The year ended with a relatively dry month for the Texas Panhandle. Only a few light precipitation events occurred from mid to late December, and these events were not widespread.
Every event with a place to put it; 16 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.
The year ended with a relatively dry month for the Texas Panhandle. Only a few light precipitation events occurred from mid to late December, and these events were not widespread. Most areas measured less than quarter of an inch. Extreme (D3) Drought remained along a line from east of Dalhart to near Clarendon and in the extreme northeastern Panhandle, though a few locations along this line worsened to Exceptional (D4) Drought by the end of December. Conditions in the southwestern Texas Panhandle worsened to a mix of Moderate (D1) Drought to Severe (D2) Drought. Otherwise, the remainder of the Panhandles maintained ratings of Moderate to Severe Drought conditions. Amarillo recorded 0.13 inches of precipitation for the month (0.58 inches below normal), Dalhart recorded 0.33 inches of precipitation (0.21 inches below normal), and Borger recorded 0.14 inches of precipitation (0.63 inches below normal).
Soil moisture was rated from very short to adequate during the month. Crops fared well during the month, with the remaining fall harvest finally getting to be harvested during the drier weather. Earlier planted winter wheat was looking good, and many fields were being used for cattle grazing. Rangeland and pasture continued to improve in some areas, but cattle herd sizes remained limited due to prolonged drought and high cattle prices. Upper soil zones were mostly in the 10 to 30 percent full range (moderate agriculturally dry), with locations in the eastern Panhandle generally drier. Deeper soil moisture was still below 70 percent of normal in much of the Texas Panhandle. The Palmer Drought Severity Index indicated a rating of Near Normal conditions for the Texas Panhandle. Countywide burn bans were supported in several counties.
Stream flows across the Texas Panhandle ranged from near normal in the south to much below normal in the north during December. The reservoirs of Lake Meredith and Palo Duro were below 6 percent and 2 percent capacity respectively, and Greenbelt Lake was near 12 percent capacity. Water watches for several public water systems persisted through December while voluntary to mandatory mild water restrictions were continued.
Economic losses due to the drought through December were predominantly the result of early losses in some late planted winter wheat and supplemental feed for cattle on drought-thinned rangeland and pastures.
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 30, 11:01 PM CST, 59 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX 1101 PM CST SUN NOV 30 2014 .AVIATION... FOR THE 06Z TAFS...VFR CONDITIONS EXPECTED THROUGH THE PERIOD AT ALL SITES. NORTHERLY WINDS TONIGHT THROUGH EARLY MONDAY MORNING WILL BE NEAR 15 TO 20 KTS AND GUST UP TO 25 KTS AT TIMES. THEN EXPECT WIND SPEEDS TO DECREASE BY MID-MORNING AND BECOME LIGHT AND SOUTHEASTERLY BY THE END OF THE PERIOD. NF && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 1013 PM CST SUN NOV 30 2014/ UPDATE... HAVE LOWERED 1ST PERIOD TEMPERATURES AND DEWPOINTS BY 2 TO 7 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT. NO OTHER CHANGES AT THIS TIME. UPDATED TEXT PRODUCTS WILL BE ISSUED SHORTLY. COCKRELL PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 524 PM CST SUN NOV 30 2014/ AVIATION... FOR THE 00Z TAFS...A COLD FRONT HAS MOVED THROUGH ALL TAF SITES...WITH NORTHERLY TO NORTHEASTERLY WINDS AT AROUND 15KTS. OCCASIONAL GUSTS TO AROUND 25 KTS WILL BE POSSIBLE THROUGHOUT THE NIGHT. LATER TONIGHT INTO MONDAY MORNING...SOME LOW CLOUDS COULD DEVELOP THOUGH NO CEILINGS BELOW VFR ARE ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. AT THE VERY END OF THE PERIOD...WINDS WILL BEGIN TO DECREASE IN SPEED AND BECOME MORE SOUTHERLY. NF PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 307 PM CST SUN NOV 30 2014/ DISCUSSION... WELL THE MUCH ADVERTISED COLD FRONT HAS ARRIVED AND MOVED THROUGH ALMOST ALL OF THE PANHANDLES THIS AFTERNOON. THOSE RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES WILL BE A DISTANT MEMORY ONCE PANHANDLE RESIDENTS AWAKEN TOMORROW MORNING. LOW TEMPERATURES WILL FALL ALL THE WAY INTO THE TEENS OVERNIGHT...A ROUGHLY 60 DEGREE TEMPERATURE SWING EXPECTED IN ALMOST 12 HOURS! HIGHS TOMORROW WILL NOT BE MUCH BETTER AS MOST LOCATIONS WILL NOT EVEN HIT THE FREEZING MARK AS CLOUDS SLOWLY CLEAR. MONDAY NIGHT WILL BE ANOTHER CHILLY ONE WITH LOWS IN THE LOW TO MID 20S EXPECTED. FOR ONCE...THIS ARCTIC COLD AIR IS SHALLOW ENOUGH THAT A RAPID TEMPERATURE REBOUND WILL BE POSSIBLE. IN FACT...SOUTHWESTERLY FLOW WILL DEVELOP QUICKLY ON TUESDAY ALLOWING HIGH TEMPERATURES TO REACH THE LOW 60S ACROSS THE WESTERN HALF OF THE PANHANDLES AND 50S ELSEWHERE. ANOTHER COLD FRONT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE AREA TUESDAY NIGHT KEEPING HIGHS BACK DOWN IN THE 40S AND 50S ON WEDNESDAY...BEFORE ANOTHER REBOUND OCCURS WITH TEMPERATURES BACK IN THE 50S AND 60S THURSDAY. FRIDAY AND THE WEEKEND...QUITE AN ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN WILL SET UP WITH ABOVE NORMAL SEASONAL TEMPERATURES AND PRECIPITATION EXPECTED. MEDIUM RANGE MODELS HAVE BEEN VERY CONSISTENT THAT THE BEST CHANCES FOR RAIN WILL BE SATURDAY NIGHT AND INTO SUNDAY WITH ISOLATED SHOWERS POSSIBLE FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY...ESPECIALLY EAST. AS WE GET CLOSER TO THIS TIME PERIOD...EXACT TIMING AND PRECIPITATION CHANCES WILL GET REFINED...BUT CONFIDENCE IS DEFINITELY INCREASING THE PANHANDLES WILL SEE RAIN THIS UPCOMING WEEKEND WITH UNSEASONABLY WARM TEMPERATURES IN THE 60S. && .AMA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...NONE. OK...NONE. && 06/03
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX 607 PM CST SUN NOV 30 2014 OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-011215- CIMARRON-TEXAS-BEAVER-DALLAM-SHERMAN-HANSFORD-OCHILTREE-LIPSCOMB- HARTLEY-MOORE-HUTCHINSON-ROBERTS-HEMPHILL-OLDHAM-POTTER-CARSON- GRAY-WHEELER-DEAF SMITH-RANDALL-ARMSTRONG-DONLEY-COLLINGSWORTH- 607 PM CST SUN NOV 30 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY. NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. JC
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
16 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
Severe Drought (D2) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Severe Drought (D2) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Severe Drought (D2) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Extreme Drought (D3) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Extreme Drought (D3) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Extreme Drought (D3) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Extreme Drought (D3) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Severe Drought (D2) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Severe Drought (D2) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Severe Drought (D2) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Extreme Drought (D3) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Extreme Drought (D3) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Severe Drought (D2) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Severe Drought (D2) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Severe Drought (D2) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
Severe Drought (D2) as depicted on the U.S. Drought Monitor.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, December 2014
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: 553665, 553666, 553667, 553668, 553669, 553670, 553671, 553672, 553673, 553674, 553675, 553676, 553678, 553679, 553680, 553681.