A weak front moved through the combined Panhandles on April 27th. South of the front west winds with gusts up to 35 to 40 mph and a drier airmass contributed to critical fire weather conditions.
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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 weak front moved through the combined Panhandles on April 27th. South of the front west winds with gusts up to 35 to 40 mph and a drier airmass contributed to critical fire weather conditions. A small wildfire occurred on the northeast side of Amarillo which led to evacuations in the area.
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 Apr 26, 11:40 PM CST, 20 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Amarillo TX
1240 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026
...New KEY MESSAGES, SHORT TERM, LONG TERM, AVIATION, FIRE WEATHER...
.KEY MESSAGES...
Issued at 1240 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026
-Critical fire weather conditions expected across the central and
southern Panhandles today and possibly again on Tuesday.
-Rain is the main concern, but will not rule out so isolated
thunderstorms Thursday through Saturday for many areas of the
Panhandles.
&&
.SHORT TERM...
(Today through Tuesday night)
Issued at 1240 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026
A lot of the short term is covered in the Fire Weather discussion as
that is the main impacts of the next two days. Tonight the surface
low will track northeast out of the area and another lee surface low
will set up keeping west winds in place across the southern
Panhandles. This will also keep temperatures mild overnight as well
as RH values on the lower side. Overnight lows this morning will be
in the 50s to lower 60s, exception will be the northwest Panhandle
which will still be under lighter northerly winds and will fall into
the 40s.
For today we can expect winds to pick back up across the south
leading to very dry conditions and critical Fire Weather as another
lee surface low will be the main driver. Surface high will start to
move down over Nebraska this evening and usher in some cooler moist
temperatures tonight, with lows ranging from mid 30s to mid 40s. The
south could be more upper 40s as we'll still have a bit of that
westerly wind component trying to keep things on the mild side.
Tuesday will start off on the cooler side, but the upper disturbance
under southwest flow will help nudge in that warmer air one more
time and we can expect highs to get back into the 80s in the
southern Panhandles with the 70s to the north. Depending on how
strong that colder air to the north is, there is a chance that we do
end up cooler/warmer as to just how far the main cold front will
retreat will dictate the Panhandles temperatures. Once the sun goes
down and the upper disturbance has past, the front will push further
south and bring cooler north winds to the Panhandles tomorrow night.
Weber
&&
.LONG TERM...
(Wednesday through Sunday)
Issued at 1240 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026
With the overnight cold front through Wednesday's highs will only be
in the 70s, and we should be going downhill from there, as both cool
and potentially moist air from the north will move into the
Panhandles, as well as mild tropical air from a system over the
southwest CONUS. Add to it the surface high shifting over the
Mississippi area and drawing up moist low level flow, we have a lot
of ingredients for a moist tropical setup that could last for 2 to 3
days of on and off precipitation with little to no signals this this
will be a severe setup, and that temperatures will be in the mid 60s
on Thursday, followed by 50s on Friday, and returning back into the
60s on Saturday. Three very cool/mild days with Min RH values in the
30-50 percent range and Max RH values over 90 percent each day. Add
to that the probabilities of wetting rain > 0.25" for the 3 day
period look to be moderate to high >55-75% for the entire
Panhandles. Certain areas of the Panhandles having high probabilities
to exceed 0.5" of rain for the Thursday-Saturday weather system,
will really help the Fire Weather situation. Not much to talk about
for Sunday at the moment as it looks like weak high pressure will
return temperatures back in the 70s with a low chance of
showers/storms under that northwest flow pattern.
Weber
&&
.AVIATION...
(06Z TAFS)
Issued at 1240 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026
VFR conditions will prevail at all TAF sites over the next 24
hours. Winds will be the main story as some LLWS will be present
through 12-15z at KAMA and KGUY. Wind speeds will be mainly west
to southwest and will pick up in the 15-03z time period as they
are expected to be 15-20kts gusting 25-30kts. KGUY is an
exception as winds there should be more in the 10-15kt range and
will come around the clock starting around 15z out of the
northwest, and will end up out of the southeast by 4z.
Weber
&&
.FIRE WEATHER...
Issued at 1240 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026
The Fire Weather will continue for at least another day or two as
we have our eye on a potential prolonged wet and cool pattern
starting as early as Wednesday, more likely on Thursday and Friday
and finishing up on Saturday. But before we get there, we will
continue to deal with warm, breezy, and dry conditions the rest of
the evening and into Monday. Overnight the winds in the southern
Panhandle will stay mainly out of the west and still be in the 10
to 15 mph range, which will result in poor RH recoveries for the
southern Panhandles. The north will recover in the mid 40 to lower
50 percent range. Given that the southwest flow is still in play
on Monday with a weak frontal boundary set up over the northern
Panhandles, another round of critical Fire Weather will be in
place on Monday. Monday night we should have some decent RH
recoveries as that cold front pushes almost all the way through
the Panhandles, but it will quickly pull off to the northeast on
Tuesday afternoon with warm, dry, and breezy conditions yet again
for at least the southern half of the Panhandles. RFTI's tomorrow
across the south look to range 5 to 7, but Tuesday may be more in
the 2 to 4 range, mainly RH driven, while it will be breezy the
winds may stay in the 15 to 20 mph range keeping the wind
component of the RFTI more in check. If those winds come up a bit
then we can expect more of a 4 to 6 RFTI on Tuesday.
Tuesday night a surface high is expected to set up to the east as
the cooler upper trough pushes down from the Great Lakes, that will
help pull in higher dewpoints from the northeast and keep the highs
on the cooler side for Wednesday, right now it looks to be in the
low to mid 70s. Additionally the next system mentioned earlier may
begin to bring the moisture to the Panhandles, and perhaps some much
needed relief. Will note that overall guidance is favoring the
southern Panhandles for moisture as Ensembles are suggesting an 80
percent chance of picking up at least a half an inch of rain by
Saturday for Deaf Smith County, but Beaver County is only about a
45% chance of picking up at least a half an inch. Overall, most of
the Panhandles still should be cool and have decent cloud cover as
well as RH recoveries to help give the fuels a little break, but a
prolonged rain that could start as early as Wednesday night and
continue on and off through Saturday, would really help the fuels
that have been stressed for so long.
Weber
&&
.AMA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
TX...Red Flag Warning from noon today to 8 PM CDT this evening for
TXZ001-006>020-317.
OK...None.
&&
SHORT TERM...89
LONG TERM....89
AVIATION...89Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Amarillo TX 1239 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026 OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-317-271745- Cimarron-Texas-Beaver-Dallam-Sherman-Hansford-Ochiltree-Lipscomb- Hartley-Moore-Hutchinson-Roberts-Hemphill-Oldham-Potter-Carson- Gray-Wheeler-Deaf Smith-Randall-Armstrong-Donley-Collingsworth- Palo Duro Canyon- 1239 AM CDT Mon Apr 27 2026 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight. Critical fire weather conditions are expected this afternoon for the southern and central Texas Panhandle. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Tuesday through Sunday. Breezy winds and very dry conditions are favored to lead to elevated to critical fire weather conditions on Tuesday across the southwest Texas Panhandle. Multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms are possible from Wednesday evening through Saturday. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated at this time.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
The Smartside wildfire burned about 71 acres in northeast Amarillo. Fire Warnings were issued due to the fire threatening a community on the northeast side of town. Travis Intermediate School was evacuated due to the fire.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Texas in 2026Every state in 2026This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, April 2026
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: 1322159.