A cold front moved through the Texas Panhandle during the early afternoon hours of the 6th. The cooler post frontal airmass allowed temperatures to reach freezing during the early evening hours of the 6th and persist into the morning hours of the 7th.
Every event with a place to put it; 6 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 cold front moved through the Texas Panhandle during the early afternoon hours of the 6th. The cooler post frontal airmass allowed temperatures to reach freezing during the early evening hours of the 6th and persist into the morning hours of the 7th. These subfreezing temperatures threatened sensitive vegetation during the growing season. Overnight low temperatures ranged from 27 degrees at Panhandle (Carson County) to 30 degrees at Samnorwood (Collingsworth County). After sunrise on the 7th, temperatures quickly warmed above freezing by 9:00 AM CST.
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 Nov 6, 10:57 PM CST, 18 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
1057 PM CST WED NOV 6 2013
.AVIATION...
A CLEAR SKY WILL REMAIN OVERHEAD TONIGHT...AND WELL INTO THE DAY AND
EVENING ON THURSDAY. NO OVERNIGHT VISIBILITY RESTRICTIONS ARE
EXPECTED. LIGHT SOUTH SOUTHWEST SURFACE WINDS WILL SHIFT TO LIGHT
NORTHWEST AT NORTHERN TERMINALS BEFORE SUNRISE...WITH FURTHER VEERING
OCCURRING THURSDAY AND THURSDAY EVENING. SPEEDS WILL INCREASE TO
AROUND 15 KT BY EARLY AFTERNOON. AT KAMA...LIGHT SOUTH SOUTHWEST
SURFACE WINDS WILL PREVAIL OVERNIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING...AND WILL
THEN INCREASE TO AROUND 15 KT BY EARLY AFTERNOON. VFR FORECAST
CONTINUES NEXT 24 HOURS.
COCKRELL
&&
.PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 740 PM CST WED NOV 6 2013/
DISCUSSION...
WE ADJUSTED LOW TEMPS DOWN 1-3 DEGREES ACROSS MOST OF THE AREA. WITH
VERY DRY AIR AND LIGHT WINDS IN PLACE, TEMPERATURES HAVE CRATERED
QUICKLY AFTER SUNSET. IN FACT, THE TEXAS TECH MESONET SITE AT
CLARENDON BRIEFLY DROPPED TO 37 F BEFORE RISING BACK TO 39 F.
THEREFORE, WE ALSO STARTED THE FREEZE WARNING MUCH EARLIER (9 PM
TONIGHT) THAN PREVIOUSLY ANTICIPATED DUE TO THE RAPID DROP IN TEMPS.
SEVERAL LOCATIONS IN THE SOUTHEAST TEXAS PANHANDLE MAY EVEN
EXPERIENCE A KILLING FREEZE (I.E. TEMPS 28 F OR LOWER). SURFACE
WINDS WILL SHIFT TO A MORE DOWNSLOPE WEST/SOUTHWEST COMPONENT CLOSE
TO SUNRISE, POSSIBLY ALLOWING TEMPERATURES TO WARM SLIGHTLY LATE
TONIGHT. NONETHELESS, CONFIDENCE IN ALL LOCATIONS SEEING A FREEZE
TONIGHT IS VERY HIGH. UPDATED PRODUCTS HAVE BEEN SENT.
JACKSON
PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 515 PM CST WED NOV 6 2013/
AVIATION...
A CLEAR SKY IS EXPECTED NEXT 24 HOURS WITH NO OVERNIGHT VISIBILITY
RESTRICTIONS EXPECTED. SURFACE WINDS EXPECTED TO BE LIGHT...
REMAINING BELOW 15 KT. ONLY ISSUE WILL BE TIMING OF WEAK WIND SHIFT
LINE WHICH WILL CAUSE SURFACE WINDS TO SHIFT TO NORTHWEST BEFORE
SUNRISE AT NORTHERN TERMINALS...FOLLOWED BY FURTHER VEERING TO
NORTHEAST AND THEN SOUTHEAST DURING THE DAY. WIND SHIFT LINE IS
EXPECTED TO DISSIPATE BEFORE REACHING KAMA. THUS...SOUTH SOUTHWEST
SURFACE WINDS EXPECTED TO PREVAIL THROUGH THE FORECAST PERIOD. VFR
FORECAST CONTINUES NEXT 24 HOURS.
COCKRELL
PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 250 PM CST WED NOV 6 2013/
DISCUSSION...
THANKS TO THE COOLER POST FRONTAL AIRMASS, TEMPERATURES HAVE SLOWLY
RAISED INTO THE 50S ACROSS THE TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES.
OVERNIGHT LOW TEMPERATURES TONIGHT AND THURSDAY MORNING ARE STILL
EXPECTED TO DROP TO AND BELOW FREEZING. AS SUCH THE FREEZE WATCH WAS
UPGRADED TO A FREEZE WARNING LATE THIS MORNING. TEMPERATURES WILL
SLOWLY RAISE ABOVE FREEZING BY 9 AM THURSDAY MORNING. THIS WILL
LIKELY BE THE LAST CHANCE THIS WEEK FOR THE SOUTHEAST TEXAS PANHANDLE
TO EXPERIENCE A FREEZE. TEMPERATURES WILL GRADUALLY RISE THROUGH
THURSDAY AS FLOW ALOFT BECOMES MORE ZONAL. ANOTHER WEEK COLD FRONT IS
EXPECTED FRIDAY BUT THIS SHOULD NOT IMPACT TEMPERATURES A GREAT DEAL.
ANOTHER STRONGER COLD FRONT WILL BE POSSIBLE AROUND THE MIDDLE OF
NEXT WEEK BUT THERE REMAINS A BIT OF DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE MID RANGE
MODELS. THE PREVIOUS RUN OF THE ECMWF KEPT A BACK DOOR COLD FRONT
EAST OF THE PANHANDLES WHILE THE GFS BROUGHT THE FRONT INTO THE CWA.
THE MOST RECENT RUN OF BOTH MODELS HAVE COME INTO A SLIGHTLY BETTER
AGREEMENT WITH BOTH MODELS BRINGING THE FRONT INTO THE AREA. HOWEVER
THE ECMWF LAGS BEHIND THE GFS BY ABOUT 6 HOURS. HAVE KEPT THE FRONTAL
PASSAGE DRY FOR NOW GIVEN THE VARIABILITY OF THE FRONTAL TIMING AND
WESTERN PROGRESSION.
FIRE WEATHER...
NEITHER ELEVATED NOR CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED
THURSDAY AFTERNOON. ELEVATED FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS WILL BE POSSIBLE
FRIDAY AFTERNOON ACROSS THE WESTERN AND CENTRAL PARTS OF THE OKLAHOMA
AND TEXAS PANHANDLES DUE TO SOUTHWEST WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WHILE
RELATIVE HUMIDITY VALUES FALL INTO THE 15 TO 20 PERCENT RANGE.
NEITHER ELEVATED NOR CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE ANTICIPATED
FROM SATURDAY THROUGH NEXT TUESDAY AT THIS TIME.
&&
.AMA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
TX...FREEZE WARNING UNTIL 9 AM CST THURSDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES:
ARMSTRONG...CARSON...COLLINGSWORTH...DONLEY...GRAY...
WHEELER.
OK...NONE.
&&
03/13HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX 729 PM CST WED NOV 6 2013 OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-071200- CIMARRON-TEXAS-BEAVER-DALLAM-SHERMAN-HANSFORD-OCHILTREE-LIPSCOMB- HARTLEY-MOORE-HUTCHINSON-ROBERTS-HEMPHILL-OLDHAM-POTTER-CARSON- GRAY-WHEELER-DEAF SMITH-RANDALL-ARMSTRONG-DONLEY-COLLINGSWORTH- 729 PM CST WED NOV 6 2013 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO DROP BELOW FREEZING TONIGHT ACROSS THE SOUTHEAST TEXAS PANHANDLE. A FREEZE WARNING IS IN EFFECT FOR THIS AREA BEGINNING AT 9 PM CST TONIGHT. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY. THE FREEZE WARNING FOR THE SOUTHEAST TEXAS PANHANDLE WILL CONTINUE UNTIL 9 AM THURSDAY AS LOW TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO FALL INTO THE UPPER 20S TO AROUND 30 DEGREES BY SUNRISE THURSDAY. ELEVATED FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS WILL BE POSSIBLE FRIDAY AFTERNOON ACROSS WESTERN AND CENTRAL PARTS OF THE OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS PANHANDLES DUE LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITIES AND BREEZY 20 FOOT WINDS. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. AREA FIRE MANAGERS AND EMERGENCY OFFICIALS ACROSS WESTERN AND CENTRAL SECTIONS OF THE OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS PANHANDLES SHOULD BE ALERT FOR ELEVATED FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS FRIDAY AFTERNOON. JACKSON
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
The overnight low for Clarendon was 28 degrees.
The overnight low for Pampa was 28 degrees.
The overnight low for Panhandle was 27 degrees.
The overnight low for Shamrock was 29 degrees.
The overnight low for Claude was 28 degrees.
The overnight low for Samnorwood was 30 degrees.
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 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 476677, 476678, 477237, 477238, 477239, 477240.