Amarillo’s Weather? It Just Landed Us On Two Dubious Lists.

So the other day while talking to some friends in Georgia we got on the topic of who has weirder weather. Which of course I made the case for the Texas panhandle

• Late February 2013 when we had 19 inches of snow fall
• Late April 2013 when we were 90° outside 12 hours later we were 28° with 6 inches of snow
• Late October 2019 when we had the thundersnow

But this got me thinking how is Amarillo compared to other cities across America?

List #1

So speaking of snow lets start with list number 1 which is "What is the coldest and warmest cities in every state" and Amarillo is the coldest city in the state Texas. Which is not surprising at all but we'll discuss that when we move on to list number 2. I also did some research and found that Amarillo is ranked the 50th hottest city in America and 16th hottest city in Texas.

List #2

So list number 2 is interesting but not surprising. I say this because my dad has made this clam for years which is Chicago is not the windiest city in America Amarillo is. And I found serval different lists that back this claim. Amarillo is rank #1 windiest city in America with a average wind speed of 13.6 mph and our biggest wind gust being 84 mph recorded May 15th 1949.

This is because the wind tunnels through a gap between two mountain ranges on either side (Rocky mountains and mountains in the high plains) of Amarillo creating a low-pressure system to form. This very persistent low pressure system is what leads to the strong average wind speeds from the southwest and west. Which also explains why we are the coldest city in Texas because the wind coming off the mountains between Amarillo.

[gallery galleryid="157:499147" galleryindex="0" gallerytitle="Tornado and Wall Cloud Pictures From Monday, May 17th, 2021"