Surface high pressure built into the region giving support to cold air at the surface. Upper level low pressure crossed the region from the southwest causing the precipitation.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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 episode as NWS TSA wrote it up.
Surface high pressure built into the region giving support to cold air at the surface. Upper level low pressure crossed the region from the southwest causing the precipitation. In Oklahoma, the areal coverage of the ice was fairly limited because colder air aloft existed farther north and west resulting in snow in those areas. A greater expanse of freezing rain occurred across into northwest Arkansas.
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 Nov 27, 9:50 PM CST, 3 hours 10 minutes earlier.
EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK 950 PM CST TUE NOV 27 2001 VERY DIFFICULT WEATHER SITUATION EVOLVING ACROSS ERN OK/NW AR LATE THIS EVENING. FIRST OF ALL WL ADJUST WRNG/ADV SOMEWHAT. WL GO AHEAD AND SHIFT THE CURRENT WARNING A FEW COUNTIES SOUTH AND EAST OF ITS CURRENT LOCATION. ALSO WL EXTEND THE ADVISORY ACROSS THE REMAINDER OF THE CWFA. TRENDS OVER THE PAST FEW HOURS HAVE BEEN FOR MORE SLEET AND RAIN THAN ANYTHING GENERALLY ALONG AND SE OF I-44. ECHOES ARE BEGINNING TO BAND ROUGHLY ALONG A KFYV-KMLC LINE. TO THE NORTHWEST OF THIS ENHANCED BAND...MUCH OF THE PCPN IS IN THE FORM OF SN MIXED WITH PL. ALONG AND SE OF THE BAND...MUCH OF THE PCPN IS IN THE FORM OF RA AND PL. HAVE BEEN WATCHING SOME STRONG BRIGHT BANDING ACROSS FAR NW AR...AND A FEW CALLS INTO THE AREA INDICATE THAT MUCH OF THE PCPN IS IN THE FORM OF SLEET. AREA CURRENTLY COVERED BY AN ADVISORY...BUT WL CONTINUE TO MONITOR FOR THE REMAINDER OF THE EVENING...AS MAY HAVE TO UPGRADE THIS AREA TO A WRNG BASED ON ICING ACCUMULATIONS. FURTHER TO THE S...ADVISORY WL BE WORDED MOSTLY FOR LGT ICING. AM SOMEWHAT CONCERNED THAT ICE MAY BUILD UP ON TREES/POWERLINES OVERNIGHT ACROSS SE OK AS TEMPS FALL...AS HAS BEEN WITNESSED ACROSS PORTIONS OF SC OK. (THANKS FOR THE HEADS UP OUN) A QUICK LOOK AT THE 00Z ETA SHOWS THE LARGEST QPF AXIS SHIFTING SLIGHTLY FURTHER TO THE SE THAN THE 18Z RUN...AND THIS MATCHES UP WELL WITH CURRENT THINKING AND RADAR TRENDS. WL LIKELY BACK OFF SLIGHTLY ON SN ACCUMULATIONS ACROSS FAR NW ZNS...BUT STILL KEEP THEM IN THE CURRENT WRNG. HAVE NOT WITNESSED TOO MUCH ACCUMULATION OF SNOW ALONG THE I-44 CORRIDOR AS OF YET...BUT THE NEW ETA SAYS NOT TO WORRY...THERELL BE PLENTY OF QPF BY MORNING...AND MOSTLY IN THE FORM OF SNOW. STRONG UPR DIVERGENCE DEVELOPS OVERNIGHT...ALONG WITH VERY STRONG LOW LEVEL FRONTOGENETIC FORCING...AND GOOD WAA/ISENTROPIC LIFT. THE FORECAST LLVL FRONTOGENETIC FORCING LOOKS WELL RESOLVED BY THE MESOETA LOOKING AT RADAR TRENDS SHOWING PCPN BECOMING MORE BANDED IN NATURE AS THE EVENING PROGRESSES. AS A SIDE NOTE...NOV MONTHLY SNOWFALL RECORD MAY BE IN JEOPARDY FOR KTUL...AS THE PREVIOUS RECORD NOVEMBER SNOWFALL IS 5.6 INCHES SET BACK IN 1972. AS ALWAYS...THANKS FOR THE COORD OUN UPDATE OUT ASAP. MANNING FCSTID = 24 .TSA... AR...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY FOR ZONES ARZ001>002...ARZ010>011...019>020...029. OK...WINTER STORM WARNING FOR TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY FOR ZONES OKZ054>067. WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR TONIGHT AND WEDNESDAY FOR ZONES OKZ049...OKC053...OKZ068>076.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 ice storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Freezing Rain accural totaled 1/2 to 1 inch that downed trees and utility lines across parts of the county. Power outages were common across this area.
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, November 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: 5274716.