Heavy rain and snow Thursday and Friday

A dynamic storm system is about to break away into the Desert Southwest and this will lead to an impactful period of precipitation for the High Plains starting Thursday and ending Friday. This vigorous upper-level low will soon become cutoff from the jet stream and linger over Arizona and New Mexico Thursday before moving ENE through the Texas/Oklahoma panhandles Friday. This will open the door for a 48-hour window where both rain and snow will be likely.

Rain and snow will develop very early Thursday morning shortly after midnight across eastern New Mexico and the far western panhandles. is in effect from Wednesday night through Thursday and Friday for Dallam, Cimarron and Union counties where more than 6 inches of snow will be possible. A heavier corridor of 6-to-12 inches of snow seems more likely across Union county with locally higher amounts possible.

Low visibility and slick roads will lead to hazardous travel conditions for both the morning and evening commute Thursday. Moderate to Major travel impacts are expected Thursday across the northeast corner of New Mexico. Depending on how the low evolves, additional snow will be possible Thursday night into Friday before a quieter period of weather for the weekend.

Across the panhandles temperatures will be marginally too warm for snow the further east you go, but 1-to-3 inches of rain seem likely on top of rain soak ground from a system this past weekend. Flooding will be an issue on at least a localized level. Amarillo has already had 2-to-3 inches of rain this November and could see another 1-to-3 inches later this week. For comparison, Amarillo normally sees less than 1 inch of rain in the entire month of November.

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