Ice Storm in Oklahoma, December 20 to 21, 1998

A prolonged period of light freezing drizzle or light freezing rain plagued all of western and central Oklahoma on the 20th and 21st of December producing a thin layer of ice on most roads. Precipitation began first across northern Oklahoma around 1800 CST on the 20th, and then spread southward into all of western and southern Oklahoma during the 12 hour period between 0000 CST and 1200 CST on the 21st. Several hundred traffic accidents occurred during this time with 255 occurring in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. Across the entire state of Oklahoma there were 13 fatal traffic accidents and 100 injury related traffic accidents. Only a few locations recorded a measureable amount of precipitation, but amounts were typically under 2 or 3 hundredths of an inch. However northwest portions of Oklahoma including Ellis, Harper, Woodward, Woods, and Alfalfa Counties, did receive 1 to 2 inches of snow from late evening on the 20th through the early morning on the 21st. Many schools had to close, and numerous traffic accidents were reported.