AMARILLO, TEXAS -- For the Panhandle, 2010 proved to be a pretty good year. Believe it or not, we ended up with well above average precipitation totals. In fact, we had nearly 7 inches more than an average year. Some of that precipitation fell in the form of rain. Most of that rain fell in July making our total for that month, a whopping 8.02 inches. It was officially the wettest July on record here in the Panhandle.
Aside from the rainfall, we had quite a bit of snow last year as well. Accumulating snowfall added up to 28.8 inches. (well over 2 feet). The snowiest month was February, when we received 10 inches of snow. We had over 7 inches in January, and another 6.7 inches fall in March as well.
May was an active month as far as severe weather is concerned. Over the entire year, there were 38 tornadoes. Of those 38, we saw 22 in May alone. Also, the strongest tornado developed that month with an EF2 rating near Pringle and Stinnett on May 18th in the late afternoon. The damage path of that particular tornado extended 5 miles and caused significant damage to one farm.
Tornadoes aren't the only severe weather events we keep track of here in the Panhandle. Large hail was reported in June. On June 12th, severe weather broke out across the High Plains. Despite the fact that we did see one tornado that day, that wasn't the main story of the day. Meteorologists were left dumbfounded when around 2:30pm, near Sunray some storm chasers drove into a storm that was suspected to have been producing extremely large hail. Chasers were stunned when the hail stone sizes grew larger than softballs. In fact, a 6 inch diameter hail stone burst through the windshield of one chaser's vehicle. Hailstone size was verified by photographs. The world record hailstone size was set this year, in Vivian, South Dakota at 8 inches. That record was set in July.
Speaking of July, as previously stated, it happened to be the wettest July on record with 8.02 inches of rainfall. It was quite a month as we set the all-time 24-hour rainfall record of 7.25 inches on the 7th and 8th. Our schoolnet site at Highland Park High School recorded an astounding 8.29 inches of rain from around 8pm to midnight on the 7th. That set a new Schoolnet site record of maximum daily rainfall. The school staff and folks around the area pitched in to clean up the school after major flood damage occurred. The all-time calendar day rainfall total record was also broken, and re-set at 5.74 inches. This smashes the previous record of 4.92 inches set back in June 10th of 1984.
So there you are. The year 2010 was pretty active weather-wise, and we meteorologists are excited to see what the new year holds. Here's an additional brief summary of 2010 weather; a year in review as compiled by the folks out at the local National Weather Service, in Amarillo.
YEAR 2010 SUMMARY FOR AMARILLO
High for the year: 101°, September 5th Low for the year: 2°, January 8th
Average High Temperature: 71.4° (1.1° above normal) Average Low Temperature: 44.7° (1.1° above normal) Average Annual Temperature: 58.1° (1.1° above normal)
Annual precipitation: 26.54 inches (6.83 inches above normal) Annual snowfall: 28.8 inches (10.9 inches above normal) Days with temperature ≥ 100 degrees: 5
Tornados: 38 Total - 34 EF0's, 3 EF1's and 1 EF2
