Dense Fog in Oklahoma, March 12, 2002

Name: Dense Fog in Oklahoma, March 12, 2002
Start: 2002-03-12T05:00
End: 2002-03-12T09:00
Location: Oklahoma

March 12, 2002 · NWS OUN · 9 events in 9 counties and zones

Fog, some locally dense with visibilities below one quarter of a mile, developed during the early morning of the 12th. One weather/vehicle-related fatality occurred when a man drove through a stop sign, without slowing down, and ran into a tractor-trailer.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 9 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: 9

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 OUN wrote it up.

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 Norman, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 12, 1:59 AM CST, 3 hours 1 minute earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 12, 1:59 AM CST, 3 hours 1 minute before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE NORMAN OK
159 AM CST TUE MAR 12 2002

UPPER LOW OVER NE TX EARLY THIS MORNING WILL CONTINUE TO MOVE EWD
TODAY.. BUT THERE WILL STILL PROBABLY BE SOME MORNING LOW CLOUDS AND
FOG IN THE SOUTHEAST ZONES. OTHERWISE..SFC RIDGE WILL SLIDE SEWD
ACROSS THE FORECAST AREA TODAY.  SFC WINDS WILL COME BACK AROUND TO
THE SOUTH IN THE WEST..WHILE MORNING NORTH WINDS IN THE SE BECOME
LIGHT AND VARIABLE BY AFTERNOON. FORECASTED 850 TEMPS FROM 10 TO 14
DEGREES SUGGEST HI TEMPS IN THE MID 60S TO LOWER 70S AREAWIDE.. BUT
CIRRUS SPILLING OVER RIDGE AXIS MAY TRIM A FEW DEGREES..ESP NORTH.

BEYOND TODAY..MODELS ARE FORECASTING A SERIES OF RATHER FAST MOVING
WEATHER DISTUBANCES TO AFFECT THE AREA THRU THE WEEKEND.  ALTHOUGH
RECENT MODEL PERFORMANCE MAKES US WONDER IF THE TREND MAY BE TO A
SLOWER AND STRONGER SOLN WITH EACH WAVE. RATHER STRONG SW TROF WILL
TRAVERSE THE NRN PLAINS/SRN CANADA TODAY AND TONITE..AND THIS WILL
HELP PUSH A COLD FRONT SWD INTO NRN OK ON WED MORNING. THIS
BAROCLINIC ZONE WILL THEN HANG OUT INVOF THE AREA IN SOME FORM OR
ANOTHER INTO THE WEEKEND..BUT WITH A SOUTHWARD PROGRESSION IN THE
WAKE OF EACH DISTURBANCE MOVING OUT OF DEVELOPING MEAN TROF OVR THE
WRN US.

THE SFC AIRMASS THAT IS OVER THE CENTRAL PLAINS IS CONSIDERABLY
WARMER THAN IT WAS A WEEK AGO..BUT THIS BOUNDARY IS EXPECTED TO HANG
AROUND IN THE AREA LONG ENUF ON WED TO POSSIBLY LIMIT HIGHS A BIT
OVER THE NORTH BEFORE FINALLY MIXING OUT TO THE NORTH BY LATE
AFTERNOON.   MEANWHILE..LOW LEVEL THERMAL RIDGE WILL CONT TO BUILD
SOUTH OF THE BOUNDARY WHICH SHUD LEAD TO VERY WARM READINGS. AS NEXT
WAVE MOVES EWD ON THURSDAY..FRONT WILL AGAIN MOVE SWD..BUT ADJUSTING
FOR SLIGHTLY SLOWER TIMING WILL PROB NOT CLEAR THE FORECAST AREA.
SOUTHERN AND ESP SW PARTS OF THE FORECAST AREA MAY REACH THE MID TO
UPPER 80S ON THRUS JUST AHEAD OF FRONT BENEATH LOW LEVEL THERMAL
RIDGE OF PLUS 22-24 AIR AT 850 MB.

BEST CHANCE FOR PRECIP APPEARS TO BE LATE THURS NITE AND FRIDAY AS
COLD AIR DEEPENS AND FRONTOGENETICAL FORCING HAS A CHANCE TO ACT ON
LINGERING MID-LEVEL AND POST FRONTAL LOW-LEVEL MOISTURE. UNSETTLED
WEATHER REMAINS IN THE FORECAST FOR THE WEEKEND AS YET ANOTHER WAVE
MOVES EWD..BUT YET AGAIN BEST CHANCES FOR PRECIP MAY BE NORTH AND
EAST OF OUR AREA. MODELS CONT TREND OF BUILDING UPSTREAM 500 RIDGE
INTO AK..SUGGESTING THAT ANOTHER STRONG COLD FRONT MAY MAKE IT INTO
THE SRN PLAINS LATE IN THE WEEKEND.. ALTHOUGH THIS ONE SHUD NOT BE
AS COLD AS THE PAST TWO HAVE BEEN.
 MILLER

PRELIM NUMBERS..
OKC   66  42  75  53 /   0   0   0   0
HBR   69  41  78  51 /   0   0   0   0
SPS   73  44  82  55 /   0   0   0   0
GAG   71  39  76  47 /   0   0  10   0
PNC   67  43  73  51 /   0   0   0   0
DUA   66  40  74  56 /   0   0   0   0

.OUN...
OK...NONE.
TX...NONE.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

9 dense fog. Local standard time, as filed.

Dense Fog, Kay

When: March 12, 5:00 AM CST to 9:00 AM CST
Where: Kay forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 36.818, -97.144 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Dense Fog, Cleveland

When: March 12, 5:00 AM CST to 9:00 AM CST
Where: Cleveland forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 35.203, -97.326 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Dense Fog, Lincoln

When: March 12, 5:00 AM CST to 9:00 AM CST
Where: Lincoln forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 35.703, -96.881 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Dense Fog, Logan

When: March 12, 5:00 AM CST to 9:00 AM CST
Where: Logan forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 35.919, -97.443 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Dense Fog, McClain

When: March 12, 5:00 AM CST to 9:00 AM CST
Where: McClain forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 35.009, -97.444 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Dense Fog, Noble

When: March 12, 5:00 AM CST to 9:00 AM CST
Where: Noble forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 36.389, -97.230 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Dense Fog, Oklahoma

When: March 12, 5:00 AM CST to 9:00 AM CST
Where: Oklahoma forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 35.552, -97.407 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Dense Fog, Payne

When: March 12, 5:00 AM CST to 9:00 AM CST
Where: Payne forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 36.077, -96.976 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Dense Fog, Pottawatomie

When: March 12, 5:00 AM CST to 9:00 AM CST
Where: Pottawatomie forecast zone
Reported by: OFFICIAL NWS OBS.
Coordinates: 35.207, -96.948 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Dense Fog: Fog reducing visibility to a quarter mile or less, filed where it caused accidents or disruption.

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, March 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: 5280529, 5280530, 5280531, 5280532, 5280533, 5281049, 5281050, 5281051, 5281052.