A rare spring snowstorm ambushed the Texas Panhandle and South Plains on Saturday, turning wide-open plains into a wintry scene and toppling records that had stood for more than a century.
According to official climate data from the National Weather Service in Amarillo, 2.2 inches of snow fell at the Amarillo International Airport, eclipsing the previous April 5 record of 1.5 inches set in 1895. Elsewhere in Amarillo, NWS-trained spotters reported much higher totals — including up to 4.8 inches near Westgate Mall and 3.3 inches in Thompson Park.
To the south, NWS observations and West Texas Mesonet data showed that northern Plainview accumulated between 3 and 4.9 inches of snow. In Lubbock, the official NWS station at Preston Smith International Airport measured 1.5 inches, surpassing the airport’s 0.2-inch April 5 mark from 1983. Meanwhile, a nearby West Texas Mesonet site in Shallowater reported 2.7 inches, forcing many residents to trade flip-flops for boots in a hurry…