4 flash flood, as filed by the National Weather Service.
Every event with a place to put it; 4 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
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 Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 16, 3:17 PM CST, 8 minutes earlier.
EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 317 PM CST SUN DEC 16 2001 UPPER LOW MOVING INTO WEST TEXAS WILL CONTINUE MOVING EAST AS SURFACE LOW TRACKS INTO ARKANSAS. THERE WILL STILL BE A HEAVY RAIN THREAT ACROSS SOUTHERN ZONES THIS EVENING AS AREA OF CONVECTION IN SOUTH CENTRAL OKLAHOMA AND NORTHERN TEXAS SPREADS NORTHEAST. WILL EXTEND THE FLASH FLOOD WATCH INTO THIS EVENING FOR 7 COUNTIES IN EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND 3 COUNTIES IN WEST CENTRAL ARKANSAS. MID AND UPPER LEVEL DRYING WILL MOVE INTO THAT AREA LATER THIS EVENING... EFFECTIVELY ENDING THE THREAT FOR EXCESSIVE RAINS. LIGHT TO MODERATE WRAPAROUND RAINS TO CONTINUE ACROSS NORTHERN ZONES TONIGHT BEFORE ENDING MONDAY MORNING. CLOUDS SHOULD CLEAR FROM WEST DURING THE MORNING AND EARLY AFTERNOON AS SUBSIDENCE/DRYING DEVELOPS BEHIND THE COLD FRONT/UPPER SYSTEM. TEMPERATURES SHOULD WARM INTO THE 50S IN ALL AREAS WITH THE AID OF AFTERNOON SUNSHINE. TUESDAY LOOKS DRY AND MILD. INCREASING CIRRUS WILL KEEP TEMPERATURES FROM GETTING AS WARM AS THEY WOULD WITH FULL SUN...BUT AFTERNOON HIGHS ON TUESDAY SHOULD STILL APPROACH 60F MANY AREAS. IN EXTENDED...DRY FRONTAL PASSAGE OCCURS TUESDAY NIGHT. AFTER A SLIGHT COOLDOWN ON WEDNESDAY...THURSDAY SHOULD BE WARMER AGAIN. NEXT CHANCE OF RAIN WILL BEGIN FRIDAY AND LAST INTO NEXT WEEKEND AS A CUTOFF LOW DEVELOPS OVER SOUTHWEST U.S. SOME UNCERTAINTY WITH REGARD TO EVOLUTION/MOVEMENT OF THE SOUTHWEST LOW AND ALSO DEGREE OF COOLING WITH A FRONT ON SUNDAY...BUT WILL CARRY A CHANCE OF RAIN INTO SUNDAY WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES MAINLY IN THE 40S. FCSTID = 9 TUL 38 52 31 61 / 90 10 0 0 FSM 44 54 30 64 / 100 30 0 0 MLC 42 55 30 62 / 90 10 0 0 BVO 36 52 25 61 / 80 10 0 0 FYV 40 50 26 57 / 100 30 0 0 BYV 41 50 25 58 / 100 40 0 0 MIO 38 51 26 60 / 90 10 0 0 MKO 40 53 30 62 / 90 10 0 0 F10 39 52 31 61 / 90 10 0 0 HHW 45 57 33 63 / 80 10 0 0 .TSA... AR...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THIS EVENING FOR ZONES ARZ019>020...ARZ029. OK...FLASH FLOOD WATCH THIS EVENING FOR ZONES OKZ049...OKZ053... OKZ072>076.
ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-171200- EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 115 PM CST SUN DEC 16 2001 ...A FLASH FLOOD WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT TODAY FOR SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS... ...HEAVY RAINFALL LIKELY ACROSS SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS TODAY... A VIGOROUS UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE WAS MOVING INTO WEST TEXAS AT MIDDAY SUNDAY. ABUNDANT MOISTURE WAS MOVING NORTH FROM TEXAS AND CONVERGING OVER EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND NORTHWEST ARKANSAS...RESULTING IN WIDESPREAD RAIN. ISOLATE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE... MAINLY SOUTH OF A MCALESTER TO FORT SMITH LINE. RAINFALL OF 2 TO 4 INCHES HAS ALREADY OCCURRED SOUTHEAST OF A LINE FROM AROUND FAYETTEVILLE TO HENRYETTA. AN ADDITIONAL 1 TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN WILL BE POSSIBLE LATER TODAY AND TONIGHT. THIS MAY BE SUFFICIENT TO CAUSE FLASH FLOODING IN THE WATCH AREA. .SPOTTER ACTIVATION... EMERGENCY MANAGERS IN THE WATCH AREA SHOULD MONITOR THE LATEST WEATHER INFORMATION TODAY. .DISCUSSION... THE AIRMASS IS RELATIVELY STABLE...BUT ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER THE WATCH AREA...AND COULD RESULT IN LOCAL BRIEF HEAVY RAINFALL. THE UPPER LOW WILL REACH NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS AROUND MIDNIGHT CAUSING THE SURFACE LOW TO MOVE INTO ARKANSAS THIS EVENING. THE BEST LIFT WILL MOVE EAST AND OUT OF EASTERN OKLAHOMA NORTHWEST ARKANSAS THIS EVENING...DIMINISHING THE CHANCES OF EXCESSIVE RAINFALL. PLEASE REFER TO THE LATEST FLOOD STATEMENT (OKCFLSTUL) ISSUED BY THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TULSA. RELATED GRAPHICAL INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT: WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TULSA
The Western Arkansas radar (KSRX), 178 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 21:23 UTC.
4 flash flood. Local standard time, as filed.
Heavy thunderstorm rains caused water to flow over Highway 109 five miles south of Fort Towson.
Heavy thunderstorm rains caused water to flow over a bridge on a county road 3 miles miles east of Finley.
Heavy thunderstorm rains caused water to flow over Highway 82 five miles south of Red Oak.
Heavy thunderstorm rains caused flash flooding across a large part of southern Le Flore county.Numerous county roads were flooded near Muse and Page. In addition to numerous county roads being flooded in the vicinity of Big Cedar, a few homes were also flooded.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oklahoma in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Oklahoma, December 2001
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: 5275155, 5275157, 5275156, 5275158.