Heavy Snow in Texas, May 1 to 2, 2005

Name: Heavy Snow in Texas, May 1 to 2, 2005
Start: 2005-05-01T23:00
End: 2005-05-02T10:00
Location: Texas

May 1 to 2, 2005 · NWS AMA · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

A surge of cold air pushed south across the Texas panhandle while a disturbance in the upper atmosphere approached from the southern Rockies. and the upper disturbance produced heavy snowfall across the western and central Texas panhandle during the morning hours.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 4 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: 4

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 surge of cold air pushed south across the Texas panhandle while a disturbance in the upper atmosphere approached from the southern Rockies. The combination of the cold air mass...moist upslope surface flow...and the upper disturbance produced heavy snowfall across the western and central Texas panhandle during the morning hours. Four inches of snow was reported at Vega....seven miles south of Adrian...and in Channing. Four to five and a half inches of snow was reported two miles northeast of Pantex.

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 May 1, 9:39 PM CST, 1 hour 21 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 1, 9:39 PM CST, 1 hour 21 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
1039 PM CDT SUN MAY 1 2005

.UPDATE...
RAIN CONTINUES ACROSS MOST OF THE NORTHERN CWA THOUGH LIGHT SNOW IS
BEING OBSERVED IN TEXLINE. THE SNOW WILL SPREAD EAST INTO THE
ADVISORY AREA BUT WILL BE SLOW TO ACCUMULATE DESPITE DECENT QPF
THANKS TO WARM TEMPS AND DEWPOINTS. WARMED UP LOW TEMPS SLIGHTLY ON
TUESDAY MORNING AND REMOVED SNOW WORDING SINCE THE LARGE SCALE
ASCENT MOVES SOUTH AND THE ATMOSPHERE DOES NOT APPEAR COLD ENOUGH TO
SUPPORT SOLID PRECIP.

HENNIG

&&

.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 205 PM CDT SUN MAY 1 2005/

DISCUSSION...
MUCH BELOW NORMAL TEMPS TO RULE FOR THE NEXT FEW DAYS ACROSS THE
TEXAS AND OK PANHANDLES WITH SEVERAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR BENEFICIAL
RAINFALL.

ATTM...LIGHT SHOWERS BREAKING OUT ACROSS THE PANHANDLES IN ADVANCE OF
AN APPROACHING UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE FROM SOUTHERN CO. RAIN WILL BE
ON THE INCREASE TONIGHT BECOMING LIKELY ACROSS ALL OF THE AREA BY
SUNRISE MONDAY.  ATMOSPHERIC PROFILE MAY BE JUST COLD ENOUGH TO
SUPPORT SNOW ACROSS THE HIGHER TERRAIN OF THE NORTHWEST TEXAS AND
WESTERN OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES LATE TONIGHT AND MONDAY MORNING. IF THIS
TRANSITION TO SNOW OCCURS...IT IS POSSIBLE THAT 1 TO 3 INCHES OF SNOW
MAY ACCUMULATE ON GRASSY AND ELEVATED SURFACES. THEREFORE...WE WILL
CONTINUE THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR THESE AREAS.  RAIN LIKELY
ACROSS THE REST OF THE FORECAST AREA THROUGHOUT MUCH OF THE DAY
MONDAY. DECENT ISENTROPIC LIFT AND UPSLOPE FLOW WILL ENHANCE THE
PRECIP CHANCES. CANT RULE OUT A SNOW FLAKE OR TWO MIXING IN WITH THE
RAIN ACROSS THE WESTERN HALF OF THE PANHANDLES MON MORNING...BUT NO
ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED IF THIS OCCURS. RAIN SHOULD DIMINISH LATE
MON AFTERNOON AND EVENING AS SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS. ANOTHER
DISTURBANCE MAY AFFECT THE PANHANDLES ON TUESDAY...BUT MODELS VARY ON
THE TRACK OF THIS SYSTEM. WILL LEAVE POPS IN FOR NOW...BUT SYSTEM MAY
STAY SOUTH OF THE AREA. MID LEVEL RIDGING SHOULD PROVIDE A BREAK IN
PRECIP CHANCES WED NIGHT AND THURSDAY AS A STRONG UPPER TROF DEVELOPS
ACROSS THE WEST COAST. RAIN AND THUNDERSTORM CHANCES WILL BE BACK IN
THE FORECAST OVER THE WEEKEND AS THIS UPPER LOW APPROACHES THE AREA
AND MAY SET THE STAGE FOR SOME STRONG STORMS. WILL CONTINUE THE 30
PERCENT POPS FOR LATE FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY.

TEMPS ARE EXPECTED TO FALL TO AROUND FREEZING OR SLIGHTLY BELOW
ACROSS THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY AREA BOTH TONIGHT AND MONDAY
NIGHT...AND INTO THE MID AND UPPER 30S ELSEWHERE. SOMEWHAT WARMER ON
TUE...THEN MUCH WARMER THURSDAY AND FRIDAY.

&&

.AMA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OK...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT UNTIL NOON CDT
      MONDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES...AND CIMARRON.
TX...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT UNTIL NOON CDT
      MONDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES...DALLAM...AND HARTLEY.

&&

15/10

Hazardous weather outlook, May 1, 11:00 PM CST, 0 minutes before

TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
1200 AM CDT MON MAY 2 2005

OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-021100-
ARMSTRONG-BEAVER-CARSON-CIMARRON-COLLINGSWORTH-DALLAM-DEAF SMITH-
DONLEY-GRAY-HANSFORD-HARTLEY-HEMPHILL-HUTCHINSON-LIPSCOMB-MOORE-
OCHILTREE-OLDHAM-POTTER-RANDALL-ROBERTS-SHERMAN-TEXAS-WHEELER-
1200 AM CDT MON MAY 2 2005

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

.DAY ONE...

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT UNTIL NOON CDT MONDAY FOR
ACCUMULATING SNOWFALL IN THE WESTERN OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE AND
NORTHWEST TEXAS PANHANDLE.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...

A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR ACCUMULATING SNOW CONTINUES IN EFFECT
UNTIL NOON CDT MONDAY FOR THE WESTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST
TEXAS PANHANDLES. TOTAL SNOWFALL AMOUNTS OF 1 TO 2 INCHES OF SNOW CAN
BE EXPECTED WITH LOCALLY HIGHER AMOUNTS NEAR 3 INCHES ACROSS THE
HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF CIMARRON COUNTY IN THE WESTERN OKLAHOMA
PANHANDLE SOUTH INTO WESTERN HARTLEY COUNTY IN THE NORTHWEST TEXAS
PANHANDLE.

THERE IS A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS MOST AFTERNOONS AND EVENINGS
FROM TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY...AS A SERIES OF WEAK UPPER LEVEL LOW
PRESSURE SYSTEMS MOVE ACROSS THE SOUTHERN HIGH PLAINS. THE BEST
CHANCES FOR THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE TUESDAY AFTERNOON AND THEN AGAIN
FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY. HOWEVER...THE POTENTIAL FOR WIDESPREAD SEVERE
WEATHER APPEARS LOW AT THIS TIME GIVEN THE EXPECTED LACK OF DEEP
SURFACE MOISTURE.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME.

GOEHRING

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Oldham

When: May 1, 11:00 PM CST to May 2, 5:13 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, Deaf Smith

When: May 2, 2:30 AM CST to 8:30 AM CST
Where: Deaf Smith forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 34.966, -102.605 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Hartley

When: May 2, 3:40 AM CST to 9:40 AM CST
Where: Hartley forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER
Coordinates: 35.840, -102.603 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Heavy Snow, Carson

When: May 2, 4:00 AM CST to 10:00 AM CST
Where: Carson forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 35.404, -101.354 (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 2005 Every state in 2005 This day in weather history Warnings in Texas, May 2005

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: 5450167, 5450168, 5450169, 5450170.