Ice Storm in Kansas, January 29 to 31, 2002

Name: Ice Storm in Kansas, January 29 to 31, 2002
Start: 2002-01-29T21:00
End: 2002-01-31T08:00
Location: Kansas

January 29 to 31, 2002 · NWS DDC · 6 events in 6 counties and zones

A combination of freezing rain and sleet fell from southeast Clark through Comanche, Kiowa, Barber, Pratt and Stafford counties. Two to four inches of ice and sleet were reported.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 6 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: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 6

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 DDC wrote it up.

A combination of freezing rain and sleet fell from southeast Clark through Comanche, Kiowa, Barber, Pratt and Stafford counties. Two to four inches of ice and sleet were reported. Widespread power outages occurred across Barber county due to the ice breaking down power lines. A livestock building at the Stafford county fairgrounds collapsed under the weight of the ice, sleet and eventually a little snow.

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 Dodge City, KS wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 29, 4:10 PM CST, 4 hours 50 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 29, 4:10 PM CST, 4 hours 50 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...FINAL
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DODGE CITY KS
410 PM CST TUE JAN 29 2002

FORECAST CHALLENGES ARE FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET TONIGHT AND THE
CHANGEOVER TO SNOW ON WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

UPPER AIR ANALYSIS CONTINUED TO SHOW THE MAIN 500 MB TROUGH AXIS
OVER THE NORTHERN ROCKIES BACK INTO CENTRAL CALIFORNIA WITH STRONG
WEST SOUTHWEST FLOW ALOFT OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS.  GOOD MOISTURE
AVAILABLE ABOVE 700 MB AS WELL.  AT THE 850 MB LEVEL, A STRONG
BAROCLINIC ZONE CONTINUED BE LOCATED OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS WITH A
24 DEG C DIFFERENCE BETWEEN KDDC AND KLBF.  SURFACE FRONT STRETCHED
ACROSS OKLAHOMA INTO THE TEXAS PANHANDLE AND BACK ALONG THE FRONT
RANGE OF THE ROCKIES.  GOOD LOW LEVEL MOISTURE WAS AVAILABLE TO OUR
EAST AND SOUTH WITH THE +10 DEG ISODROSOTHERM FROM KTOP TO KOUN.
ONLY A FEW REPORTS OF FREEZING RAIN/SLEET HAVE BEEN RECEIVED SO FAR
FROM THE AREA SOUTHEAST OF KDDC.

MODELS INITIALIZED FAIRLY WELL AT THE 500 MB LEVEL AND SHOW VERY
SIMILAR SOLUTIONS THROUGH 12Z THURSDAY.  CHUNK OF ENERGY ROTATION
AROUND THE BASE OF THE UPPER TROUGH THIS AFTERNOON WILL BE
APPROACHING THE REGION LATER TONIGHT.  AS THIS HAPPENS, ISENTROPIC
LIFT WILL DEVELOP OVER THE BAROCLINIC ZONE ACROSS WESTERN AND
SOUTHWEST KANSAS.  BASED ON MODEL SOUNDINGS, THINK THAT SOUTHEAST
1/4 OF THE CWA FROM PRATT AND MED LODGE TO ASHLAND WILL HAVE THE
BEST THREAT FOR FREEZING RAIN WITH A BAND OF MIXED PRECIPITATION TO
THE NORTH FROM STAFFORD AND LARNED THROUGH DODGE AND GARDEN CITIES
INTO THE ELKHART AND LIBERAL AREAS.  IN AREAS FARTHER NORTH THE
PRECIP SHOULD MAINLY BE OF THE FROZEN VARIETY. AFTER THE FIRST SHOT
OF ENERGY MOVES BY ON WEDNESDAY WE COULD SEE A LULL IN THE ACTION
BEFORE THE MAIN SHOW ARRIVES WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

MODELS ARE ALL HINTING AT FAIRLY SIGNIFICANT SNOW AMOUNTS BY THE
TIME THE MAIN TROUGH MOVES OUT LATE WEDNESDAY INTO THURSDAY
MORNING.  THIS LOOKS REASONABLE GIVEN THE GOOD MOISTURE
AVAILABILITY.  AT THIS TIME AM LOOKING AT SNOW AMOUNTS OF 2-4 INCHES
LATE TONIGHT AND EARLY WEDNESDAY WITH ANOTHER 4-6 INCHES POSSIBLE
WEDNESDAY NIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING.  WILL ISSUE A WSW FOR A
WINTRY MIX FROM LARNED THROUGH DODGE AND GARDEN CITY TO ELKHART
TONIGHT.

FOR THE SOUTHEAST PART OF THE CWA, THE FREEZING RAIN WILL GET GOING
IN EARNEST TONIGHT AND CONTINUE INTO WEDNESDAY BEFORE THE CHANGEOVER
TO SNOW OCCURS.  PRECIPITATION ALREADY BREAKING OUT FROM THE TEXAS
PANHANDLE INTO SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS.  THIS WILL BE INCREASING
TONIGHT AS THE FIRST WAVE APPROACHES. POTENTIAL ICE ACCUMULATION
LOOKS SIGNIFICANT ENOUGH THAT A WSW FOR ICE ACCUMULATION LOOKS
APPROPRIATE.  WILL CONTINUE THE WSW THROUGH THURSDAY WHEN THE
PRECIPITATION WILL BE ENDING.

TEMPERATURES WILL NOT BE CHANGING MUCH THROUGH 48 HOURS WITH HIGHS
GENERALLY AROUND 20-25 WITH LOWS 10-15.  WITH CLEARING SKIES
THURSDAY NIGHT AND SNOW COVER IN PLACE, WE SHOULD DROP DOWN TO
AROUND THE ZERO MARK GIVE OR TAKE A FEW DEGREES.

DAYS 3-7...

THE MODEL GUIDANCE CAN BE COMPLETELY DISREGARDED FOR FRIDAY THROUGH
SUNDAY AND POSSIBLY INTO MONDAY AS SNOW COVER WILL KEEP TEMPERATURES
MUCH COLDER. SO EVEN THOUGH THE MRFMOS WARMS US INTO THE 40S AND LOW
50S, WITH SNOW ON THE GROUND THIS WILL NEVER HAPPEN. WE WILL GO
10-15 DEGREES BELOW GUIDANCE FOR HIGHS AND LOWS. SUBZERO
TEMPERATURES ARE LIKELY THURSDAY NIGHT AND POSSIBLY FRIDAY NIGHT
WITH CLEAR SKIES AND LIGHT WINDS. THE NEXT COLD FRONT IS DUE IN BY
MONDAY EVENING.

PRELIMINARY GUIDANCE FOR COORDINATION ONLY. OFFICIAL FORECASTS ARE
CONTAINED WITHIN THE DODGE CITY ZONE FORECAST.

DDC   14  20  12  24 /  +   90  +  60
GCK   13  19  10  23 /  +   70  +  60
EHA   17  22  13  22 /  +   60  +  60
LBL   15  21  12  23 /  +   90  +  60
HYS   11  18  10  21 /  90  70  9  60
P28   20  24  17  25 /  +   +   +  60

.DDC...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT WEDNESDAY AND A WINTER
STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY
KSZ030-031-043>046-061-062.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT TONIGHT AND A WINTER STORM WARNING
IS IN EFFECT WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY KSZ063>066-074>079-084>087.
A WINTER STORM WARNING IS IN EFFECT TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY KSZ080-
081-088>090.

GERARD/FINCH

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

6 ice storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Ice Storm, Barber

When: January 29, 9:00 PM CST to January 31, 8:00 AM CST
Where: Barber forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 37.229, -98.685 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Clark

When: January 29, 9:00 PM CST to January 31, 8:00 AM CST
Where: Clark forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 37.236, -99.820 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Comanche

When: January 29, 9:00 PM CST to January 31, 8:00 AM CST
Where: Comanche forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 37.191, -99.272 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Kiowa

When: January 29, 9:00 PM CST to January 31, 8:00 AM CST
Where: Kiowa forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 37.558, -99.286 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Pratt

When: January 29, 9:00 PM CST to January 31, 8:00 AM CST
Where: Pratt forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 37.648, -98.740 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Stafford

When: January 29, 9:00 PM CST to January 31, 8:00 AM CST
Where: Stafford forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 38.031, -98.717 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Ice Storm: Freezing rain accumulating a quarter inch or more of ice, or less where it caused significant damage.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Kansas in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Kansas, January 2002

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: 5279557, 5279558, 5279559, 5279560, 5279561, 5279562.