The final in a series of consecutive days with dense fog occurred during the early morning hours of the 13th. Visibility at or below one quarter mile occurred for at least a short period during the indicated time range in or near the cities of Amarillo (Potter and Randall counties), Clarendon (Donley County), Claude (Armstrong County), Hereford (Deaf Smith County), Miami (Roberts County), Pampa…
Every event with a place to put it; 10 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 final in a series of consecutive days with dense fog occurred during the early morning hours of the 13th. Visibility at or below one quarter mile occurred for at least a short period during the indicated time range in or near the cities of Amarillo (Potter and Randall counties), Clarendon (Donley County), Claude (Armstrong County), Hereford (Deaf Smith County), Miami (Roberts County), Pampa (Gray County), Panhandle (Carson County), Vega (Oldham County), Wellington (Collingsworth County), Wheeler (Wheeler County). By 11:00 AM CST, the fog had dissipated.
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 12, 11:46 PM CST, 14 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX 1146 PM CST FRI DEC 12 2014 .AVIATION... FOR THE 06Z TAFS...AREAS OF FOG WILL DEVELOP ONCE AGAIN TONIGHT INTO MID MORNING SATURDAY. SOME OF THE FOG MAY BECOME DENSE AT TIMES. EXPECT CONDITIONS TO RAPIDLY IMPROVE AROUND MID MORNING SATURDAY. WINDS WILL INCREASE SOMEWHAT ON SATURDAY ONCE THE FOG BURNS OFF AND LOW CIGS ERODE. THE NEXT STORM SYSTEM IS NOT FCST TO IMPACT THE TERMINAL SITES UNTIL AFTER 06Z SUNDAY. ANDRADE && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 532 PM CST FRI DEC 12 2014/ AVIATION... CONDITIONS REMAIN FAVORABLE FOR ANOTHER ROUND OF FOG AND LOW STRATUS OVERNIGHT TONIGHT AT THE TERMINALS. DALHART MAY BE ON THE EDGE OF THE LOWEST CONDITIONS AND IS EXPECTED TO LOWER TO MVFR. KAMA AND KGUY WILL HAVE THE POSSIBILITY TO LOWER TO LIFR BY 06Z TONIGHT AND PERSIST TO 15Z TOMORROW BEFORE IMPROVING. VFR CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST FROM 15Z THROUGH 00Z. PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 347 PM CST FRI DEC 12 2014/ DISCUSSION... IMMEDIATE FOCUS IS ON PROSPECTS FOR ADDITIONAL DENSE FOG OVERNIGHT. THE STRATUS SHIELD HAS MIXED OUT OVER ALL BUT THE CENTRAL/EASTERN OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE AND THE FAR EASTERN TEXAS PANHANDLE. MODELS SUGGEST STRATUS/FOG WILL EXPAND WESTWARD THIS EVENING IN THE CONTINUED MOIST ENVIRONMENT AND WITH AID OF UPSLOPE LOW LEVEL WINDS. A DENSE FOG ADVISORY MAY BECOME NECESSARY. ATTENTION ALSO IS FOCUSED ON POTENTIAL IMPACTS FROM A POTENT UPPER AIR LOW EXPECTED TO AFFECT THE REGION BY EARLY SUNDAY. THIS SYSTEM HAS RESULTED IN NEWSWORTHY IMPACTS ON THE WEST COAST...AND CURRENT VAPOR IMAGERY SHOWS EVIDENCE OF A STRONG UPPER JET NOW ENTERING THE BASE OF THE TROUGH...SIGNALING AN IMMINENT EASTWARD EJECTION. STRONG/ DEEP FORCING WILL SPREAD EAST AS THE CLOSED LOW APPROACHES/CROSSES THE CENTRAL NEW MEXICO ROCKIES LATE SATURDAY NIGHT/EARLY SUNDAY. ALL EVIDENCE SUGGEST THE CENTER OF THE LOW WILL TRANSIT THE CENTRAL/ NORTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE ON SUNDAY...AND MAY ACTUALLY DEEPEN AS IT EMERGES OVER THE LEE SLOPES. OF NOTE IS A NARROW PLUME OF INSTABILITY CHARACTERIZED BY SBCAPE AROUND 500 J/KG THAT PUSHES EASTWARD ACROSS THE TEXAS PANHANDLE...IN IMMEDIATE ADVANCE OF THE SYSTEM/S DRY SLOT AND COINCIDENT WITH DEEPLY DIFFLUENT FLOW. MODELS GENERATE CONVECTIVE QPF AS FORCING/INSTABILITY PROGRESS EAST. DEEP LAYER WIND PROFILES SUGGEST LINEAR FORCING/STORM MODES WHICH MAY PROMOTE A FAST MOVING SQUALL LINE. TIMING OF THE BEST FORCING MAY HELP MITIGATE SEVERE WEATHER POTENTIAL. HOWEVER COLD MID LEVEL TEMPS MAY SUPPORT A FEW INSTANCES OF SMALL HAIL...AND THE MAGNITUDE OF WIND FIELDS MAY PRESENT SOME THREAT OF DAMAGING WINDS SHOULD BOUNDARY LAYER INSTABILITY BECOME SUFFICIENT. OTHERWISE...SUBSIDENCE/DRY SLOT WILL SPREAD EAST ACROSS THE PANHANDLES DURING THE AFTERNOON...WITH DECREASING RAIN CHANCES. THAT IS EXCEPT OVER THE OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE/NORTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE WHERE DEFORMATION NORTH OF THE UA LOW WILL PROMOTE LINGERING PRECIP CHANCES. IT STILL APPEARS THAT ATMOSPHERIC COLUMNS WILL NOT COOL TO SUPPORT TRANSITIONS TO WINTRY PRECIPITATION UNTIL AFTER MIDNIGHT SUNDAY NIGHT/MONDAY MORNING...WHEN FORCING WILL BE WANING AND PRECIPITATION ENDING. NEXT WEEK/S WEATHER WILL BEGIN WITH NEAR SEASONAL TEMPERATURES AND DRY CONDITIONS IN WAKE OF SUNDAY/S SYSTEM. THE NEXT POTENTIAL FOR ACTIVE WEATHER WILL BEGIN WEDNESDAY...WHEN A LOW AMPLITUDE SHORTWAVE TROUGH IS PROJECTED TO QUICKLY TRANSLATE OVER WEST TEXAS. FORCING/ ASCENT ASSOCIATED WITH THIS FEATURE APPEARS TO BE WEAK...AND ONLY THE SLIGHTEST CHANCE OF SHOWERS WILL EXIST. HOWEVER...A MUCH STRONGER SYSTEM WILL BE DEEPENING OVER THE SOUTHWESTERN U.S. IMMEDIATELY IN ITS WAKE. CURRENTLY PROGS FOR THE TRAJECTORY OF THIS SYSTEM SUGGEST AT LEAST SOME POTENTIAL FOR AN IMPACTFUL WEATHER EVENT. LINDLEY && .AMA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... TX...NONE. OK...NONE. &&
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX 302 PM CST FRI DEC 12 2014 OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-130915- CIMARRON-TEXAS-BEAVER-DALLAM-SHERMAN-HANSFORD-OCHILTREE-LIPSCOMB- HARTLEY-MOORE-HUTCHINSON-ROBERTS-HEMPHILL-OLDHAM-POTTER-CARSON- GRAY-WHEELER-DEAF SMITH-RANDALL-ARMSTRONG-DONLEY-COLLINGSWORTH- 302 PM CST FRI DEC 12 2014 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES. .DAY ONE...TONIGHT. FOG WILL DEVELOP THIS EVENING ACROSS MOST OF THE TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES. VISIBILITIES MAY DROP TO LESS THAN A MILE...AND AREAS OF DENSE FOG WITH VISIBILITIES LESS THAN ONE QUARTER MILE MAY AGAIN DEVELOP LATE TONIGHT...RESULTING IN HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. FOG MAY PERSIST SATURDAY MORNING...WITH VISIBILITIES NEAR OR BELOW ONE QUARTER MILE AT TIMES. THUNDERSTORMS ARE POSSIBLE SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY ACROSS MUCH OF THE PANHANDLES. SEVERE STORMS ARE NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. LINDLEY/ELSENHEIMER
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
10 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.
Visibility fell to one quarter mile at Amarillo airport and Hereford airport.
Visibility fell to one quarter mile at Amarillo airport.
Visibility fell to one quarter mile at Amarillo airport.
Visibility fell to one quarter mile at Amarillo airport.
Sheriff's Department reported visibility at about 20 feet in Wheeler at 12:26 AM CST.
Visibility fell to one quarter mile at Hereford airport.
Visibility less than one quarter mile observed at 4:18 AM CST.
Visibility fell to one quarter mile.
Sheriff's office estimated visibility to be less than a quarter of a mile at 12:23 AM CDT.
Sheriff's office estimated visibility to be less than a quarter of a mile at 12:23 AM CDT.
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: 548885, 548886, 548887, 548888, 548889, 548890, 548891, 548892, 548893, 548894.