The story was much the same 170 miles to the southwest in Amarillo, Texas, where 19 inches of snow had fallen, an all-time single day record for February, the weather service said.

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According to the National Weather Service, nearly half of all flood-related deaths occur in vehicles.

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This kind of heat is nowhere near normal for this time of year, CNN meteorologist Sean Morris said, pointing to a statement from the National Weather Service that said all but one of the 52 record-high temperatures reached in 2012 have come in the past seven days.

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