Eighteen Inches of Rain Has to Carry a Whole Year

The official weather station at Lubbock's airport sits 3,254 feet above sea level. Its 1991-2020 normals put annual precipitation at 18.33 inches and July's average high at 93.4 degrees. The same record carries a useful surprise: normal annual snowfall is seven inches. Dry and hot does not mean winter never arrives.

Wind can turn loose High Plains soil into a travel problem. National Weather Service event reports show that dense blowing dust can cut visibility sharply, especially outside the city. When dust is in the forecast, the open-road part of a trip deserves as much attention as the temperature.