School was cancelled for two days running in Jayton Feb. 5 and 6 as more than a foot of snow covered many parts of the region.
As Wikipedia reported, snow fell as far south as Austin, 14 inches of snow fell in Jayton, Texas, and thundersnow occurred in Big Spring in a system named “Winter Storm Kade” by the Weather Channel.
While it’s not definiteively known whether records were set, Kent County averages 4 inches of snowfall in a full year, with two inches, on average, falling in February. In February 2019 Jayton measured only a trace.
“If it wasn’t a record, then it was surely near it,” said Kent County Judge Jim C. White. “People said they had 14, 15 inches.” One resident reported a measurement of 16 inches.
County commissioner Roy Chisum reported 15 inches on flat areas he measured.
Temperatures throughout the region reached the single digits early on Thursday, with Spur reporting a low of 8 degrees.
The storm primarily affected Texas and Oklahoma, where several highways were closed.
Schools were closed in portions of Texas, Oklahoma and Missouri, and 9,000 were left without power in Oklahoma City. The following day, severe thunderstorms produced flash flooding and tornadoes in the Southeastern United States. Severe thunderstorms and tornado warnings occurred as far North as Maryland and Delaware, and winter weather advisories were issued from Tennessee to Maine, with warnings concentrated over Northcentral Pennsylvania, Western New York, Northern portions of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.
The storm also impacted 16 million people across six provinces in Canada, where powerful wind gusts, exceeding 100 km/h at times, left tens of thousands without power across the region.
Across Texas Spur Country, Dickens and Kent and neighboring counties fared well with regard to highway incidents and power outages overall. Texas Department of Transportation crews pre-treated roads ahead of the storm, and many high school sports events were moved earlier in the evening, getting participants home before the main bands of snow started around 9 to 10 p.m. Tuesday.
Salt and ice melting chemicals for treating sidewalks had sold out of stores in Spur on Wednesday. More, at least, is reported on order before the next round of winter precipitation.
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