Winter Storm in Missouri, November 27 to 28, 2001

Name: Winter Storm in Missouri, November 27 to 28, 2001
Start: 2001-11-27T21:00
End: 2001-11-28T12:00
Location: Missouri

November 27 to 28, 2001 · NWS SGF · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 2 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $260,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS SGF wrote it up.

A early winter storm brought periods of sleet, rain, freezing rain and snow across portions of southwest and central Missouri. During the overnight hours of November 28th, ice built up on a 1,600 feet television tower in southwest Webster County near Fordland. As the winds shifted during the morning, the force of the wind plus the weight of ice both pushing and pulling in the same direction, overwhelmed the tower and its support wires. As the 1,600 feet tower collapsed on itself, it also wiped out several transformer banks around Fordland. The storm also downed power lines around the Mansfield area, where locally two inches of ice accumulated on power lines, trees and other metal objects.

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Springfield, MO wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Nov 27, 2:45 PM CST, 6 hours 15 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Nov 27, 2:45 PM CST, 6 hours 15 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SPRINGFIELD MO
245 PM CST TUE NOV 27 2001

FORECAST CONCERNS: PRECIPITATION TYPE AND TEMPERATURES

WINTER WEATHER EVENT STARTING ACROSS OKLAHOMA...WITH PRECIPITATION
BETWEEN TULSA AND OKLAHOMA CITY. MID CLOUDS HAD MOVED INTO THE
FORECAST AREA...WITH TEMPERATURES IN THE MIDDLE 30S TO NEAR 40.

HAVE BASED THIS FORECAST ON THE 12Z AVN OUTPUT...WITH SOME INPUT
FROM THE MESOETA/ETA. MODELS HAVE CONTINUED TO SHOW JET-DRIVEN
PRECIPITATION TONIGHT...WHICH HAS BEGUN TO MATERIALIZE. MODELS HAVE
TRENDED SLOWER AND STRONGER WITH THE SECOND SYSTEM...WHICH WILL
AFFECT THE REGION WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY.

BIGGEST CHALLENGE FOR THIS FORECAST IS DETERMINING PRECIPITATION
TYPE. MODEL SOUNDINGS INDICATE ALL SNOW IN NORTHWEST SECTIONS...A
MIX WITH MAINLY SNOW ALONG THE I-44 CORRIDOR...AND A MIX WITH MAINLY
RAIN IN SOUTH CENTRAL MISSOURI.

AFTER EXTENSIVE COORDINATION WITH SURROUNDING OFFICES...HAVE HOISTED
A HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR THE NORTHWEST THIRD...WINTER WEATHER
ADVISORY FOR THE SOUTHEAST THIRD...AND A WINTER STORM WARNING FOR
THE MIDDLE OF THE FORECAST AREA. EXPECT SNOW AMOUNTS OF 6 TO 8
INCHES ALONG AND NORTH OF I-44...WITH AMOUNTS DROPPING OFF QUICKLY
SOUTHEAST AS YOU GET INTO THE WARMER AIR.

AFTER A BREAK LATE WEDNESDAY MORNING INTO THE AFTERNOON
HOURS...SOUTHERN PLAINS SYSTEM WILL APPROACH THE REGION. WITH THE
SLOWER MOVEMENT OF THIS SYSTEM...MORE WARM AIR SHOULD WORK INTO
SOUTH CENTRAL MISSOURI...RESULTING IN MOSTLY LIQUID PRECIPITATION
THERE. KEPT ALL SNOW IN NORTHWEST SECTIONS AND A MIX IN THE I-44
CORRIDOR.

REMOVED THE TIME QUALIFIER FOR THURSDAY AS WRAP AROUND MOISTURE AND
PRECIPITATION MAY LINGER LONGER THAN ORIGINALLY THOUGHT.

IN THE EXTENDED: PACIFIC FRONT PASSES THROUGH THE OZARKS
SATURDAY...BUT LITTLE MOISTURE TO WORK WITH AT THIS TIME SO KEPT THE
FORECAST DRY. ANOTHER SYSTEM APPROACHES TUESDAY...WITH A GREATER
POTENTIAL FOR RAIN...BUT HAVE OPTED TO CARRY NO POPS FOR THIS
FORECAST.

ISC GRIDS HAVE BEEN SENT.
PRELIMINARY FORECAST GUIDANCE FOR COORDINATION PURPOSES ONLY.
FCSTID = 8
SGF   28  32  28  34 /  80  80  70  30
JLN   28  32  28  34 /  80  80  70  30
UNO   31  35  31  33 /  60  60  60  40
VIH   28  32  28  32 /  80  80  60  30

.SGF...
MO...HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR THIS EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING
FOR ZONES MOZ055>056...MOZ066>068...MOZ077>078.

WINTER STORM WARNING FOR THIS EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING FOR
ZONES MOZ057>058...MOZ069>071...MOZ079>081...MOZ088>091...
MOZ093>095...MOZ101>103.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR THIS EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING
FOR ZONES MOZ082>083...MOZ092...MOZ096>098...MOZ104>106.

KS...HEAVY SNOW WARNING FOR THIS EVENING THROUGH WEDNESDAY EVENING
FOR ZONES KSZ073...KSZ097...KSZ101.

SUTTON

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Webster

When: November 27, 9:00 PM CST to November 28, 12:00 PM CST
Where: Webster forecast zone
Property damage: $250,000
Reported by: BROADCAST MEDIA
Coordinates: 37.281, -92.876 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Wright

When: November 27, 9:00 PM CST to November 28, 12:00 PM CST
Where: Wright forecast zone
Property damage: $10,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 37.270, -92.469 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Winter Storm: A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Missouri in 2001 Every state in 2001 This day in weather history Warnings in Missouri, November 2001

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5272243, 5272297.