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Leap day starts off wet, and wintry for some |
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Snow falling and accumulating in Friona Thursday morning (29 February 2024). The image is courtesy of Pantex. |
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A quick-moving, but potent, disturbance ejecting from New Mexico and Far West Texas brought strong lift and enough moisture to generate widespread precipitation as it moved across the South Plains region. Initially, the lower atmosphere was quite dry, but as it moistened from cloud level downward, the precipitation did make it all the way to ground level. |
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| Water vapor satellite loop valid from 6:21 am to 6:56 am on Thursday, 29 February 2024. | ||
| To complicate things, at least from a forecasting standpoint, temperatures were mostly in the 30s when the precipitation started falling early Thursday morning. This resulted in a wintry mix, anything from a cold rain, to sleet and snow. | ||
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| Temperatures measured at 7:55 pm on Thursday (29 February 2024). The data are courtesy of the West Texas Mesonet (WTM). | ||
| The coolest temperatures, which fell into the upper 20s, were across the highest elevations of the northwest South Plains and southwest Texas Panhandle, where accumulating snow (and sleet) fell. | ||
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| Snow falling and accumulating in Lazbuddie on Thursday morning (29 February 2024). The image is courtesy of KVII. | ||
| The snow and sleet even created slushy accumulations on the roadways, which resulted in slick travel in a few places from around Lazbuddie and Farwell northeastward through Friona, Hereford and Amarillo. | ||
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| Lubbock WSR-88D radar animation valid from 1:56 am to 10:04 am on Thursday (29 February 2024). | ||
| Farther to the southeast, many locations, including in and around Lubbock, experienced a cold rain and sleet mix, sometimes even mixing with or switching to all snow. Thankfully, temperatures were mild enough that roadways across the central South Plains remained wet, as the sleet and snow melted after it hit the ground. | ||
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| Series of pictures from Olton Thursday morning (29 February 2024). From left-to-right, the images were taken at: 7:30 am; 7:38 am and 10:22 am. The images are courtesy of KLBK. | ||
| The Lubbock Airport observed rain, freezing rain, sleet and snow Thursday morning, though it only melted down to 0.04" total. Regardless, this was only the third leap day on record with any snowfall, including a trace back in 1912 and 1960. | ||
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| Snow totals reported to the National Weather Service on Thursday (29 February 2024). | ||
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Altogether, the heaviest snow, generally from 1 to 3 inches, fell across the northwest South Plains and southwest Texas Panhandle. The highest snowfall report was 5 inches in Hereford. Snow reports collected in late February 2024 can found below: |
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Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Lubbock TX
1124 AM CST Thu Feb 29 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0720 AM Snow Earth 34.23N 102.41W
02/29/2024 E1.0 inch Lamb TX Public
Social media photo shows about 1 inch of
accumulation, mainly on grassy surfaces with
lesser amounts on roadways.
0800 AM Snow Friona 34.64N 102.72W
02/29/2024 M1.5 inch Parmer TX CO-OP Observer
Total snow as of 8 am with moderate snow
still falling.
0805 AM Snow Olton 34.18N 102.14W
02/29/2024 M0.5 inch Lamb TX CO-OP Observer
Accumulation limited to grassy surfaces with
roads remaining wet.
0848 AM Snow Lazbuddie 34.39N 102.61W
02/29/2024 E2.0 inch Parmer TX Public
Webcam shows accumulation mainly on grassy
surfaces, but also some slushy accumulation
on roadways.
0920 AM Snow 1 WNW Muleshoe 34.23N 102.75W
02/29/2024 M2.5 inch Bailey TX CO-OP Observer
1000 AM Snow Farwell 34.38N 103.04W
02/29/2024 M2.8 inch Parmer TX Broadcast Media
1030 AM Snow 8 ESE Farwell 34.33N 102.91W
02/29/2024 M2.0 inch Parmer TX Broadcast Media
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