Winter Storm, Beaver
- When
- January 30, 6:00 AM CST to January 31, 6:00 AM CST
- Where
- Beaver forecast zone
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 36.750, -100.477 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Winter Storm in Oklahoma, January 30 to 31, 2002
A strong low pressure system in the upper atmosphere approached the Oklahoma panhandle from the west as a cold arctic air mass remained in place along with abundant moisture. Six inches of snow was reported at Boise City and at Guymon Oklahoma while five inches of snow and a quarter of an inch of ice was reported at Beaver Oklahoma.
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
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 3
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.
A strong low pressure system in the upper atmosphere approached the Oklahoma panhandle from the west as a cold arctic air mass remained in place along with abundant moisture. Six inches of snow was reported at Boise City and at Guymon Oklahoma while five inches of snow and a quarter of an inch of ice was reported at Beaver Oklahoma. Slick roads created by the winter storm indirectly contributed to a fatal accident four miles north of Bryan's Corner Oklahoma in Beaver county on U.S. Highway 83 at 0820 CST. A seventeen-year old male was killed in the collision of two vehicles. Several other accidents were reported across the Oklahoma panhandle due to the snow and ice.
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 Jan 30, 2:37 AM CST, 3 hours 23 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Jan 30, 2:37 AM CST, 3 hours 23 minutes before
TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX 237 AM CST WED JAN 30 2002 THE ARCTIC CDFNT STILL MOVG VERY SLOLY S AND W ATTM AND EXTENDS FM NR ROMERO TX...SW OF KDHT...TO ACRS THE KAMA AREA AND THEN TO E OF HAPPY TX...BTWN KAMA AND KPVW. 3 HR PRES CHG SHOWING PRES FALLS ACRS THE PNHDLS ATTM...SO FNT SHOULD MOV VERY LTL INITIALLY. THE SWRN QUARTER OF THE FA RMNS IN THE WARM SECTOR BUT THAT SHOULD EVENTUALLY CHG AS THE CDFNT MOVS THRU THAT AREA PRBLY BY 18Z WED. IN THE COLDER SECTOR...TEMPS HAVE CONTD TO PLUNGE INTO THE 20S WITH JUST ABV FRZG TEMPS ONLY WHERE THE FNT HAS JUST MOVD ACRS. WSR-88D KAMA SHOWING A BAND OF PRECIP...RAIN IN THE WARM SECTOR AND FRZG RAIN IN THE COLD SECTOR...EXTENDING FM SERN NM AND THE WRN SXNS OF THE TX S PLNS NEWD ACRS S-CNTRL TX PNHDL AND THEN NEWD INTO THE NE TX PNHDL... ERN OK PNHDL...AND NWRN OK. NUMEROUS REPORTS OF ACCIDENTS DUE TO ICE ON U.S. HIGHWAY 287 IN AND ALL AROUND STRATFORD. DUE TO THE SHALLOW NATURE OF THE ARCTIC AMS AND THE REASON FOR THE SLOW MOVMT...WL CONT TO CALL FOR MAINLY FRZG RAIN TO START WITH TDA. HWVR...A SURGE OF EVEN COLDER AIR COMING OUT OF CO AND KS TDA SHOULD CHG THE FRZG RAIN TO SNW EITHER DURING THE MRNG HRS OR THIS AFTN. 850 MB TEMPS FCSTD TO DROP BLO 0 DEG C ACRS THE NRN PNHDLS BTWN 12Z AND 18Z WED AND THEN OVR THE RMNDR OF THE FA BTWN 18Z WED AND 00Z THU. NOTICING THAT THE AVN AND ETA BOTH INITIALIZED 850 MB TEMPS OVR SWRN NE OF -6 DEG C TO -8 DEG C AND -8 DEG C TO -10 DEG C RESPECTIVELY. ACTUALLY SWRN NE REPORTED 850 MB TEMPS OF -12 DEG C AT 00Z WED. IT LOOKS AS THOUGH THE FA WILL SEE ERY HIGH TEMPS TDA WITH FALLING TEMPS DURING THE AFTN HRS. CUT OFF UPR LOW EVIDENT ON WATER VAPOR IMAGERY JUST OFF THE SRN CA COAST AND MOVG INTO NRN BAJA CA ATTM. THE UPR LOW AND TROF IS FCSTD TO BEGIN MOVG EWD ACRS THE SWRN STATES BY THIS EVE AND TNGT AND THEN BEGIN MOVG OVR THE PNHDLS BY 18Z THU...SLOWER THAN WHAT ERYR MODELS HAD BEEN FCSTG. BEST CHC FOR SNW WL BE TNGT AS THE UPR LVL DYNAMICS FM THE CUT OFF LOW APCHS THE PNHDLS. INSTEAD OF GOING WITH A WINTER STORM WATCH TNGT...WL GO DIRECTLY TO A WINTER STORM WRNG FOR BOTH TDA AND TNGT. IF THE ETA IS CORRECT...WHICH IT SEEMS TO HAVE A GOOD HANDLE ON THE SITUATION...THE NRN SXNS COULD SEE SIX TO EIGHT INCHES BY 12Z THU WITH THREE TO FIVE INCHES OR MORE ACRS THE SRN SXNS. PLAN ON HOLDING OFF ISSUING A HVY SNW WRNG FOR THE MOMENT...BUT THAT IS SUBJECT TO CHG BFR THE FCST PCKG IS ISSUED. AS THE UPR TROF LIFTS NEWD THU...FEEL THAT THE SNW WL GRADUALLY END FM SW TO NE ACRS THE PNHDLS. PLAN ON HANGING ONTO TO POPS THU WITH DECRG CLDS BY THE EVE HRS. AFT THAT...THU NGT THRU THE RMNDR OF THE EXTENDED PD LOOKS DRY WITH A VERY SLOW MODERATING OR WARMING TREND. WL UNDERCUT GUIDANCE AT LEAST FOR THE FRI AND SAT AND PSBLY SUN FCST TOO SINCE THERE STILL SHOULD BE SNW COVER AROUND KEEPING MAX TEMPS LWR. OTRW...NO MAJOR CHGS TO THE EXTENDED FCST. PRELIM CCF: AMA 035/018 026/008 030 +83 GUY 024/015 024/006 028 +94 DHT 027/016 025/005 029 +94 .AMA... OK...WINTER STORM WARNING TODAY AND TONIGHT ZNS 001>003. TX...WINTER STORM WARNING TODAY AND TONIGHT ZNS 001>020. SCHNEIDER/HOLSENBECK/WOODALL
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
3 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Winter Storm, Cimarron
- When
- January 30, 6:00 AM CST to January 31, 6:00 AM CST
- Where
- Cimarron forecast zone
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 36.748, -102.518 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Winter Storm, Texas
- When
- January 30, 6:00 AM CST to January 31, 6:00 AM CST
- Where
- Texas forecast zone
- Reported by
- LAW ENFORCEMENT
- Coordinates
- 36.748, -101.490 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
What these are
- Winter Storm
- A storm that brought snow, sleet or freezing rain at warning levels, usually over several hours or days.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Ice Storm in Oklahoma, January 30 to 31, 2002
- Ice Storm and Winter Storm in Missouri, January 30 to 31, 2002
- Ice Storm in Kansas, January 30 to 31, 2002
- Ice Storm and Heavy Snow in Kansas, January 30 to 31, 2002
- Ice Storm and Winter Storm in Michigan, January 30 to 31, 2002
- Ice Storm in Ohio, January 30 to 31, 2002
- Ice Storm in Kansas, January 30 to 31, 2002
- Dense Fog in Georgia, January 30, 2002
- Heavy Snow in Iowa, January 30 to 31, 2002
- Ice Storm in Missouri, January 30 to 31, 2002
- Flash Flood in Arkansas, January 30, 2002
- Winter Storm in Nebraska, January 30 to 31, 2002
More
Every storm in Oklahoma in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings 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: 5276794, 5276795, 5276796.