Ice Storm in Oklahoma, January 29 to 30, 2002

Name: Ice Storm in Oklahoma, January 29 to 30, 2002
Start: 2002-01-29T21:00
End: 2002-01-30T23:00
Location: Oklahoma

January 29 to 30, 2002 · NWS TSA · 4 events in 4 counties and zones

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

Open the live radar over this ground

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $1.5 million
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 TSA wrote it up.

The combination of a slow moving upper level system moving east out of the rockies and a shallow cold air mass moving south into Oklahoma resulted in a widespread rain event across eastern Oklahoma from the evening of the 29th into the next night. Temperatures remained above freezing across much of eastern Oklahoma. However, across a large part of Nowata, Washington, Osage and Pawnee counties, the temperature did fall a few degrees below freezing. While the air temperature was below freezing in those counties, soil temperatures remained above freezing. Thus, roads did not become icy. Exposed objects such as power lines and trees did receive a thick coating of ice, however, as two to three inches of rain fell. Many tree limbs and power lines fell down due to this ice. As many as 18,000 homes and businesses had power outages.

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 Tulsa, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 29, 7:42 PM CST, 1 hour 18 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 29, 7:42 PM CST, 1 hour 18 minutes before

EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
742 PM CST TUE JAN 29 2002

COLD FRONT CONTINUES A SLOW SOUTHWARD MOVEMENT INTO SOUTHEAST
OKLAHOMA AND WESTERN ARKANSAS THIS EVENING. FRONT HAS ALREADY MADE
IT SLIGHTLY FARTHER THAN EXPECTED...SO WILL UPDATE ZONES TO MAKE THE
NECESSARY ADJUSTMENTS.

ALL INDICATIONS STILL POINT TO FRONT BECOMING STATIONARY ACROSS WEST
CENTRAL ARKANSAS INTO FAR SOUTHEAST OKLAHOMA TONIGHT AS SHALLOW COLD
AIRMASS ENCOUNTERS HIGHER TERRAIN.

RAINS WERE INCREASING IN COVERAGE AND INTENSITY IN AREAS NORTH OF
THE FRONT AS STRONG ISENTROPIC LIFTING CONTINUED. OUN AND SGF
SOUNDINGS SUPPORT THE POTENTIAL FOR SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS
OVERNIGHT. RADAR STARTING TO SHOW SIGNS OF CONVECTION WITH SOME
HIGHER REFLECTIVITIES DEVELOPING VICINITY OF TULSA AT THIS TIME.
WILL KEEP A MENTION OF THUNDERSTORMS IN ALL ZONES FOR TONIGHT.

MESONET TEMPERATURES ARE CURRENTLY NEAR AND SLIGHTLY ABOVE 32F IN
THE WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY ZONES. AS RAIN INTENSITIES INCREASE
THERE THE NEXT FEW HOURS AND WEAK LOW LEVEL COLD ADVECTION
CONTINUES...EXPECT FREEZING RAINS TO DEVELOP. BEST CHANCE FOR ICING
TONIGHT WILL BE ACROSS NORTHERN PARTS OF OSAGE AND WASHINGTON
COUNTIES WHERE COLDEST AIR AND LOWEST DEWPOINTS WERE OBSERVED.

WILL SEND UPDATED ZONES BY 8 PM TO MAKE SOME FIRST PERIOD
ADJUSTMENTS. NO CHANGES WILL BE MADE TO WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY OR
WINTER STORM WATCH. SOME OF THE TEMPERATURES CHANGES FOR THE TONIGHT
PERIOD WILL NECESSITATE SOME CHANGES TO THE SECOND PERIOD...MAINLY
ACROSS THE SOUTHERN AND EASTERN ZONES.

MAY SEND ANOTHER DISCUSSION AND UPDATE AFTER 9 PM.

FCSTID = 9

.TSA...
AR...NONE.
OK...WINTER STORM WATCH FOR WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR ZONES
OKZ054>056...OKZ059.

WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FOR TONIGHT FOR ZONES OKZ054>056...OKZ059.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Jan 29, 6:15 PM CST, 2 hours 45 minutes before

ARZ001-002-010-011-019-020-029-OKZ049-053>076-301200-

EASTERN OKLAHOMA/NORTHWEST ARKANSAS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TULSA OK
615 PM CST TUE JAN 29 2002

...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY IN EFFECT FOR TONIGHT FOR
OSAGE...NOWATA...WASHINGTON AND PAWNEE COUNTIES IN NORTHEASTERN
OKLAHOMA...

...WINTER STORM WATCH IN EFFECT FOR WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT FOR
OSAGE...NOWATA...WASHINGTON AND PAWNEE COUNTIES IN NORTHEASTERN
OKLAHOMA...

A SHALLOW LAYER OF COLD AIR WILL CONTINUE TO INVADE THE AREA IN THE
WAKE OF A COLD FRONT THAT IS SLOWLY MOVING ACROSS SOUTHEASTERN
OKLAHOMA AND WEST-CENTRAL ARKANSAS. WARM AIR OVERRUNNING THE COLDER
AIR AT THE SURFACE WILL PRODUCE OCCASIONAL FREEZING RAIN OR RAIN
THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT. WITH THE TEMPERATURES RIGHT AROUND THE
FREEZING MARK ACROSS EXTREME NORTHERN OKLAHOMA...MUCH OF THE
PRECIPITATION WILL FALL AS FREEZING RAIN.

THERE WILL BE THREAT FOR ELEVATED THUNDERSTORMS TONIGHT INTO
WEDNESDAY NIGHT.  A STRONG UPPER LEVEL PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL APPROACH
WEDNESDAY EVENING...AND THIS MAY INCREASE THE THREAT FOR HAIL AS
TEMPERATURES ALOFT COOL. ISOLATED SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS MAY BE
POSSIBLE ON WEDNESDAY INTO WEDNESDAY NIGHT. LARGE HAIL WILL BE THE
MAIN THREAT.

.DISCUSSION...
A SURFACE COLD FRONT CURRENTLY ACROSS SOUTHEASTERN OKLAHOMA AND
WEST-CENTRAL ARKANSAS WILL CONTINUE TO SLOWLY MOVE TO THE SOUTH
TONIGHT. WARM AIR ALOFT WILL CONTINUE TO OVERRUN THE SHALLOW COLD
AIRMASS PRODUCING WIDESPREAD PRECIPITATION. MOST OF THE PRECIPITATION
WILL FALL IN THE FORM OF RAIN. HOWEVER...THE SURFACE TEMPERATURE MAY
BE COLD ENOUGH IN PORTIONS OF NORTHERN OKLAHOMA FOR THE PRECIPITATION
TO FREEZE ON CONTACT WITH THE GROUND AND ELEVATED OBJECTS. WIDELY
SCATTERED EMBEDDED THUNDERSTORMS WILL ALSO BE POSSIBLE NORTH OF THE
COLD FRONT IN AN AREA OF MARGINAL INSTABILITIES AS THE LOW LEVEL JET
INCREASES.

REFER TO OKCWSWTUL FOR ADDITIONAL WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY AND WATCH
INFORMATION.

RELATED GRAPHICAL INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT WWW.SRH.NOAA.GOV/TULSA.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

4 ice storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Ice Storm, Washington

When: January 29, 9:00 PM CST to January 30, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Washington forecast zone
Property damage: $200,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 36.715, -95.904 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Nowata

When: January 29, 9:00 PM CST to January 30, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Nowata forecast zone
Property damage: $100,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 36.799, -95.617 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Ice Storm, Osage

When: January 29, 9:00 PM CST to January 30, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Osage forecast zone
Property damage: $1.0 million
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

Ice Storm, Pawnee

When: January 29, 9:00 PM CST to January 30, 11:00 PM CST
Where: Pawnee forecast zone
Property damage: $200,000
Reported by: NEWSPAPER
Coordinates: 36.317, -96.699 (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 Oklahoma in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Oklahoma, 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: 5279489, 5279544, 5279545, 5279546.