Following several days of frigid weather across the South Plains, a warming trend has arrived bringing temperatures to 50 to 60 degrees during the daytime and allowing for snow and ice to melt.
Nighttime temperatures are expected to be in the low 30-degree range.
Recent weather saw disruptions in travel, school and public services, as well as cancelations of basketball games, meetings and other events across the region.
In what had been a mild to warm and persistently dry winter of 2025-2026, the area saw an abrasive change fueled by the passage of an Arctic cold front, in conjunction with several disturbances passing over aloft which was able to tap abundant low-level moisture from the Gulf.
The result was high temperatures plunging from near and above average (in the 50s and lower 60s) to the single digits and lower teens, along with a prolonged period of wintry weather.
The dramatic changes kicked off on Jan. 23 as the cold front advanced through the South Plains region throughout the day with temperatures from the middle 30s to the lower 40s, which turned out to the warmest as gusty northeasterly winds carried increasingly cold air southwestward into the region ushering in subfreezing until just after noon the following Tuesday, resulting in almost four continuous days of at or below freezing, along with freezing rain and snow.
The forecast is expected to be much more forgiving in the South Plains region with higher temps and mostly partly cloudy weather with a few sunny days over the next two weeks.