Texas, 2002

Winter Storm in Texas, February 5, 2002

February 5, 2002 · NWS FWD · 20 events in 20 counties and zones

An approaching upper level storm was producing widespread light to moderate rain across north Texas the night of February 4th. Cool dry air from the east became entrained into the cold wet airmass across North Central Texas during the night, cooling surface and low level temperatures.

Where it happened

Every event with a place to put it; 20 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
None recorded
Crop damage
None recorded
Events
20

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 FWD wrote it up.

An approaching upper level storm was producing widespread light to moderate rain across north Texas the night of February 4th. Cool dry air from the east became entrained into the cold wet airmass across North Central Texas during the night, cooling surface and low level temperatures. As a result, the rain to begin changing to snow early the morning of the 5th. Temperatures remained near freezing during the day, so the snow accumulation was mainly on exposed objects and grass. Minor icing problems were reported during the day and night of the 5th, from east to west. The major impact was very slow rush hour traffic, and the cancellation of hundreds of airline flights out of the DFW airport. One weather related traffic fatality occurred in Grayson County. Snowfall amounts were heaviest in the northeast, where five to six inches of snow was reported across Delta, Lamar, Grayson, and Fannin counties. The largest amount reported was 7.5 inches at Paris. One to four inches fell across the remainder of the affected area. In western areas and south of Interstate 20, where the rain changed to snow last, only trace to less than two inches fell.

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 Fort Worth, TX wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 5, 3:17 AM CST, 1 hour 43 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 5, 3:17 AM CST, 1 hour 43 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
317 AM CST TUE FEB 5 2002

THICKNESS VALUES HAVE WARMED THE LAST 24 HOURS ON MODELS...SO IT
LOOKS LIKE THE RAIN WILL NOT CHANGE OVER TO SNOW IN NORTHERN ZONES
UNTIL AROUND 00Z. SOUTH OF THE ADVISORY AREA THE RAIN WILL NOT
CHANGE OVER TO SNOW UNTIL MIDNIGHT OR LATER. TEMPERATURES TODAY WILL
REMAIN STEADY OR SLOWLY FALLING INTO THE MID TO UPPER 30S BY EARLY
EVENING.  THE SNOW ACCUMULATION WILL PROBABLY ONLY OCCUR ON GRASS OR
EXPOSED OBJECTS...AS THE GROUND SURFACE WILL BE TOO SLOW TO COOL FOR
ANY SNOW TO ACCUMULATE ON  STREETS AND HIGHWAYS.  SNOW WILL LINGER
INTO EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING...WITH DECREASING CLOUDS WEST TO EAST
WEDNESDAY EVENING.  A WARMING TREND WILL BEGIN THURSDAY AND LAST
INTO THE WEEKEND.

FCSTID = 59
DFW   40  32  43  30 / 100  70  20   0
ACT   42  35  45  31 / 100  70  20   0

.FWD...SNOW ADVISORY TONIGHT NORTH OF A LINE FROM GRAHAM TO DECATUR
       TO MCKINNEY TO EMORY.

In the hours before

Special weather statement, Feb 5, 4:45 AM CST, 15 minutes before
TXZ091>095-100>107-115>123-129>135-141>148-156>162-174-175-052200-

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK FOR NORTH TEXAS
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE FORT WORTH TX
445 AM CST TUE FEB 5 2002

WIDESPREAD RAIN WILL CONTINUE ACROSS ALL OF NORTH CENTRAL TEXAS
TODAY.  LATE THIS EVENING THE RAIN WILL BEGIN TO CHANGE TO SNOW
NORTH OF A GRAHAM...DECATUR...MCKINNEY...EMORY LINE.  NORTH OF THIS
LINE THE SNOWFALL TONIGHT WILL BE ONE TO TWO INCHES...MOSTLY ON
EXPOSED OBJECTS AND GRASSY SURFACES.  A SNOW ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT
FOR THIS AREA TONIGHT.  TO THE SOUTH THE RAIN WILL CHANGE TO SNOW
LATE TONIGHT...BUT WITH TEMPERATURES ABOVE FREEZING...NO
ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED.  THE SNOW WILL LINGER INTO WEDNESDAY
MORNING BEFORE ENDING.  HIGHS WEDNESDAY WILL BE IN THE LOWER
40S...SO ANY ACCUMULATION ON GRASSY SURFACES AND EXPOSED OBJECTS
WILL QUICKLY MELT.

The radar

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

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

20 winter storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Winter Storm, Lamar

When
February 5, 5:00 AM CST to 4:00 PM CST
Where
Lamar forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
33.667, -95.571 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Fannin

When
February 5, 6:00 AM CST to 4:00 PM CST
Where
Fannin forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
33.594, -96.107 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Hunt

When
February 5, 7:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where
Hunt forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
33.124, -96.085 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Delta

When
February 5, 7:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where
Delta forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
33.386, -95.672 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Hopkins

When
February 5, 7:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where
Hopkins forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
33.150, -95.564 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Denton

When
February 5, 8:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where
Denton forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
33.205, -97.117 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Collin

When
February 5, 8:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where
Collin forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
33.188, -96.572 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Dallas

When
February 5, 8:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where
Dallas forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
32.767, -96.778 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Rockwall

When
February 5, 8:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where
Rockwall forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
32.898, -96.408 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Kaufman

When
February 5, 8:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where
Kaufman forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
32.599, -96.288 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Cooke

When
February 5, 9:00 AM CST to 4:00 PM CST
Where
Cooke forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
33.639, -97.213 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Grayson

When
February 5, 9:00 AM CST to 4:00 PM CST
Where
Grayson forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
33.627, -96.678 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Jack

When
February 5, 9:00 AM CST to 4:00 PM CST
Where
Jack forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
33.234, -98.172 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Wise

When
February 5, 9:00 AM CST to 5:00 PM CST
Where
Wise forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
33.216, -97.654 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Parker

When
February 5, 9:00 AM CST to 6:00 PM CST
Where
Parker forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
32.778, -97.805 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Tarrant

When
February 5, 9:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where
Tarrant forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
32.772, -97.291 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Rains

When
February 5, 9:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where
Rains forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
32.870, -95.793 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Van Zandt

When
February 5, 10:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST
Where
Van Zandt forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
32.564, -95.836 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Erath

When
February 5, 10:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where
Erath forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
32.236, -98.218 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

Winter Storm, Johnson

When
February 5, 10:00 AM CST to 8:00 PM CST
Where
Johnson forecast zone
Reported by
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Coordinates
32.379, -97.366 (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

More

Every storm in Texas in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Texas, February 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: 5283198, 5283197, 5283203, 5283204, 5283205, 5283201, 5283202, 5283208, 5283209, 5283210, 5283117, 5283118, 5283199, 5283200, 5283206, 5283207, 5283211, 5283212, 5283213, 5283214.