A potent upper level storm system brought a glaze of freezing rain, sleet and snow to a large part of West Central Texas. Roads became slippery and many school districts closed schools on March 5th across West Central Texas.
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 SJT wrote it up.
A potent upper level storm system brought a glaze of freezing rain, sleet and snow to a large part of West Central Texas. Roads became slippery and many school districts closed schools on March 5th across West Central Texas.
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 San Angelo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 4, 11:35 AM CST, 25 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 1135 AM CST Wed Mar 4 2015 .UPDATE... Decided to expand our Winter Weather Advisory to include our southern counties, beginning at midnight and continuing through 12Z. We may see a little convection with freezing temperatures overnight across the southeast...with some ice and sleet accumulation along the I-10 corridor. Still thinking the bulk of the precipitation will be east of the area by morning...but may need to expand the advisory into the morning hours for the southeast if the precipitation lingers. Will also be watching precipitation amounts. If convection really gets going across eastern areas, we could see a few spots with half inch to an inch of sleet. In any case....expecting icy roads areawide for the work/school commute in the morning. 08 .PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 536 AM CST Wed Mar 4 2015/ AVIATION... /12Z TAFS/ Conditions are generally VFR as of 1130z across West Central TX. We've had low clouds most of the night at the southern terminals and IFR to low end MVFR ceilings are certainly possible again this morning. The leading edge of an arctic cold front is approaching KABI and should bring north winds and IFR ceilings after 13z. This front will continue south during the day with low ceilings developing areawide in the wake of the front. Light rain showers are expected this morning, becoming more numerous in the post- frontal airmass. Freezing rain and/or sleet will be possible at KABI after 19z, then at KSJT and KBBD as we approach 00z. A changeover to snow is expected at KSJT/KABI late tonight with freezing rain and/or sleet at the other sites. Gusty north winds will develop behind the front, gusting over 30 kts through tonight. Johnson PREV DISCUSSION... /ISSUED 412 AM CST Wed Mar 4 2015/ SHORT TERM... (Today and tonight) The arctic cold front continues to barrel south through the Plains this morning. The leading edge has moved into western north TX from Wichita Falls, to Jayton, to near Muleshoe. As this front moves south through the morning hours, we'll see winds shift to the NNE and increase to around 20 mph, gusting over 30 mph at times. Temperatures will take a nosedive in the wake of this front, dropping into the 30s as it passes. That means max temperatures today will be during the A.M. hours for most of West Central TX, excluding the I-10 corridor where the cold front will not arrive until early/mid afternoon. Temperatures overnight will continue to drop, eventually settling in the low/mid 20s by Thursday morning. There is significant bust potential in high temperatures today depending on exactly when the cold front arrives, but its safe to say that the day will start out much nicer than it will end. Forecasting precipitation type/amounts will certainly add a few gray hairs, as is usually the case with Texas winter weather. Currently, a band of rain showers is moving NNE across the CWA and will be undercut by the cold front this morning. With the surface freezing line dropping south into the Big Country, we expect a changeover to freezing rain/drizzle by midday. This will likely create travel problems during the afternoon along/north of I-20, especially on bridges and overpasses. Thus, the Winter Weather Advisory has been moved up to start at noon. Farther south, general rain showers, and even a few thunderstorms, will be possible. As the cold air deepens in the afternoon, sleet is expect to develop. Most of the Concho Valley, Heartland, and I-10 counties are expected to remain at or above freezing through this afternoon. While we could see a few sleet showers, we anticipate primarily rain through 4 PM. Subfreezing temperatures are anticipated areawide by early/mid evening. Snow, possibly mixed with sleet, will be possible in the Big Country as the saturated column cools sufficiently. However, the cold air will likely not be deep enough to support more than a freezing rain/sleet mix south of an Ozona to Brady line. The duration of the precipitation is not expected to be all that long, but the models are cueing in on some convective signatures, especially in the hi-res windows. This could result in localized sleet accumulations across the southern half of the CWA. The Concho Valley and Heartland counties north of a Mertzon to San Saba line were added to the Winter Weather Advisory beginning at 4 PM. Confidence in winter weather impacts remains lowest across the I-10 corridor. A summary of winter weather accumulations for the next 24 hours follows. Ice: Expect ice accumulations up to 1/10" across the Big Country and northern portions of the Concho Valley and Heartland. Lighter amounts expected farther south. Sleet: General sleet accumulations around 1/4" or less. Localized higher amounts are possible in areas of stronger convection. Snow: Snow amounts of 1" are possible in the Big Country, with only a dusting expected across the Concho Valley and Heartland. Johnson LONG TERM... (Thursday through next Tuesday) Models have been consistent with moving most of the precipitation out of the area by early Thursday morning, so have only kept a small area of sleet/snow mix in our extreme southeastern counties for Thursday morning between 12Z and 18Z. We are still looking at cold temperatures Thursday as the surface high and cold air mass will remain in place over the area. We should start to see some sunshine by Thursday, but with the cold dome in place, it will be hard to get strong enough mixing to the warmer air aloft, keeping temperatures mainly in the 30s. As skies clear, and winds remain light Thursday night, very efficient radiational cooling will occur. We have dropped lows to near 20 degrees for most areas. Minimum temperatures in the teens are not out of the question for some of our low lying areas and valleys. Friday, we will see a return to southerly flow through the lower levels, helping to warm temperatures into the upper 40s to near 50 degrees. Some locations could warm into the 50s. Southerly flow will continue into the weekend, resulting in increasing moisture as well, bringing clouds into the area Saturday, which may slow the warming trend some. Later this week, what starts out as a weak vorticity maximum off the southern coast of California strengthens into another closed low over the northern Gulf of California. This low will eventually get ejected to the east over Texas over the weekend as an open wave. The GFS moves this trough faster to the east, and keeps precip south and east of our forecast area whereas the slower EC actually produces some precipitation in our southern counties Saturday night into Sunday. Given that EC and GFS both show some sort of trough moving across the area, will show low end slight chance for PoPs along our southern tier of counties Saturday night into Sunday. Early next week, models diverge in their solutions, but the general consensus is to keep most of the area dry through Tuesday. Tuesday and Tuesday night, the GFS brings an upper level trough through that could result in some showers for our southeastern counties. Temperatures should warm into the 60s to around 70 degrees for highs by the start of the work week. 20 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Abilene 48 22 35 20 45 / 80 80 5 5 5 San Angelo 51 25 38 20 48 / 60 80 5 5 5 Junction 60 27 37 20 48 / 60 90 10 5 5 && .SJT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY until 6 AM CST Thursday FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: Callahan...Fisher...Haskell...Jones...Nolan... Shackelford...Taylor...Throckmorton. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY from 4 PM this afternoon to 6 AM CST Thursday FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: Brown...Coke...Coleman... Concho...Irion...McCulloch...Runnels...San Saba...Sterling...Tom Green. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY from Midnight tonight to 6 AM CST Thursday FOR THE FOLLOWING ZONES: Crockett...Kimble...Mason... Menard...Schleicher...Sutton. && 08
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 504 AM CST WED MAR 4 2015 TXZ049-054-064>066-071>073-076>078-098-099-113-114-127-128-139- 140-154-155-168>170-051200- FISHER-NOLAN-STERLING-COKE-RUNNELS-IRION-TOM GREEN-CONCHO- CROCKETT-SCHLEICHER-SUTTON-HASKELL-THROCKMORTON-JONES-SHACKELFORD- TAYLOR-CALLAHAN-COLEMAN-BROWN-MCCULLOCH-SAN SABA-MENARD-KIMBLE- MASON- 504 AM CST WED MAR 4 2015 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF WEST CENTRAL TEXAS. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT WINTRY PRECIPITATION IS POSSIBLE THIS AFTERNOON ACROSS THE BIG COUNTRY...SPREADING SOUTH INTO THE REST OF WEST CENTRAL TEXAS TONIGHT. ACCUMULATIONS OF ICE...SLEET...AND SNOW WILL LIKELY RESULT IN HAZARDOUS TRAVEL CONDITIONS TONIGHT AND EARLY THURSDAY MORNING. A WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT NORTH OF A MERTZON TO SAN SABA LINE. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...THURSDAY THROUGH TUESDAY THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... TRAINED SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO RELAY ICE...SLEET...AND SNOW ACCUMULATIONS TO THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SAN ANGELO. JOHNSON
SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SAN ANGELO TX 707 AM CST WED MAR 4 2015 TXZ076>078-168>170-042200- CROCKETT-SCHLEICHER-SUTTON-MENARD-KIMBLE-MASON- INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...OZONA...ELDORADO...SONORA...MENARD... JUNCTION...MASON 707 AM CST WED MAR 4 2015 ...MORE WINTRY CONDITIONS ON THE WAY TONIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING... WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW. 1. FREEZING RAIN...SLEET...AND SNOW ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ACROSS ACROSS AREAS SOUTH OF A BARNHART TO MENARD LINE...INCLUDING THE INTERSTATE 10 CORRIDOR BY THIS EVENING AND CONTINUE OVERNIGHT. 2. AN ARCTIC COLD FRONT WILL MOVE THROUGH THE REGION TODAY. BY LATE AFTERNOON...TEMPERATURES WILL BE FALLING RAPIDLY INTO THE 30S. WIND CHILL READINGS WILL BE IN THE TEENS BY 8 PM. 3. A MIX OF FREEZING RAIN...SLEET...AND SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP DURING THE EVENING HOURS. ACCUMULATIONS FROM THIS PRECIPITATION AT THIS TIME ARE EXPECTED TO BE MINOR. HOWEVER...SLICK SPOTS ON AREA ROADWAYS COULD DEVELOP...ESPECIALLY ON BRIDGES...OVERPASSES...AND SECONDARY ROADS. RESIDENTS WITH TRAVEL PLANS ARE ADVISED TO STAY ALERT FOR UPDATES TO THE FORECAST. ANY MOTORISTS THAT MUST BE ON THE ROADS THIS EVENING THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING ARE ADVISED TO USE EXTRA CAUTION...SLOW DOWN...AND ALLOW EXTRA TIME TO REACH THEIR DESTINATION.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
9 winter weather, 4 sleet. Local standard time, as filed.
A trained spotter measured 1.5 inches of snow in Rochester.
Trained spotters measured 1.5 inches of snow in Anson and an inch in Stamford.
A National Weather Service Cooperative Observer measured 3 inches of mostly snow mixed with sleet in Rotan.
A National Weather Service Observer in Abilene measured 0.6 inches of sleet and snow.
A National Weather Service Cooperative Observer measured 1 inch of snow in Putnam.
A trained spotter measured a half an inch of sleet in Moran.
A National Weather Service Cooperative Observer measured 0.4 inches of sleet in Brownwood. Trained spotters measured about half an inch of sleet in Blanket and Bangs. Another cooperative observer located 14 miles south of Brownwood measured 0.20 inches of sleet.
Trained spotters measured 0.6 inches of sleet in Coleman and 0.4 inches in Talpa.
Two tenths of mostly sleet was measured at the National Weather Service Office. A little freezing rain mixed with the sleet.
A trained spotter measured 0.1 inches of sleet in Robert Lee.
A trained spotter measured 0.1 inches of sleet in Eldorado.
A trained spotter measured a half an inch of sleet in Lohn. Another trained spotter measured a half an inch of mostly sleet with some freezing rain in Brady.
A National Weather Service Cooperative Observer reported 0.2 inches of sleet 7 miles northeast of San Saba.
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, March 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: 567096, 567097, 567101, 567100, 568430, 567095, 567092, 567093, 567099, 568431, 568428, 567094, 568426.