High Wind Warning In Amarillo? Pay Closer Attention To It.

We laugh, joke, and get angry at the Amarillo wind all the time. It's a staple of what Amarillo is all about, unfortunately.

One of the things my boys asked me not long after we moved to the city was, "why does the sky always look brown?". I explained to them that it's crazy windy here, and with all the flat land and open areas, the wind blows so strong that it kicks up dust and dirt into the sky and browns it out.

If you get weather alerts in your email, no doubt you get a lot of high wind warnings in there. I always kind of just took those with a grain of salt and moved along with my day, but after yesterday, I'm going to be paying a bit more attention to them.

The wind kicked up so fast and furious yesterday that it created some pretty gnarly brownout conditions across the city. In fact, it was so bad, it was causing accidents on the roads as visibility dropped quickly.

Yesterday, Canyon Police were asking people to avoid driving Loop 335 from Grand to Farmers yesterday. Within 20 minutes of that announcement being made, an accident was reported on the loop. It involved an 18-wheeler but thankfully no injuries were reported.

Another accident involving an 18-wheeler was reported near Helium Road and FM 2219, but that one was different. There were serious injuries reported in that accident with three people being transported to a hospital.

The bottom line is this. When you see or hear of a high wind warning being in effect, take it seriously. Limit your driving if you can, or at least avoid the areas that have nothing but flat land around you. Those areas are most prone to kicking up the dirt and making conditions undrivable.