Oklahoma, 2002

Flash Flooding and Hail in Oklahoma, August 16, 2002

August 16, 2002 · NWS AMA · 4 events in 2 counties and zones

Thunderstorms produced very heavy rainfall which resulted in flash flooding during the early morning hours across the eastern Oklahoma panhandle. Severe thunderstorms across the central Oklahoma panhandle produced hail during the early morning hours.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 3 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

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The toll

Deaths
0
Injuries
0
Property damage
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
4

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.

Thunderstorms produced very heavy rainfall which resulted in flash flooding during the early morning hours across the eastern Oklahoma panhandle. Severe thunderstorms across the central Oklahoma panhandle produced hail during the early morning hours.

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 Aug 16, 2:31 AM CST, 3 hours 14 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Aug 16, 2:31 AM CST, 3 hours 14 minutes before
TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
331 AM CDT FRI AUG 16 2002

HAVE NOT SEEN MCS DEVELOP AS PER THE SHORT TERM MODELS EARLY THIS
MORNING ACROSS THE NORTHEAST TEXAS PANHANDLE. CAP MUST BE JUST
STRONG ENOUGH FOR DYNAMICS TO OVERCOME. MID LEVEL DEBRIS CLOUDS
SHOULD DISSIPATE THIS MORNING...LEAVING A MOSTLY SUNNY SKY.
TEMPERATURES TODAY SHOULD BE JUST AS WARM AS YESTERDAY IF NOT A
LITTLE WARMER. SOUTH WINDS WILL INCREASE AGAIN AHEAD OF SHARPENING
LEE-TROUGH.

NEXT STRONG UPSTREAM SHORT WAVE IS DIGGING SOUTHEAST THROUGH
NORTHEAST WASHINGTON. SOME DARKENING IS NOTED ON THE WATER VAPOR
LOOP ON THE SOUTHWEST SIDE OF THIS SYSTEM...SO WOULD EXPECT SOME
SOUTHEAST MOVEMENT TO THE WAVE. THIS SHORT WAVE IS EXPECTED TO DRIVE
ANOTHER COLD FRONT SOUTH INTO THE PANHANDLES SATURDAY. CURRENT
FORECAST ALREADY LINES UP WITH THIS SCENARIO.  WE DID SPREAD 20
POPS BACK INTO CIMARRON COUNTY ON SATURDAY NIGHT AS MOIST UPSLOPE
FLOW RETURNS TO THIS AREA.  OUTSIDE OF THAT...WE DID NOT CHANCE THE
POP STRUCTURE SATURDAY OR SATURDAY NIGHT.

ANOTHER SHORT WAVE MOVES ACROSS THE NORTHERN HIGH PLAINS EARLY NEXT
WEEK.  ANOTHER COLD FRONT IS ALSO EXPECTED TO MOVE INTO THE AREA BY
MONDAY. WE DID TWEAK TEMPERATURES DOWN IN THE NORTH A LITTLE...BUT
DID NOT ADD ANY POPS AT THIS TIME.

THE REST OF THE FORECAST LOOKS ON TRACK.  UPPER HIGH WILL BECOME
MORE DOMINATE ACROSS THE SOUTHERN HIGH PLAINS AS WE MOVE THROUGH
NEXT WEEK...SO WARM AND DRY LOOKS GOOD.

THANK YOU FOR THE COORDINATION DDC.

A FEW NUMBERS TO PONDER:

AMARILLO    95 68 87 65 /  00 00 00 20
BEAVER      99 71 84 65 /  00 00 00 20
BOISE CITY  95 64 82 62 /  00 00 00 20
BORGER      97 69 85 65 /  00 00 00 20
BOYS RANCH  99 68 85 65 /  00 00 00 20
CANYON      95 68 87 66 /  00 00 00 20
CLARENDON   96 72 94 66 /  00 00 20 20
DALHART     97 65 84 62 /  00 00 00 20
GUYMON      100 67 83 64 /  00 00 00 20
HEREFORD    97 69 88 66 /  00 00 00 20
LIPSCOMB    99 70 86 65 /  00 00 00 20
PAMPA       97 70 88 65 /  00 00 00 20
SHAMROCK    97 72 96 66 /  00 00 20 20
WELLINGTON  96 73 96 69 /  00 00 20 20

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

GOEHRING

The radar

The Dodge City radar (KDDC), 121 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 13:51 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 flash flood, 1 hail. Local standard time, as filed.

Flash Flood, Beaver

When
August 16, 5:45 AM CST to 6:45 AM CST
Where
Beaver County, 5 mi NW of Beaver
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
36.750, -100.477 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Water was reported over the road.

Flash Flood, Beaver

When
August 16, 6:10 AM CST to 7:15 AM CST
Where
Beaver County, 6 mi N of Beaver
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
36.750, -100.477 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Water was reported over Highway 270.

Hail, Texas

When
August 16, 7:50 AM CST
Where
Texas County, 1 mi S of Tyrone
Measured
0.75 in hail
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
36.933, -101.067

Flash Flood, Beaver

When
August 16, 8:55 AM CST to 10:00 AM CST
Where
Beaver County, 4 mi N of Beaver
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
36.750, -100.477 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Water was reported over Highway 23.

What these are

Flash Flood
Flooding that begins within six hours of the rain that causes it, or of a dam or levee failure or ice jam release, often with deadly speed.
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 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Oklahoma, August 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: 5312595, 5312596, 5312598, 5312597.