A strong upper low moved from southern California into eastern New Mexico and southeastern Colorado. sleet and freezing rain across the Oklahoma panhandle.
Every event with a place to put it; 6 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS AMA wrote it up.
A strong upper low moved from southern California into eastern New Mexico and southeastern Colorado. This system produced snow...sleet and freezing rain across the Oklahoma panhandle. A State of Emergency was declared for Texas county where nearly one million dollars in damage were attributed to the winter storm. Roughly fifty thousand cubic yards of downed trees and tree limbs were removed in Texas county. Seven thousand customers were without power according to officials at the Tri-County Electric Cooperative with damage estimated at four hundred thousand dollars. Another forty-seven thousand dollars in damage was reported by the Panhandle Telephone Cooperative with about one hundred Oklahoma panhandle residents without telephone service in the Guymon area. No injuries were reported.
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 Dec 18, 10:19 PM CST, 1 hour 41 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX
1019 PM CST MON DEC 18 2006
.DISCUSSION...
00Z KAMA SOUNDING AND LATEST GUIDANCE SUGGEST STRENGTHENING WARM
LAYER TO DEVELOP ALOFT TONIGHT AS SOUTHERLY FLOW ABOVE THE COLD AIR
IN PLACE TRANSPORTS RELATIVELY WARM MOIST AIR NORTH...SETTING UP
IDEAL CONDITIONS FOR FREEZING RAIN TO DEVELOP TONIGHT OVER MUCH OF
THE FORECAST AREA. SNOW MAY INITIALLY FORM IN THE NORTHWESTERN
FORECAST AREA...WITH RAIN AND FREEZING RAIN ELSEWHERE...BUT AS WARM
LAYER OVERSPREADS THE PANHANDLES...WILL SEE A TRANSITION TO FREEZING
RAIN MOST AREAS BY MORNING. DEPTH OF COLD AIR WILL DICTATE WHERE
EVENTUAL TRANSITION TO SLEET OCCURS...WITH GREATEST LIKELIHOOD IN
NORTHWESTERN ZONES. LIFT...ENHANCED BY APPROACH OF UPPER LOW AND
ASSOCIATED JET...COUPLED WITH DIFFLUENCE IN THE UPPER JET...WILL BE
GREATEST TUESDAY...WITH INTENSITY OF PRECIP EXPECTED TO INCREASE
DURING THE DAY. ENHANCED LIFT WILL ALSO HELP TO ERODE THE WARM LAYER.
AS COLD POOL ALOFT OVERSPREADS THE AREA TUESDAY NIGHT...AND WARM
LAYER ERODES...TRANSITION TO SLEET AND THEN SNOW WILL BE EXPECTED.
OVERALL BIG MESS IN STORE.
IN SHORT...RAIN/FREEZING RAIN TONIGHT MIXED WITH SNOW OR SLEET IN THE
NORTHWESTERN ZONES...WITH ICE PERSISTING CENTRAL ZONES THROUGH
TUESDAY WHILE CHANGEOVER TO SNOW POSSIBLE TUESDAY AFTERNOON IN THE
NORTHWEST...BEFORE CHANGING OVER TUESDAY NIGHT AREAWIDE.
HAVE ADJUSTED DEWPOINT GRIDS...POPS...WX AND MAX TEMPS THROUGH
TOMORROW AS A RESULT OF CURRENT FORECAST REASONING. DO NOT EXPECT MAX
TEMPS TO EXCEED FREEZING TOMORROW EXCEPT IN THE SOUTHEAST...SO HAVE
TAKEN SOME AREAS DOWN A CATEGORY.
KRAMAR
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
AMARILLO TX 26 29 29 41 23 / 80 90 90 40 0
BEAVER OK 24 31 25 43 23 / 70 90 90 70 5
BOISE CITY OK 22 29 21 38 23 / 90 90 90 40 5
BORGER TX 25 31 31 42 25 / 80 90 90 40 5
BOYS RANCH TX 26 30 27 40 20 / 90 90 90 40 0
CANYON TX 27 29 30 40 22 / 80 90 90 40 0
CLARENDON TX 30 34 34 49 27 / 70 90 90 50 5
DALHART TX 23 28 20 37 16 / 90 90 90 40 0
GUYMON OK 23 30 24 44 18 / 80 90 90 50 5
HEREFORD TX 27 30 28 42 22 / 90 90 90 30 0
LIPSCOMB TX 24 33 29 46 23 / 70 90 90 70 5
PAMPA TX 25 33 31 43 28 / 70 90 90 50 5
SHAMROCK TX 29 36 34 52 26 / 60 90 90 60 5
WELLINGTON TX 32 38 35 54 29 / 60 90 90 60 5
&&
.AMA WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
TX...WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 12 PM CST WEDNESDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING
ZONES: ARMSTRONG...CARSON...COLLINGSWORTH...DALLAM...DEAF
SMITH...DONLEY...GRAY...HANSFORD...HARTLEY...HEMPHILL...
HUTCHINSON...LIPSCOMB...MOORE...OCHILTREE...OLDHAM...
POTTER...RANDALL...ROBERTS...SHERMAN...WHEELER.
OK...WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 12 PM CST WEDNESDAY FOR THE FOLLOWING
ZONES: BEAVER...CIMARRON...TEXAS.
&&TEXAS/OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE AMARILLO TX 326 PM CST MON DEC 18 2006 OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-191200- ARMSTRONG-BEAVER-CARSON-CIMARRON-COLLINGSWORTH-DALLAM-DEAF SMITH- DONLEY-GRAY-HANSFORD-HARTLEY-HEMPHILL-HUTCHINSON-LIPSCOMB-MOORE- OCHILTREE-OLDHAM-POTTER-RANDALL-ROBERTS-SHERMAN-TEXAS-WHEELER- 326 PM CST MON DEC 18 2006 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR THE TEXAS AND OKLAHOMA PANHANDLES. .DAY ONE... ...WINTER STORM WARNING IS NOW IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT THROUGH NOON WEDNESDAY... DRIZZLE THIS AFTERNOON WILL TURN TO FREEZING DRIZZLE THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT MAKING ROAD CONDITIONS SLICK. FREEZING RAIN...SLEET AND SNOW WILL BEGIN AFTER MIDNIGHT AND SPREAD FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST ACROSS THE PANHANDLES. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... ...A WINTER STORM WARNING CONTINUES THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING... FREEZING RAIN...SLEET AND SNOW WILL CONTINUE THROUGH WEDNESDAY MORNING. TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS MAY BE GREATER THAN 4 INCHES ACROSS THE WESTERN OKLAHOMA PANHANDLE AND THE NORTHWEST TEXAS PANHANDLE. SIGNIFICANT ICE ACCUMULATIONS OF GREATER THAN ONE HALF INCH WILL BE POSSIBLE ACROSS THE REST OF THE PANHANDLES EXCEPT THE FAR SOUTHEAST TEXAS PANHANDLE WHERE LIGHTER ICE ACCUMULATIONS OF UP TO ONE QUARTER INCH ARE EXPECTED. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER GROUPS AND LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES MAY BE CALLED UPON FOR SNOWFALL AND ICE MEASUREMENTS. HENNIG
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 ice storm, 1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Freezing rain caused one quarter to under one half inch of ice accumulation on sidewalks and exposed surfaces. Well traveled roads were still passable. No damage or injuries were reported.
One quarter of an inch of ice accumulation from freezing rain on trees and vehicles in Guymon. Some bridges were reported icy but roads are in good condition otherwise.
One inch of ice accumulation wqas estimated from freezing rain in Guymon along with two inches of snow. Widespread minor damage from trees coming down along with power lines down and power poles broken.
An estimated one half inch of ice accumulation from freezing rain caused tree limbs of one and one and a half to two inches in diameter to come down in Texhoma.
Just under a half of an inch of ice accumulation estimated from freezing rain caused power lines to come down along with large tree branches to come down on cars and roofs causing considerable damage in Guymon.
Snowfall was estimated to be four inches in Kenton.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oklahoma in 2006Every state in 2006This day in weather historyWarnings in Oklahoma, December 2006
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: 6421, 6422, 6423, 6424, 6425, 6426.