDHAM-POTTER-RANDALL-ROBERTS-SHERMAN-TEXAS-WHEELER-
1218 AM CST THU DEC 23 2004

...A SNOW ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FROM 6 AM THIS MORNING UNTIL 6 PM
THIS EVENING FOR THE WESTERN TWO-THIRDS OF THE TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA
PANHANDLES...

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA
PANHANDLES.

.DAY ONE...

ACCUMULATING SNOWS ARE EXPECTED TO BEGIN EARLY THIS MORNING ACROSS
WESTERN PARTS OF THE PANHANDLES.

ONE TO THREE INCHES OF SNOW ARE EXPECTED ACROSS THE SNOW ADVISORY
AREA.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY...

DANGEROUSLY LOW WIND CHILL VALUES ARE POSSIBLE FOR A BRIEF TIME LATE
THURSDAY NIGHT AND EARLY FRIDAY MORNING.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...
SPOTTERS...COOPERATIVE OBSERVERS...AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIALS
SHOULD CONTINUE TO CALL IN NEW SNOWFALL TOTALS.

COCKRELL

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Hutchinson

When: December 23, 1:00 AM CST to 1:00 PM CST
Where: Hutchinson forecast zone
Reported by: PARK/FOREST SERVICE
Coordinates: 35.840, -101.355 (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 2004 Every state in 2004 This day in weather history Warnings in Texas, December 2004

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: 5432560.