Oklahoma, 2002

High Wind in Oklahoma, March 8 to 9, 2002

March 8 to 9, 2002 · NWS AMA · 3 events in 3 counties and zones

A deepening surface low pressure system moved east across southern Kansas producing a strong pressure gradient over the Oklahoma panhandle. This resulted in strong west winds during the afternoon and early evening 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
$2,000
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 deepening surface low pressure system moved east across southern Kansas producing a strong pressure gradient over the Oklahoma panhandle. This resulted in strong west winds during the afternoon and early evening hours. A cold front then moved through the Oklahoma panhandle during the evening hours causing strong north winds. Thirty-six knot sustained winds were interpolated at Boise City and also at Guymon. Fifty-two knot wind gusts were interpolated at Beaver where the high winds caused damage to a crossarm on a power pole about two miles south of Beaver. This resulted in a four hour power outage which affected more than eleven hundred customers.

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 Mar 8, 12:28 PM CST, 1 hour 2 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Mar 8, 12:28 PM CST, 1 hour 2 minutes before
TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
1228 PM CST FRI MAR 8 2002

DPNG SFC LOW OVR THE ERN PLNS OF CO WITH SFC TROF EXTNDG SWD THRU
THE ERN PLNS OF NM.  MODIFIED ARCTIC CDFNT STRETCHES FM THE SFC LOW
SEWD TO NR KEHA AND KLBL AND THEN EWD ALG THE KS-OK STATE LN AND
THEN NEWD THRU ERN KS.  STRONG DNSLPG SWLY FLOW CAUSING BLOWING
DUST...VERY LOW RH/S...STRONG WNDY ADVY CRITERIA WNDS AS FAR S AS THE
KAMA AREA AND TEMPS ALREADY IN THE 70S MOST LOCATIONS.  UPDATED FCST
FOR EXTENDING THE WND ADVY SWD TO INCLUDE THE RMNDR OF THE TX PNHDL
EXCEPT THE SERN FOUR COUNTIES.  DENSE CI SHIELD PUSHING OFF TO THE
E ATTM WITH ONLY A FEW SCT CLOUDS ACRS NM.  DECIDED TO WORD SKY
COVER AS MSTLY SUNNY AS OPPOSED TO PTLY CLDY.  WL SEE HOW THAT WORKS
OUT.  EXCEPT FOR SOME MINOR TWEAKING TO HIGH TEMPS AND WND DRCTN...
ONGOING FCST LEFT ALONE.

.AMA...
OK...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 06Z SATURDAY FOR OKZ001>003.
TX...WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 06Z SATURDAY FOR TXZ001>013-016>018.

SCHNEIDER/PLISCHKE

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.

High Wind, Texas

When
March 8, 1:30 PM CST to March 9, 12:00 AM CST
Where
Texas forecast zone
Measured
36 kt (41 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
36.748, -101.490 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Cimarron

When
March 8, 1:30 PM CST to March 9, 12:00 AM CST
Where
Cimarron forecast zone
Measured
36 kt (41 mph)
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
36.748, -102.518 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

High Wind, Beaver

When
March 8, 1:30 PM CST to March 9, 12:00 AM CST
Where
Beaver forecast zone
Measured
52 kt (60 mph)
Property damage
$2,000
Reported by
AWOS,ASOS,MESONET,ETC
Coordinates
36.750, -100.477 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

High Wind
Sustained non-thunderstorm winds of 40 mph or more for an hour, or gusts of 58 mph or more.

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, 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: 5284785, 5284786, 5284787.