By late afternoon on New Year's Eve, freezing drizzle overspread much of the South Plains and continued into the early morning hours of January 1st. Although very light snow was reported in some areas at times, hours of steady freezing drizzle (particularly in Lubbock) glazed over many roads and overpasses with ice.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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 LUB wrote it up.
By late afternoon on New Year's Eve, freezing drizzle overspread much of the South Plains and continued into the early morning hours of January 1st. Although very light snow was reported in some areas at times, hours of steady freezing drizzle (particularly in Lubbock) glazed over many roads and overpasses with ice. The treacherous road conditions that ensued caused many holiday revelers to celebrate at home. This dealt one final blow to several downtown Lubbock restaurants and clubs that had already been closed for six consecutive days due to snow-clogged streets following the Christmas weekend blizzard. The ice was so bad along the West Loop 289 flyover in Lubbock that TX-DOT closed this stretch of highway at 10 PM following multiple vehicle spinouts. Lubbock Police Dispatch responded to around 220 vehicle accidents related to icy roads this night, two of which were rollovers with minor injuries. The freezing drizzle ended in many areas near or just after midnight, but icy roads remained through midday on New Year's Day until temperatures rose above freezing.
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 Lubbock, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 31, 5:15 PM CST, 1 hour 45 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 515 PM CST THU DEC 31 2015 .AVIATION... LIFR CIGS AT PVW AND CDS WILL OVERTAKE LBB SHORTLY COMPLETE WITH VISBYS AOB THREE MILES AT TIMES. EARLIER THREAT FOR LIGHT WINTRY MIX /FREEZING DRIZZLE AND SNOW/ REMAINS VALID AT LBB AND PVW LATER TONIGHT...BUT MORE HIGH RESOLUTION MODELS ARE TRENDING SPOTTIER WITH THIS IN COVERAGE AND DURATION WHICH WARRANTS TEMPO GROUPS FOR NOW. MUCH DRIER NORTH WINDS WILL SPREAD SOUTH BY MIDNIGHT AND SLOWLY ERODE LOW CIGS AND RESTORE VFR LEVELS THROUGHOUT NEW YEARS DAY. && .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 332 PM CST THU DEC 31 2015/ SHORT TERM... DIFFICULT FORECAST TO PINPOINT WHERE THE BEST SNOW CHANCES WILL BE THIS EVENING INTO THE OVERNIGHT HOURS. CAUSE IS THE INCOMING SHORTWAVE THAT WILL HELP TO SPARK PRECIPITATION DEVELOPMENT IS OVER THE DATA-POOR REGION ACROSS WESTERN MEXICO JUST SOUTH OF THE CONUS DATA NETWORK. THE SHORTWAVE THAT WILL HELP WINTRY PRECIPITATION TO DEVELOP SHOWS UP ON WATER VAPOR SATELLITE IMAGERY ALONG WITH A GOOD FETCH OF MID AND HIGH-LEVEL PACIFIC MOISTURE. AT THE SURFACE...A WEAK FRONT HAS PUSHED SOUTHWEST ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA WITH THE LEADING EDGE OF LOW CLOUDS AND FOG ALONG A CLOVIS...LUBBOCK...TO HOBBS. LOW CLOUDS AND AREAS OF FOG ARE FARTHER NORTH AND EAST OF A PLAINVIEW TO SNYDER LINE. BIGGEST QUESTIONS REGARDING PRECIPITATION ARE HOW STRONG LIFT WILL BE WITH THE INCOMING SHORTWAVE AND HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE A LAYER OF DRY AIR ROUGHLY BETWEEN 3-7KFT TO MOISTEN FROM EITHER THE TOP DOWN OR BOTTOM UP. MODEL SOUNDINGS SHOW THAT A TOP-DOWN PROCESS MAY TAKE A WHILE TO MOISTEN THE COLUMN ENOUGH TO GET SNOW TO THE GROUND ACROSS THE CENTRAL SOUTH PLAINS TO THE EDGE OF THE CAPROCK. ALSO HELPING WILL BE AN AREA OF WEAK ISENTROPIC LIFT THAT DEVELOPS CLOSE TO THE TX/NM BORDER. MODEL DATA ALONG WITH SREF PLUMES SHOW THAT AMOUNTS WILL REMAIN GENERALLY LIGHT...PERHAPS ONE INCH ALONG THE TX/NM BORDER WITH AROUND ONE HALF OF AN INCH EAST TO THE I-27/US 87 CORRIDOR. THERE COULD ONCE AGAIN BE AREAS OF FREEZING DRIZZLE/FOG WHERE SNOW IS NOT FALLING BUT MODELS WERE ALL OVER THE PLACE WITH WHERE IT COULD DEVELOP AND AFTER THE LAST TWO OVERNIGHTS...CONFIDENCE IN WHERE IT WILL DEVELOP IS PRETTY MUCH SHOT. TEMPERATURES ARE ALREADY CLOSE TO FREEZING ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA AND WILL DROP BELOW FAIRLY FAST AFTER SUNSET. EVEN THOUGH SNOWFALL AMOUNTS WILL BE LIGHT...EXPECT SOME AREAS OF ICE TO DEVELOP ONCE AGAIN EITHER FROM CONTINUED MELT OF THE SNOWPACK ACROSS THE REGION OR ADDITIONAL LIGHT ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOW ON SURFACES AND ROADWAYS. ANY SNOWFALL WILL COME TO AN END OVER MOST OF THE FORECAST BY THE FIRST SUNRISE OF 2016 WITH SOME POSSIBLY LINGERING ACROSS THE SOUTHWESTERN SOUTH PLAINS THROUGH LATE MORNING. IT WILL BE COOLER THAN IN THE PAST COUPLE OF DAYS WITH GUIDANCE TODAY ALONG WITH DPROG/DT CLUSTERING AT OR A DEGREE OR TWO ABOVE FREEZING FOR THE CAPROCK WITH CLOSE TO 40 DEGREES FOR THE ROLLING PLAINS. WILL HAVE TO SEE IF LOW CLOUDS CAN BURN OFF IN A LIGHT AND VARIABLE WIND REGIME AND SLOWLY DECREASING HIGH CLOUD COVER TO PERHAPS HELP BOOST TEMPS A FEW DEGREES OVER FORECAST OTHERWISE IT WILL BE A BIT CHILLY TO KICK OFF THE NEW YEAR. JORDAN LONG TERM... AFTER THE WINTRY PRECIP EXPECTED TONIGHT-FRIDAY MORNING FOR LOCALES ON THE CAPROCK...A PERIOD OF QUIETER WX WILL OCCUR AS SFC WINDS RETURN TO A SRLY FLOW AND A REX-BLOCK DEVELOPS ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN THIS WEEKEND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK...THUS LEADING TO DRIER CONDITIONS. WEAK EMBEDDED DISTURBANCES IN THE W-SW FLOW ALOFT AND ASSOCIATED PRECIP WILL REMAIN SOUTH OF THE REGION THROUGHOUT THE WEEKEND WHILE CONCURRENTLY...AMPLIFIED UA RIDGING TRANSLATES EAST ACROSS THE CENTRAL CONUS. WITH AN UPTICK IN MID-UPPER LEVEL THICKNESS BY SUNDAY...TEMPS WILL GRADUALLY WARM INTO THE 40S WITH A FEW 50S INTO NEXT WEEK /WHICH WILL SIGNIFICANTLY HELP MELT THE LINGERING SNOWPACK/. BY EARLY NEXT WEEK...THE REX-BLOCK WILL BREAK DOWN OPENING THE DOOR FOR SEVERAL UA TROUGHS TO TRAVERSE THE SOUTHERN PLAINS TUESDAY-THURSDAY. THIS WILL LEAD TO CHANCES FOR PRECIP AND AT THIS TIME...THE DOMINATE PRECIP TYPE APPEARS TO BE ALL LIQUID...THOUGH OVERNIGHT SUB-FREEZING TEMPS COULD GIVE WAY TO A BRIEF SHOT AT A RAIN AND SNOW MIX ESPECIALLY ACROSS HIGHER ELEVATIONS. && .LUB WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && 93
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LUBBOCK TX 911 AM CST THU DEC 31 2015 TXZ021>044-011200- PARMER-CASTRO-SWISHER-BRISCOE-HALL-CHILDRESS-BAILEY-LAMB-HALE- FLOYD-MOTLEY-COTTLE-COCHRAN-HOCKLEY-LUBBOCK-CROSBY-DICKENS-KING- YOAKUM-TERRY-LYNN-GARZA-KENT-STONEWALL- 911 AM CST THU DEC 31 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE SOUTH PLAINS...ROLLING PLAINS AND THE FAR SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT AREAS OF FOG WILL CONTINUE THROUGH NOON FOR LOCATIONS EAST OF THE INTERSTATE 27 AND HIGHWAY 87 CORRIDOR. TONIGHT...A MIXTURE OF LIGHT WINTRY PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS THE OUTLOOK AREA. SNOW ACCUMULATIONS UP TO AN INCH ARE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE WESTERN SOUTH PLAINS. ELSEWHERE...LIGHT SNOW AND FREEZING DRIZZLE ARE EXPECTED TO CAUSE SLICK ROADWAYS...MAKING TRAVEL HAZARDOUS. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...FRIDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY LIGHT ACCUMULATIONS OF FREEZING DRIZZLE AND SNOW COULD CREATE ADDITIONAL SLICK SPOTS ON MANY ROADS FRIDAY MORNING. JORDAN
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, December 2015
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: 606486.