CanyonAg77 said:
The only thing normal about Panhandle weather is abnormality.
When I was a kid in the 1960s, we had a lot more rain. Which meant a lot more tornadoes. It seems now, that "tornado alley" has moved east. Kansas, Oklahoma, and even Missouri are getting the storms we used to have.
Certainly concur with Panhandle weather changing on a dime -- many other locations all claim but few can match... "Nothing between Amarillo and the North Pole but a few barbed wire fences..." Since the prevailing wind is from the SW I believe the same could be stated as nothing between Amarillo and the Pacific/Mexico but a few barbed wire fences...
I recall the noteworthy Amarillo 1949 tornado vividly - it was Sunday night and we were at evening church services on McMasters Street with tree limbs falling and branches flying. No one left until it was all over and had to remove branches in the parking lot and downed trees in the streets to meander home.
What I recall most from the circa 50's era was dust storms. One of the advantages to "swamp coolers" was the water trickling over the pads and stopping (some of) the dust from coming inside. We used to lay on the bed with a wet washcloth over our faces until things settled down during a storm. In 1970 a dust storm and tornadic wind in Lubbock actually twisted the 271' tall Great Plains Life Building around and left it structurally unsound.
During the 40's/50's/early 60's I recall rain - but in squall drenching buckets-full - not slow and soaking. It would be sunny - all of a sudden a storm would arrive - the streets would flow curb top to curb top for a while - and then suddenly all dry up and the sun be out again. It was a virtual rain dump when compared to the ,more gentle afternoon showers that often occur in the mountains.
Sudden winter blizzards often arrived the same way and left snowdrift "dunes" up against houses and fences and cars, etc. from the winds and were gone in just a few hours. The winters were a lot colder and there was a lot more snow (seemingly...) during those years. Band practice at 0700 could freeze a mouthpiece to your lips and the valves in the horns would stick. Then football practice after school would freeze our fingers - the goatheads and sand burrs were hardly felt in frozen fingers. Red ants were plentiful and horny toads were EVERYWHERE!!
I worked summer of '62 for Butler Buildings Panhandle Steel Buildings constructing grain elevators at Waka, Texas. Working up topside when a rain squall came, we just held onto the ropes and hoped for the best because the tornadoes - often 2 or 3 dancing around in the wheat fields near us - were clearly visible, but we did not have time to escape down the ladders to the ground 60-100 feet below because the rains and winds would come along so suddenly. This happened more than once - in fact 3 days in a row.
I feel certain anyone - especially farmers - who were out in the open when these storms came along often headed for the house/storm shelter or got under their tractor or whatever until these funnels would pass.
Later, when I first enlisted in the AF I was assigned to Altus AFB, OK that claims to observe more tornadoes annually than any other single location. 50-60 a year with actual visibility from the flight line was the norm as I recall. I never understood why the AF would locate a base in such a vulnerable location. Certainly, McConnell AFB in Wichita, KS got blown off the map later in 1991. And anyone who lives in or around OKC must have nerves of steel. I lived in Guthrie when I worked for Integris Health on NW highway for several years and watched communities all around us get pummeled - and continue to watch then thereabouts every year hence.
Not to derail, but when it got time for me to retire I looked for a place where I would never ever have to worry about water rationing and always had green stuff growing everywhere. And settled in the Arkansas River Valley of W-NW Arkansas. Which only put me squarely in the middle of Tornado Alley again... But, still near I-40... Seems to be a magnet.
My HS reunions in Amarillo have been very satisfying - best people on the planet! 50 and 55 were great - looking to the 60th HS reunion soon.
