Below-average precipitation continued through March across the western Oklahoma Panhandle.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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.
Below-average precipitation continued through March across the western Oklahoma Panhandle.
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 Feb 29, 10:33 PM CST, 1 hour 27 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Amarillo TX 1033 PM CST Sat Feb 29 2020 .AVIATION...For the 06z TAFs... Good flying weather expected with only high clouds and no visibility restrictions. Surface low currently near GUY will move east overnight, dragging a trof through the forecast area, leading to light northwest surface winds at all terminals following its passage. New area of low pressure expected to develop during the day over western parts of the forecast area, leading to a trof running diagonally from northwest to southeast across the area. This should cause surface winds to return to southwest at AMA and DHT, with a northeast and east direction prevailing at GUY. Next cold front arrives at GUY near the end of this 24-hour forecast, with northeast surface winds increasing. Cockrell && .PREV DISCUSSION... /Issued 512 PM CST Sat Feb 29 2020/ AVIATION...for the 00z TAFs... VFR conditions expected next 24 hours with only high clouds overhead. No visibility restrictions expected. Southwest surface winds expected to cease gusting at the beginning of the forecast, with speeds around 15 kt. Surface winds trend to west as a cold front approaches from the north tonight. Cold front expected to pass northern terminals by 12z Sunday, reaching AMA by 16z. Cockrell PREV DISCUSSION... /Issued 228 PM CST Sat Feb 29 2020/ SHORT TERM...This Afternoon through Sunday Night... Zonal flow aloft, along with lee side troughing owing to a passing disturbance, is helping to bring cirrus clouds and southwesterly winds to the region. Given the downsloping winds of around 20 to 30 MPH with higher gusts, afternoon high temperatures are expected to top out in the lower to mid 70s with dew point temperatures cratering into the teens and lower 20s. Both are resulting in fire weather conditions, which will be detailed in the section below. Otherwise, after sunset, winds should taper off to around 5 to 15 MPH as daytime heating is lost and the winds decouple from the surface. Overnight lows this evening will be kept higher (30s and lower 40s) as surface winds continue to help keep some measure of mixing going in the atmosphere. Zonal flow aloft will become a little more southwesterly on Sunday, as a weather disturbance approaches the desert southwest. This, coupled with a sagging cold front into the northeastern Panhandles, will mean that temperatures will be a little cooler than yesterday for those behind the front. Those south and southwest of the front will be in the lower to mid 70s, while those behind it will be in the upper 60s to lower 70s. Wind speeds associated with this weak frontal boundary will actually be lower than today, as pressure gradients are rather lackluster with it, and the stronger westerly jet component aloft will be further south than today. Aside from warm and dry conditions, no significant weather is anticipated during these forecast periods. Bieda FIRE WEATHER... Red Flag Warning conditions are being observed across the southwestern four counties in the Texas Panhandle this afternoon, with elevated conditions elsewhere. This is due to downsloping southwesterly 20-foot winds of around 15 to 25 MPH, and minimum relative humidity values as low as 10 percent across the southwest. The rest of the region is experiencing elevated conditions in fuels that are in the lower 10 to 40th percentile, though similar conditions are in place through the rest of the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. These winds should start to lay down near to shortly after sunset, though relative humidity recovery overnight might be poor in the southwestern Texas Panhandle in the upper 30 to lower 40 percent range. A weak frontal boundary will sag into the region on Sunday, though downsloping winds will be continuing ahead of that boundary. The strongest of these winds will shift southward, and minimum relative humidity values may drop to around 13 percent in the far southern Texas Panhandle. Elevated fire weather conditions could be possible in those areas as grasses continue to dry, and will be monitored for another Fire Danger Statement tomorrow afternoon. Bieda LONG TERM...Tomorrow Night through Friday... Tomorrow night an upper level low pressure system will slide its way down the coast of Cali before swinging across Baja Cali on Monday. The GFS solution then begins to diverge from the other models as it speeds up about 6-12 hours faster, but still taking a similar path through southern Texas through Wednesday. All models have the upper level system through Thursday and followed by northwest flow aloft with a ridge building into the western CONUS. A shallow front swinging down from an 850mb low in Canada Sunday night into Monday morning and bring breezy north winds and cooler temperatures in the 50s to the forecast area Monday. By Tuesday, a small window opens for precipitation as a train of upper and mid level moisture across Texas becomes wrapped around the low pressure system and clips the southern and southeastern portion of the Texas Panhandle. A deeper cold front will filter dry air in Tuesday morning in the northern forecast area before completely cutting off the moisture source in the south by late Tuesday night. Breezy north winds are expected Tuesday as the cold air lingers behind the second front. Cloudy conditions in the south may keep temperatures from rising above the 50s through the day, with a slight chance for precipitation to change over to snow mainly in the early morning hours or late evening hours Tuesday. There still remains a chance that the system could shift further south and dry slot the forecast area or move more north with the chances for precipitation to increase. As the system gets closer to entering the western CONUS and ingesting observations, the track/timing of models will likely converge along with the addition of higher resolution models. No precipitation is expected beyond Wednesday morning. Light southwest winds and mostly clear skies return Wednesday as temperatures begin to rebound back into the 60s. An 850mb shortwave trough Thursday will bring breezy north winds, but temperatures will remain in the 60s. Southwest surface winds will return Friday as the slow warming trend continues with highs in the upper 60s. Rutt && .AMA Watches/Warnings/Advisories... TX...None. OK...None. && 03/24
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Amarillo TX 655 PM CST Sat Feb 29 2020 OKZ001>003-TXZ001>020-317-011215- 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- 655 PM CST Sat Feb 29 2020 This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. .DAY ONE...Tonight. No hazardous weather is expected. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Sunday through Friday. Elevated fire weather conditions are expected across the far southern sections of the Texas Panhandle Sunday afternoon. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not anticipated at this time. Area fire managers and emergency officials should be alert for elevated fire weather conditions on Sunday. Cockrell
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 drought. Local standard time, as filed.
An area of severe drought across basically the northern one-third of the county persisted throughout the month of March.
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, March 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: 876870.