Black Blizzard

From a historical perspective, I've always wondered what the drought refugees of the 1930's felt like when the black blizzards would descend upon the Panhandle, choke out the sun and blow sand so hard, that it hurts to stand outside.

Now I know because yesterday we had one of those days.

In this video you'll see a snippet of time roughly from 4pm to 6pm and was all taken within eight miles of my house.

The wind sustained from 40 to 50 miles per hour and dirt blew horizontally straight from the west.  The storm assaulted the all of the Panhandle down to Ozona for six or seven hours yesterday.

While Childress County has a small wildfire, we fared much better than counties to the northwest and southwest.  I am hearing that many houses burned as well as, unfortunately, some loss of life.

Another Snow

Another snow fell on the Texas Rolling Plains yesterday.  This time, however, the wind was non-existant so a soft snow was all that blanketed the red dirt hills.

As such, the wildlife was out moving around and made for some good opportunities.

West Texas Winter

So far this season, winter was mild.  We've had cold weather and several nights the temperature dipped into the single digits.  Overall, though, it's been a roller coaster ride.  Temperatures would climb and fall in an unpredictable manner.  In fact, last Saturday it was in the 70's.  Right now (February 2), it's 15-degrees outside with a windchill of 2-above-zero.

It's cold.

Yesterday, as the storm rolled through, the conditions were amazing outside.  Zero visibility in places because of blowing snow and drifts up to four and five feet tall.  Livestock was taxed, ranchers were taxed, and while I didn't see much wildlife in my short foray out into the elements, I am sure the deer and quail were hoping for the warm weather to return.

Here are a few pics and a short video from yesterday morning.