Severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and large hail raked the central and eastern Oklahoma panhandle during the early evening hours.
Every event with a place to put it. 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 episode as NWS AMA wrote it up.
Severe thunderstorms with damaging winds and large hail raked the central and eastern Oklahoma panhandle during the early evening hours.
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 May 27, 12:35 PM CST, 5 hours 10 minutes earlier.
TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX 135 PM CDT SUN MAY 27 2001 A COMPLICATED SITUATION IS IN PLACE FOR THE AREA AND WILL PUT UNCERTAINTY IN THE TIMING OF EVENTS. RADAR SHOWS SOME LEFTOVER BOUNDARIES FROM PREVIOUS ACTIVITY. AN OLD FRONTAL BOUNDARY IS DIFFICULT TO PLACE BUT APPEARS TO BE NEAR OUR SOUTHERN ZONES. AT THE SAME TIME...A DRYLINE IS POISED IN EASTERN NM AND SHOULD MOVE EASTWARD INTO THE CWA BEFORE DARK. AN INSTABILITY LINE APPEARS STRETCHED FROM SE CO TO SW KS AND INTO OK. THIS WILL PUT OUR NE IN THE BEST CHANCE FOR ACTIVE WEATHER AS ALL THE INGREDIENTS COME TOGETHER THIS EVENING. THE AREA REMAINS UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF NORTHWEST FLOW AND PLENTY OF MOISTURE WILL STILL BE IN PLACE TO WORK ON MONDAY INTO TUESDAY. A WAVE MOVES TOWARD THE AREA AT MIDWEEK AND PROVIDES FURTHER OPPORTUNITY FOR STORMS. NW FLOW ALOFT HANGS ON INTO THE LATE WEEK AS A WEAKER SYSTEM SETTLES IN OVER THE NORTHERN PLAINS. INDICATORS STILL SHOW A DRIER LATE WEEK...SO WILL NOT MAKE ANY CHANGES THERE. .AMA... TX...NONE. OK...NONE. WYNNE
OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-272100- TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES THUNDERSTORM OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX 100 PM CDT SUN MAY 27 2001 THERE IS A MODERATE RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT OVER NEARLY ALL OF THE OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE...AND THE NORTHEAST HALF OF THE TEXAS PANHANDLE. THE MODERATE RISK AREA IS GENERALLY EAST OF A LINE FROM KENTON AND BOISE CITY OKLAHOMA... TO DUMAS AND LAKE MEREDITH...TO PANHANDLE...TO SOUTH OF CLARENDON. TO THE WEST OF THIS LINE...THERE IS A SLIGHT RISK OF SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE REMAINING SECTIONS OF THE PANHANDLES. EARLY THIS AFTERNOON...A SURFACE LOW PRESSURE CENTER WAS OVER SOUTHEAST COLORADO...WITH THE DRYLINE EXTENDING SOUTH THROUGH EASTERN NEW MEXICO. A LOW PRESSURE TROUGH EXTENDED SOUTHEAST FROM THE SURFACE LOW ACROSS THE OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE AND THE FAR NORTHEAST TEXAS PANHANDLE. AN OUTFLOW BOUNDARY FROM SATURDAY EVENINGS THUNDERSTORMS WAS OVER THE SOUTHERN TEXAS PANHANDLE. THE DRYLINE WILL MOVE EAST INTO THE WESTERN TEXAS PANHANDLE THIS AFTERNOON. THE OTHER TWO BOUNDARIES WILL REMAIN NEARLY STATIONARY. BY MID AFTERNOON...THUNDERSTORMS ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG ANY OR ALL OF THESE SURFACE BOUNDARIES. THE AIRMASS IN PLACE OVER THE PANHANDLES IS VERY UNSTABLE...AND DAYTIME HEATING THIS AFTERNOON WILL CAUSE FURTHER DESTABILIZATION. AFTER THUNDERSTORMS DEVELOP...THEY WILL STRENGTHEN QUICKLY...AND SOME OF THESE WILL LIKELY BECOME SEVERE. FOR THE MODERATE RISK AREA...FAVORABLE TURNING OF WINDS WITH HEIGHT IN THE LOWER AND MIDDLE PORTIONS OF THE ATMOSPHERE WILL RESULT IN SUPERCELL STORMS WITH THE MAIN THREAT BEING LARGE HAIL...DAMAGING WINDS AND A FEW TORNADOES. STORMS ARE EXPECTED TO ORGANIZE INTO A SQUALL LINE AND MOVE SOUTH ACROSS THE RISK AREAS LATER THIS EVENING. THE MAIN THREAT LATE THIS EVENING AND OVERNIGHT WILL BECOME DAMAGING STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS...LARGE HAIL AND VERY HEAVY RAINFALL. SPOTTER GROUPS AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL ACROSS THE TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES SHOULD REMAIN ALERT FOR POSSIBLE ACTIVATION AS EARLY AS 3 PM THIS AFTERNOON...AND SHOULD EXPECT TO CALLED UPON DURING THIS EVENING AS WELL. COCKRELL
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 thunderstorm wind, 2 hail. Local standard time, as filed.
A tremendous amount of tree damage and structural damage...including roofs blown off of barns and sheds. Roof damage was reported on several houses and tin walls and roofs blown off of several buildings.
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, May 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: 5247779, 5247780, 5247781, 5247782, 5247783, 5247784, 5247785.