Texas Panhandle

The northwest corner of Texas is known as the Texas Panhandle, probably because it juts out in stark plaintiveness from the rest of the state. Flat and dry, the steady prevailing winds can sometimes create mild dust storms, though modern farming techniques have much reduced the terrible dust storms which occurred during the "Dust Bowl Days" of the Great Depression. The region is subject to extremes of temperature like much of the Great Plains. Temperatures regularly reach 100°F (38°C) during the summer, while the winters can bring snows and the occasional blizzard. While the snows are not frequent, the prevailing winds can drive what little does drop across a large area of the plains until it finds something to pile up against, usually a town or city or a highway. Drifting is generally the real hazard, rather than large quantities of snow as happen in the North and East of the U.S.