Friday midday update ... Road closures ... IH-40 from Amarillo west toward New Mexico is closed in both directions; US87/287 from Amarillo northbound toward Perryton and Dalhart. Heavy snow and winds to 50mph are making travel very dangerous in other areas of the Texas Panhandle and South Plains. Ice and snow cover roadways northwest of a line from Childress to Tahoka. I will try to get some snow accumulations totals in the next hour or two ... unless severe weather fires up again here.

Friday morning update ... Snow has developed across the Texas Panhandle and adjacent areas of the plains of New Mexico. SO far, the snow has been mostly light, but that will change. Temperatures have dropped to near 20 degrees F in the Panhandle, with north winds to 40mph, producing wind chill readings near 0 deg F. The upper air storm responsible for this winter storm is over the Albuquerque NM area, still dropping to the southeast. It will turn toward the east today, and move slowly over the Texas Panhandle into western Oklahoma by midday Saturday. Blizzard conditions will develop over the Panhandle and areas of the northern South Plains by midday. Travel into these areas is strongly discouraged, and may become impossible by this afternoon.