Oklahoma, 2001

Hail in Oklahoma, March 23, 2001

March 23, 2001 · NWS AMA · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

Severe thunderstorms with large hail developed during the afternoon across the western and central Oklahoma panhandle.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it. 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

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
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 AMA wrote it up.

Severe thunderstorms with large hail developed during the afternoon across the western and central Oklahoma panhandle.

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 Amarillo, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 23, 2:21 AM CST, 12 hours 25 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 23, 2:21 AM CST, 12 hours 25 minutes before
TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
221 AM CST FRI MAR 23 2001

VORT MAX SLOWLY PUSHING EAST THROUGH SOUTHEAST COLORADO AND
NORTHEAST NEW MEXICO CAUSING OUR SHOWERS AND ISOLATED STORMS THIS
MORNING. RAIN SHOULD PUSH INTO WESTERN OKLAHOMA OR DISSIPATE BY
SUNRISE. VORT MAX HANGS AROUND THE OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE FOR MOST OF
THE DAY. THIS COUPLED WITH SURFACE MOISTURE...UPSLOPE AND
INSTABILITY LEADS ME TO THINK THAT GOING FORECAST IS RIGHT ON
TRACK WITH POPS TODAY.  WE WILL INCREASE POPS FOR TONIGHT AS NEXT
STRONG COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH AND NEXT SHORT WAVE APPROACHES
THE AREA IN WEST/NORTHWEST FLOW ALOFT.

WE WILL LOWER SOME TEMPERATURES ON SATURDAY. AGREE WITH LBB THAT
VERY LITTLE SUNSHINE WILL EQUAL VERY SMALL TEMPERATURE RISES.

REST OF THE FORECAST LOOKS TO BE PRETTY MUCH ON TRACK...BUT WE
WILL INTRODUCE SOME POPS FOR MONDAY NIGHT AND TUESDAY. IT NOW
LOOKS LIKE THE MODELS ARE LATCHING ONTO THE IDEA THAT ANOTHER COLD
FRONT SHOULD MOVE THROUGH THE PANHANDLES MONDAY NIGHT. ANOTHER
SHORT WAVE MOVES TOWARDS THE PANHANDLES TUESDAY AS WESTERN RIDGE IS
REPLACED BY A TROUGH.

A FEW NUMBERS TO PONDER:

DHT 67/a38 43/35 57 464
AMA 70/42 48/36 62 364
BVR 64/41 47/36 58 464

.AMA...
.TX...NONE.
.OK...NONE.

GOEHRING

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Mar 23, 1:00 PM CST, 1 hour 46 minutes before
OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-240300-

TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
100 PM CST FRI MAR 23 2001

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATER THIS
EVENING AND TONIGHT OVER ABOUT THE SOUTHWEST QUARTER OF THE TEXAS
PANHANDLE.  THE SLIGHT RISK AREA IS MAINLY ALONG AND SOUTHWEST OF A
LINE FROM ROMERO TO SOUTH OF CANYON NEAR HAPPY.

ELSEWHERE ACROSS THE OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS PANHANDLES...SCATTERED
THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED LATER TODAY THROUGH TONIGHT.
THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN AND MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN AND
NORTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO AS WELL AS SOUTHERN AND SOUTHEASTERN
COLORADO WILL MOVE SOUTHEAST INTO THE OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS PANHANDLES
BY MID TO LATE AFTERNOON TODAY.

A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS IS IN PLACE OVER THE OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS
PANHANDLES.  IN ADDITION...A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE IN THE UPPER
ATMOSPHERE WILL MOVE EAST OUT OF NEW MEXICO AND INTO WEST TEXAS LATER
TODAY AND TONIGHT.  THE BEST LIFT AND UPPER LEVEL DYNAMICS FROM THIS
UPPER TROUGH WILL BE JUST SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST OF THE TEXAS PANHANDLE.
 THAT IS THE REASON FOR THE SLIGHT RISK AREA OVER THE EXTREME
SOUTHWEST SECTION OF THE TEXAS PANHANDLE THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT.

THE PRIMARY THREAT WITH THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LARGE
HAIL...ALTHOUGH SOME DAMAGING DOWNBURST WINDS ARE ALSO POSSIBLE.  THE
OVERALL TORNADO THREAT APPEARS MINIMAL AT THIS TIME...AN ISOLATED
TORNADO CANNOT BE RULED OUT.

OUTSIDE OF THE SEVERE THREAT...THE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO
PRODUCE BRIEF GUSTY WINDS...DEADLY LIGHTNING AND BRIEF HEAVY
RAINFALL.

SPOTTER GROUPS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIAL OVER THE SOUTHWEST
<TEXAS PANHANDLE SHOULD BE ON ALERT FOR POSSIBLE ACTIVATION THIS
EVENING AND TONIGHT.

SCHNEIDER
Special weather statement, Mar 23, 2:12 PM CST, 34 minutes before
OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-240300-

TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
212 PM CST FRI MAR 23 2001

THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK FOR SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS LATER THIS AFTERNOON
THROUGH TONIGHT OVER ABOUT THE WESTERN TWO-THIRDS OF THE OKLAHOMA AND
TEXAS PANHANDLES.  THE SLIGHT RISK AREA IS MAINLY ALONG AND WEST OF A
LINE FROM NORTHWEST OF FORGAN TO HEDLEY.  THIS DOES INCLUDE THE
CITIES AND TOWNS OF AMARILLO...BORGER...DALHART...CANYON...
HEREFORD...DUMAS...CLARENDON...SPEARMAN...GUYMON...STRATFORD...BOISE
CITY...CLAUDE...AND PERRYTON.

ELSEWHERE ACROSS THE EXTREME EASTERN OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS PANHANDLES...
SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED LATER TODAY THROUGH TONIGHT.
THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN AND MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN AND
NORTHEASTERN NEW MEXICO AS WELL AS SOUTHERN AND SOUTHEASTERN
COLORADO WILL MOVE SOUTHEAST INTO THE OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS PANHANDLES
BY MID TO LATE AFTERNOON TODAY.

A MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIRMASS IS IN PLACE OVER THE OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS
PANHANDLES.  IN ADDITION...A TROUGH OF LOW PRESSURE IN THE UPPER
ATMOSPHERE WILL MOVE EAST OUT OF NEW MEXICO AND INTO WEST TEXAS LATER
TODAY AND TONIGHT.  THAT IS THE REASON FOR THE SLIGHT RISK AREA OVER
THE WESTERN TWO-THIRDS OF THE OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS PANHANDLE THIS
EVENING AND TONIGHT.

THE PRIMARY THREATS WITH THE SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE LARGE HAIL
AND DAMAGING DOWNBURST WINDS.

OUTSIDE OF THE SEVERE THREAT...THE THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO
PRODUCE BRIEF GUSTY WINDS...DEADLY LIGHTNING AND BRIEF HEAVY
RAINFALL.

SPOTTER GROUPS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT OFFICIAL ALL ACROSS THE
WESTERN AND CENTRAL OKLAHOMA AND TEXAS PANHANDLES SHOULD BE ON ALERT
FOR POSSIBLE ACTIVATION LATER TODAY THROUGH TONIGHT.

SCHNEIDER

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Hail, Cimarron

When
March 23, 2:46 PM CST
Where
Cimarron County, Griggs
Measured
1 in hail
Reported by
FIRE DEPT/RESCUE SQUAD
Coordinates
36.600, -102.117

Hail, Texas

When
March 23, 3:00 PM CST
Where
Texas County, 10 mi N of Guymon
Measured
0.88 in hail
Reported by
GENERAL PUBLIC
Coordinates
36.833, -101.483

Hail was reported to be two inches deep by an Exxon oil worker at their headquarters.

What these are

Hail
Hail three-quarters of an inch or larger, or smaller hail that caused damage, filed with the largest stone measured.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Oklahoma in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Oklahoma, March 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: 5236282, 5236283.