A very strong cold front dove through the Texas Panhandle during the day of the 21st. The cold airmass behind the front was fairly shallow with the lowest five to six thousand feet reaching temperatures below freezing.
Every event with a place to put it; 13 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS AMA wrote it up.
A very strong cold front dove through the Texas Panhandle during the day of the 21st. The cold airmass behind the front was fairly shallow with the lowest five to six thousand feet reaching temperatures below freezing. Above this cold near surface layer was a five to six thousand foot deep above freezing warm layer. This warm noise and a relative lack of moisture in the snow growth region of the atmosphere kept the precipitation type during the late night hours of the 21st mainly freezing drizzle. As the hours progressed into the early morning hours of the 22nd, the Dodge City, Kansas upper air sounding showed the snow growth region was saturating. This allowed for the precipitation type to transition to a freezing drizzle, sleet, and snow grain mixture. Precipitation remained a freezing drizzle, sleet, and snow grains mixture through the morning hours of the 23rd due to the snow growth region not becoming sufficiently saturated as observed on the Amarillo, Texas upper air sounding.
Several counties across the Texas Panhandle were impacted by this wintry mixture of precipitation. Sleet was first reported in Dalhart (Hartley and Dallam County) shortly before midnight on the 22nd while around a half hour later a member of the local broadcast media reported freezing drizzle on the southwest side of the city of Amarillo (Potter and Randall County). It wasn’t until 3:35 AM CST on the 22nd that the Amarillo ASOS reported freezing drizzle. The freezing drizzle reported at the Amarillo (Randall and Potter County) moved to the northeast and created a few slick spots on roadways near Pantex (Carson County) Shortly before 5:00 AM CST, a NWS employee reported spotty slick road conditions, mainly on bridges and overpasses, on the east side of town due to both freezing drizzle and snow grains. Around this same time, a trained spotter reported one to two inches of snow on the highways around the town of Texline (Dallam County), and crews were working to plow the highways. The snow band that created the inch of snow in Dallam County moved over the city for Stratford (Sherman County) before dissipating. The NWS COOP observer in Borger (Hutchinson County) also reported light sleet between 4:00 AM CST and 7:00 AM CST as a cell from Dumas (Moore County). Once the morning commute commenced around 7:00 AM CST on the 22nd, the Canyon (Randall County) Fire and Rescue reported black ice on Interstate 27 south of Loop 335 (Randall County) caused 3 to 4 vehicle accidents. A weather related accident was also reported in Armstrong County on US Highway 287 near the town of Goodnight. No reports of serious injuries were reported in association to these accidents. By 8:30 AM CST, the Collingsworth County Judge reported sleet had begun in the town of Wellington. By 10:00 AM CST, the Texas Department of Transportation based in Clarendon (Donley County) reported sleet covering the ground in town, and that slick roads were the cause of three semi-tractor trailers jack-knifing on US. Highway 287 between Goodnight (Armstrong County) and Clarendon (Donley County). They also reported US Highway 70 was becoming icy.
The combination of scattered precipitation and road crews working to keep roadways clear led to a lull in reports of accidents until the early morning hours of the 23rd. A NWS employee reported freezing rain on the eastern side of Amarillo (Potter and Randall County), and that there was an accident near the Big Texan Steak House (Potter County) around 1:30 AM CST. The freezing rain also led to icy conditions on streets in the town of Hereford (Deaf Smith County), on US Highway 60, and State Highway 385 within the county. Freezing rain also led to three vehicle accidents which involving 11 vehicles, causing 20 individuals to be transported to local hospitals, and resulted in three fatalities. A series of vehicle collisions began when two tractor trailers collided in the eastbound lane of Interstate 40. Motorist behind the tractor trailers lost control of their vehicles due to ice while trying to avoid the initial accident. Two passenger vehicles and seven tractor trailers collided with the initial tractor trailers. One fatality occurred when the driver of one of the wrecked tractor trailer exited the vehicle before being struck by another vehicle that had lost control and one passenger on each of the passenger vehicles were killed. The eastbound lanes of Interstate 40 near Vega (Oldham County) remained closed until the wrecked vehicles could be removed.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
13 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
One to two inches of storm total snow in Texline. Highway crews had been plowing.
Light accumulation of sleet in and around the city of Dalhart.
Less than one inch of snow/sleet interpolated to Stratford.
Freezing drizzle and sleet interpolated to less than a tenth of an inch at Dumas.
Multi-vehicle accident on Interstate 40 near Vega. Eleven vehicles involded, 20 people hospitalized, and three fatalities.
Freezing drizzle reported by TV media and reports of slick roads across the city.
Freezing drizzle led to 3 to 4 vehicle accidents on Interstate 27 south of loop 336.
Radio report of slick roads causing an accident on US Highway 287 near Goodnight.
County judge reported sleet in the town of Collingsworth.
Report of jack-knifed trailers on Highway 287 between Goodnight and Clarendon. Sleet was also reported in the city of Clarendon.
Sleet reported in Borger by the NWS Coop observer between 4 and 7 am.
Freezing drizzle caused icy roads in and around Hereford including Highway 60 and 385.
Freezing rain near Pantex created slick spots.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather, Oldham | 2013-11-21 | Male | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Indirect | |
| Winter Weather, Oldham | 2013-11-21 | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Indirect | ||
| Winter Weather, Oldham | 2013-11-21 | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Indirect |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2013Every state in 2013This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, November 2013
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 2026-10-01. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 483899, 483900, 483901, 483902, 483903, 483904, 483905, 483906, 483907, 483908, 483909, 483910, 483911.