Freezing rain caused streets and roadways to become ice-covered across the eastern two-thirds of the Oklahoma Panhandle. 25 inch were reported in Beaver County.
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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.
Freezing rain caused streets and roadways to become ice-covered across the eastern two-thirds of the Oklahoma Panhandle. Ice accumulations as high as 0.25 inch were reported in Beaver County.
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 17, 6:31 AM CST, 59 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Amarillo TX 631 AM CST Fri Jan 17 2020 .UPDATE... Based on current trends, we have trimmed back the PoPs across the Panhandles. Latest radar trends have shown a significant decrease in precipitation, and water vapor imagery continues to show dry air pushing in from the west. Our upper air sounding showed a strong warm nose (~10C) with dry-ish air (3C-5C dewpoint depression) above the warm nose, so trimming back precipitation chances seems reasonable given all the details. Guerrero && .PREV DISCUSSION... /Issued 550 AM CST Fri Jan 17 2020/ AVIATION... Unfavorable flying conditions are expected through the morning hours with IFR/LIFR conditions expected at the terminals for low ceilings and/or limited visibility. Water vapor imagery from GOES-16 continues to show dry air infiltrating in from the west through New Mexico. Dry air will eventually lead to mostly clear skies today. Breezy wind speeds will also result today as a cold front passes over the region. The boundary will also result in wind speeds veering further through the day/evening hours; eventually becoming northerly tonight. Guerrero PREV DISCUSSION... /Issued 357 AM CST Fri Jan 17 2020/ DISCUSSION (today through Thursday)... Overview: 1) Potential Impacts: * Icy/slick roads causing hazardous driving conditions for this morning's commute. * Snowfall potential Wednesday night and Thursday night, but impacts look to be minimal at this time. 2) Roundup of the next 7 days: Highest potential impacts are expected in the now/short term as freezing rain continues across the area. This will impact the morning commute for nearly the entire combined Panhandles as precipitation has been ongoing for several hours now. This means areas that have seen precipitation end could still have icy roads from earlier rain/freezing. Precipitation is expected to end west to east through the morning hours, but eastern parts of the Panhandles may see precipitation linger into the early afternoon hours. We will see mostly rain falling, but there could be a few areas of freezing rain ongoing as low level temperatures struggle to get above freezing. Thereafter the forecast is pretty quiet through the weekend and early next week. Precipitation chances increase again on Tuesday (rain), and then again Wed night through Thursday night. Wednesday night and Thursday night temperatures look to be cold enough to support snowfall chances, but it doesn't look like impacts are expected to be very high at this time for any of those aforementioned time periods. More detailed information: 1) Today: Looking at satellite water vapor imagery, we can see troughing over the west coast with dry air pushing eastward through the Desert Southwest. This dry air is expected to continue pushing eastward and eventually through the forecast area. The resulting dry air will end our precipitation chances by early afternoon. In fact, a lot of the combined Panhandles should see plenty of sunshine this afternoon; however, far eastern/southeastern parts of the Texas Panhandle may not see much sun. Temperatures across central and eastern parts of the Panhandles are expected to slowly warm through the morning hours, but some areas are not going to see those level temperatures rise quick enough, so pockets of freezing rain may mix in with the light rain. Overall, a good portion of the forecast area saw precipitation, so icy/slick roads are a big concern for the morning commute. 2) Mid/Late Next Week Snowfall Potential: Forecast gets a little tricky by mid week. Can't go into too much detail as plenty of uncertainty is in place for Day6-Day7. At this time leaning towards the ensembles and therefore going with at least a mention of snowfall chances mid to late next week. With several members showing some QPF its hard to lean against some chance. In the deterministic model world, the upper level pattern (for at least the western CONUS) is fairly consistent through roughly Tuesday. Models diverge from one another very noticeably from mid week onward. All of the deterministic models have an upper level disturbance passing somewhere over the Central/Southern Plains. The placement of the impulse and associated surface low will be key for determining our precipitation chances. H85 temperatures indicate much of the forecast area could be below 0C, and surface temperatures look to be below freezing as well during the overnight periods. Cannot rule out snow for the forecast area. Surface cyclogenesis location and timing will be key (frontogenesis, dry air, cold air, etc) as to determining our precipitation type/timing. Taking an early stab at snowfall location, the northwestern third to half of the forecast area would be favored Wednesday night, with most of the forecast area looking at some snowfall potential Thursday night. Way too early to have any confidence in amounts, but certainly some accumulating snowfall looks possible as overnight temperatures get into the 20s and low 30s. Guerrero && .AMA Watches/Warnings/Advisories... TX...None. OK...None. && 99/99
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Amarillo TX 404 AM CST Fri Jan 17 2020 OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-317-172215- Cimarron-Texas-Beaver-Dallam-Sherman-Hansford-Ochiltree-Lipscomb- Hartley-Moore-Hutchinson-Roberts-Hemphill-Oldham-Potter-Carson- Gray-Wheeler-Deaf Smith-Randall-Armstrong-Donley-Collingsworth- Palo Duro Canyon- 404 AM CST Fri Jan 17 2020 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. .DAY ONE...Today and Tonight. Some pockets of light rain mixed with freezing rain will be possible through the morning and early afternoon hours. Areas that saw precipitation Thursday night may still see those roads icy and slick during the morning commute. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Saturday through Thursday. The probability for widespread hazardous weather is low at this time. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated at this time.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 ice storm. Local standard time, as filed.
Icy roads led to several accidents across the Oklahoma Panhandle. In the city of Beaver, ice accumulated to a thickness of 0.25 inch on some elevated surfaces.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oklahoma in 2020Every state in 2020This day in weather historyWarnings in Oklahoma, January 2020
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: 873667.