Tornadoes, Sunshine, and Blizzards. Oh My!
Palo Duro Canyon State Park
March 2021
We visited Palo Duro Canyon in mid March, which tends to be an interesting season in Texas. We met up with our friends for lunch before heading to the park where we were all going to be camping for the next few days. They wanted to stop at the weirdest tourist attraction I think I’ve ever seen: The Legs. I don’t know if that’s what they are actually called, but that’s what I have been calling them up to this point. When we stopped to get our pictures with this “monument,” it was so windy we could barely hear each other talking. This isn’t unusual for the Texas panhandle, but I’ll admit that it was a little excessive, and we probably shouldn’t have known what was coming.
“The Legs”
Upon our arrival, we were told by a park ranger that there was a tornado watch (conditions possible for tornadoes but not spotted). It’s important to note that there was no cell phone service after driving down into the canyon, so we had no way of getting an update on the tornado watch. The sky was gray with a greenish tint. We got to our campsite, and I was panicking. My husband and friends were much more calm and insisted it wasn’t anything to be worried about yet. We stood outside talking to our campsite neighbors…just like Texans would. Eventually, we took shelter in our friends’ van as it began hailing. Our phones’ emergency alerts were blaring despite our lack of service.
The hail stopped after a few minutes, so we began walking around to assess. Nothing looked too crazy, so decided it was safe to start setting up our tent and checking out the park. We continued on with our evening and didn’t think much more of the crazy weather we had experienced other than noticing that there were rescue helicopters that seemed to be nearby later that evening. The next day, we drove up to the entrance to try to get some cell service. As we drove up, we noticed that the park headquarters booth that we had used to check in the day before was gone. Once our signals picked up, we immediately started getting notifications of people who knew where we were camping checking in to see if we were okay. We learned that there had been 3 tornadoes that touched down INSIDE the park. One of them had touched down on the other end of the campground we were staying at. What you don’t know won’t hurt you I guess.
Us enjoying the beautiful days of sunshine
The next two of camping were absolutely delightful. The sun was out, but the air was cool. The breeze gave us a false sense of security from the sun, and we all got mild sunburns from those two beautiful days. While we were starting dinner, and I was rubbing Aloe Vera on my face, the camp host came around to warn us that there was a blizzard coming our way. She suggested that we take down our tent and car camp for the night because the snowfall would be pretty significant. We all bursted into laughter after she left. Could this place get any crazier?
We followed her directions because we weren’t really sure what to expect of a Texas “blizzard,” and we didn’t have cell service to confirm or deny their claims. Based on our experience on the first day of our trip, we thought it best to not play it cool. In the morning, we woke up to soft snowflakes falling to the canyon floor. It was unexpectedly peaceful and calm, so I was thinking the park host might have been a little dramatic. Our tent definitely would have been fine, and we had cold weather camping gear to be comfortable in the frigid temperatures.
As we were leaving the park, we wanted to stop and take some photos of the majestic canyon coated in white powder. We soon realized that the snow accumulation was much more significant the further we drove up out of the canyon. We still stopped to get our photos, but we could barely hear each other, and it was mostly chaos. I don’t think we got any pictures with our eyes opened. The snowflakes were relentless. The snow and wind began to pick up even more as we decided that it was time to leave. By the time we were leaving the park, driving visibility was alarming. We could only see maybe two feet past the hood of the car. There was a huge white wall surrounding all sides, and I was close to just pulling over and trying to wait it out. After about 30 minutes of driving, we were able to escape the blizzard only to get caught in a dust storm a few miles down the road. That’s bipolar Texas weather for you!
A Texas Blizzard
Despite all the crazy weather, our experience certainly doesn’t deter us from wanting to return to Palo Duro. It was beyond worth it, and we gained some fun camping stories along the way. However, we never leave for a trip without checking the weather first now.