An artic storm had Donley County, the entire State of Texas, and much of the central United States in its grip this week as temperatures plunged well below freezing.
Accumulated snowfall locally was only about three inches as of Monday, but temperatures dropped over the weekend with reports as low as -12°F before sunrise Monday morning. Wind chills were expected in the -25° to -30° range.
Temperatures were forecast to climb towards the end of this week, but more snow was expected Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday.
The Clarendon Enterprise went to press Monday as SWEPCO and Greenbelt Electric Cooperative warned that stresses on the regional power grid – the Southwest Power Pool – could lead to planned outages. Portions of the state below the Panhandle were already experiencing rolling blackouts Monday morning, lasting hours at a time. Power companies and natural gas providers urged customers to conserve energy any way possible to reduce the load on the system.
Local schools and many businesses were already closed Monday for Presidents Day, and the storm caused some weekend activities to be postponed. Clarendon College closed all campuses Monday due to weather with classes being held virtually.
Clarendon and Hedley schools canceled classes on Tuesday and Clarendon CISD Superintendent Jarod Bellar said he and Hedley Superintendent Garrett Bains were considering a late start for classes on Tuesday but were also watching weather reports and utility warnings with the potential of canceling school on Wednesday.
The Clarendon Lions Club held virtual meeting in place of its regular Tuesday noon meeting.
For updates on the winter storm, check ClarendonLive.com and Facebook.com/TheEnterprise or follow @ClarendonTxNews on Twitter.
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