Texas
On This Date: Plains Blizzard Hammers Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas | Weather.com
When you think of spring snow, perhaps the Rockies, Dakotas or northern New England come to mind first.
But on March 27, 2009, 16 years ago today, a textbook spring blizzard hammered parts of the Great Plains from Colorado and New Mexico to the Texas Panhandle, western and northern Oklahoma and Kansas.
The storm set all-time state 24-hour snowfall records in Kansas (30 inches in Pratt) and Oklahoma (26 inches in both Freedom and Woodward; later broken in a Feb. 2011 27-inch snowstorm in Spavinaw), according to weather historian Christopher Burt. Eleven inches of snow fell in Amarillo, Texas, and other parts of the Panhandle picked up over a foot of snow.
Winds gusting over 40 mph pushed the snow into drifts as high as 20 feet in Kansas, according to Burt. The huge drifts left virtually every road in northwest Oklahoma impassable for a time, some to the extent that bulldozers had difficulty clearing any path, according to the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma. The weight of the feet of wet, heavy snow lead to some roof collapses, as well. Federal disaster aid was requested for four hard-hit northwest Oklahoma counties.
As this was happening, dozens of tornadoes tore through parts of the South from eastern Texas to Kentucky and the Carolinas. These 56 twisters, along with hail and damaging thunderstorm winds, from March 25-29 was responsible for $2.4 billion in damage, according to a NOAA estimate.
Large snow drifts are seen in Arnott, Oklahoma, following the late March 2009 blizzard in the Plains.
(Bryan Hajny via NWS-Norman, Oklahoma)
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
No. 1 seed Texas (51-12, 16-8 in SEC play) and No. 3 seed Texas Tech (61-8, 21-3 in the Big 12) begin their three-game series at 8 p.m. ET Wednesday in Oklahoma City. Each
Texas
Brazoria County deputy shoots, kills Texas State University student after car chase, report says
BRAZORIA COUNTY, Texas – A Texas State University student was shot and killed by a Brazoria County Sheriff’s deputy early Monday morning after an attempted traffic stop in Lake Jackson.
The news was first reported by The University Star, Texas State’s student-run newspaper.
In a Tuesday statement to KSAT, the university identified the student as John Gabriel Mendoza Jr., 18. He was a freshman who studied management, according to the school.
“We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends, classmates, and all those affected by this tragedy,” the university said in its statement.
Deputies attempted a traffic stop on a vehicle just after midnight Monday near Farm-to-Market 2004 and This Way Street in Lake Jackson, the sheriff’s office said.
The driver of the vehicle, who was identified as Mendoza by The University Star, did not stop, deputies said. The deputies then chased after the vehicle for approximately a mile into a neighborhood located in the 100 block of Indian Warrior Trail.
According to the sheriff’s office, the driver went inside a home’s garage and parked before a deputy approached the vehicle, the release said.
The deputy then pulled out his firearm and shot into the vehicle. The sheriff’s office said the gunfire struck the driver.
The University Star reported that Mendoza was the one shot. He was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
The deputy who pulled the trigger has since been placed on administrative leave in accordance with the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office policy.
KSAT reached out to the Lake Jackson Police Department and the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office for more information, but neither agency has responded at this time.
The shooting investigation is being led by the Texas Rangers, according to a Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office news release.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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