AMARILLO, Texas — It looks like a strong storm system is about to break off and hit the Desert Southwest. This will bring heavy rain to the High Plains from Thursday through Friday. This strong upper-level low will soon lose contact with the jet stream. It will stay over Arizona and New Mexico on Thursday before moving ENE through the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma on Friday. This means that it’s likely to rain or snow for the next 48 hours.
Early Thursday morning, just after midnight, it will start to rain and snow in eastern New Mexico and the far western panhandles. From Wednesday night through Thursday and Friday, there is a WINTER STORM WATCH for Dallam, Cimarron, and Union counties. More than 6 inches of snow can fall during this time. It looks like Union County will get a heavier stretch of 6 to 12 inches of snow, with higher amounts possible in some places.
Both the morning and evening commutes on Thursday will be dangerous because of poor sight and slippery roads. Thursday, travel will be affected in the northeast part of New Mexico in a moderate to major way. It’s possible that there will be more snow Thursday night and Friday, depending on how the low changes. The weather will then get better over the weekend.
As you move east in the panhandles, it will be a little too warm for snow, but it looks like 1 to 3 inches of rain will fall on top of the ground that was already wet from a storm last weekend. At least in some places, flooding will be a problem. Two to three inches of rain have already fallen on Amarillo this November, and another one to three inches could fall later this week. During the whole month of November, Amarillo usually gets less than an inch of rain.
Source: Heavy rain and snow Thursday and Friday
