A strong cold front swept across the Plains from the 18th into the early morning of the 19th. A period of gusty winds, including >50 knot gusts near the Wichita Mountains, occurred in the immediate post-frontal regime.
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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 OUN wrote it up.
A strong cold front swept across the Plains from the 18th into the early morning of the 19th. A period of gusty winds, including >50 knot gusts near the Wichita Mountains, occurred in the immediate post-frontal regime.
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 Norman, OK wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 18, 10:14 PM CST, 11 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Norman OK
1014 PM CST Thu Jan 18 2024
...New UPDATE...
.UPDATE...
Issued at 1001 PM CST Thu Jan 18 2024
Stronger wind gusts will decrease from north to south overnight,
so expect portions of the current advisory to be cancelled in that
fashion. Higher terrain and areas immediately downwind of the
Wichitas and Arbuckles will likely see the 40 to 50 mph winds last
longer through the night.
Wind chill values may briefly approach advisory levels across the
northern third or so of Oklahoma for a few hours late tonight and
early Friday morning.
&&
.SHORT TERM...
(This evening through Friday)
Issued at 402 PM CST Thu Jan 18 2024
Temperatures have climbed into the 40s and 50s across the region,
with some isolated areas of 60s in far western Oklahoma and north
Texas. These recently warmer temperatures will be short lived, as
the colder surge of air has begun moving south and east through
western Kansas. With this secondary surge of colder air, a cold
front will move through overnight tonight into Friday morning, with
strong northerly winds behind the front. Overnight lows will drop
back into the 10s and low 20s. Wind chills are expected to be in the
single digits, with negative wind chills across far northern
Oklahoma. There has been some discussion in the office on a Wind
Chill Advisory, however wind chills have been near the threshold for
an advisory and short period temporally, so one has not been issued.
If wind speeds end up underforecasted, the potential for a wind
chill advisory will be re-evaluated.
Friday conditions are expected to be partly cloudy and cooler, with
highs in the 20s and low 30s. Northerly winds will gradually
decrease throughout the day, becoming calm and variable by Friday
evening as an upper level ridge builds throughout the region.
Zwink
&&
.LONG TERM...
(Friday night through next Wednesday)
Issued at 402 PM CST Thu Jan 18 2024
With the decreasing winds and clear skies, Friday night into
Saturday morning will be the coldest evening, with lows dropping
into the 10s and single digits across the region. With the upper
level ridge shifting over the region Saturday into Sunday, there'll
be a slow but gradual increase of temperatures through the weekend
as surface winds slowly shift out of the south and begins advecting
moisture and warmer air into the region.
An upper level trough will begin to move into the region late Sunday
night into Monday. With the ongoing moisture and warm air advection
into region, chances of precipitation across the region begins
increasing, with multiple chances throughout the week. Precipitation
chances will begin to increase across southeastern Oklahoma and
northern Texas Sunday night, before expanding across portions of
central Oklahoma early Monday morning. The main concern with this
precipitation will be the chance of some wintry precipitation, in
particular freezing rain early in the event.
The potential for freezing rain is still highly uncertain, as
surface temperatures will be fairly close to 32F, and the arrival of
sufficient moisture for precipitation is still variable between
model runs as well, with the most recent set of models/ensembles
trending a bit later. This is one of the more difficult scenarios as
a forecaster, as any deviations in either direction
temperature/timing wise can lead to significant changes of impacts.
The current thinking is that portions of southeastern Oklahoma will
see ice, and we'll see a transition pretty quickly late Monday
morning into Monday afternoon to all rain. Travel impacts in at
least southeastern Oklahoma are anticipated, with the cold airmass
in place over the weekend enhancing any potential impacts. How long
those impacts will occur before the transition, as well as the
spatial extent of the ice remain highly variable.
As the warm air advection continues into the region, any potential
for ice will end by Monday afternoon, and any precipitation
occurring Monday afternoon through the next week will be rain.
Zwink
&&
.AVIATION...
(06Z TAFS)
Issued at 927 PM CST Thu Jan 18 2024
SCT/BKN MVFR clouds will continue to move across portions of the
area overnight. Otherwise, VFR ceilings with some mid/high clouds
will affect the area this TAF period. Gusty north winds will
continue overnight into early Friday. Wind speeds will begin to
decrease and gradually shift towards the NE Friday
afternoon/evening.
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
Oklahoma City OK 14 27 12 29 / 0 0 0 0
Hobart OK 17 32 14 32 / 0 0 0 0
Wichita Falls TX 19 34 16 34 / 0 0 0 0
Gage OK 12 30 10 31 / 0 0 0 0
Ponca City OK 10 25 8 24 / 0 0 0 0
Durant OK 19 33 16 36 / 0 0 0 0
&&
.OUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OK...Wind Advisory until 6 AM CST Friday for OKZ014-016-021>025-
027>031-033>042-044>046.
TX...Wind Advisory until 6 AM CST Friday for TXZ083>090.
&&
SHORT TERM...11
LONG TERM....50
AVIATION...25Hazardous Weather Outlook...UPDATED National Weather Service Norman OK 548 PM CST Thu Jan 18 2024 OKZ004>048-050>052-TXZ083>090-200000- Harper-Woods-Alfalfa-Grant-Kay-Ellis-Woodward-Major-Garfield- Noble-Roger Mills-Dewey-Custer-Blaine-Kingfisher-Logan-Payne- Beckham-Washita-Caddo-Canadian-Oklahoma-Lincoln-Grady-McClain- Cleveland-Pottawatomie-Seminole-Hughes-Harmon-Greer-Kiowa-Jackson- Tillman-Comanche-Stephens-Garvin-Murray-Pontotoc-Coal-Cotton- Jefferson-Carter-Johnston-Atoka-Love-Marshall-Bryan-Hardeman- Foard-Wilbarger-Wichita-Knox-Baylor-Archer-Clay- 548 PM CST Thu Jan 18 2024 This hazardous weather outlook is for portions of northern... western...central...and southern Oklahoma...and western north Texas. .DAY ONE...Tonight... .Wind Chill... A strong cold front will bring very cold wind chills this evening through early Friday morning. Wind chill values may range from 0 to 5 degrees below zero across at least the northern half of Oklahoma. .Strong Wind... Behind the cold front, widespread wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph can be expected for about 4 to 6 hours after the front passes. Toward and after daybreak Friday, northerly winds will slowly subside through the day. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Friday through Wednesday... .Wind Chill... Wind chill values may range from 0 to 5 degrees below zero across at least the northern half of Oklahoma Friday morning. .Freezing Rain... Light freezing rain is possible late Sunday night and Monday morning across central and southeast Oklahoma. Ice accumulations are possible. Temperatures are forecast to rise above freezing by noon Monday and allow additional precipitation to fall as rain. Get graphics and more details at weather.gov/norman...and follow our weather forecast office on Twitter and Facebook.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Medicine Park (MEDI) Mesonet observation. Prolonged period of >50 knot post-frontal wind gusts, with the highest gust of 63 mph measured at 2225 LST.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oklahoma in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Oklahoma, January 2024
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: 1150734.