Areas of freezing drizzle occurred within a shallow cold airmass during the early morning hours of the 5th, resulting in slick and hazardous travel across portions of northwestern Oklahoma.
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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.
Areas of freezing drizzle occurred within a shallow cold airmass during the early morning hours of the 5th, resulting in slick and hazardous travel across portions of northwestern Oklahoma.
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 Feb 4, 11:30 PM CST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier. Its key messages:
Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Norman OK 1130 PM CST Tue Feb 4 2025 ...New UPDATE... .KEY MESSAGES... Updated at 1120 PM CST Tue Feb 4 2025 - Freezing drizzle possible across northern Oklahoma tonight. - Colder pattern next week with a chance for precipitation. && .UPDATE... Issued at 1120 PM CST Tue Feb 4 2025 Based on observational trends and short-term models, lowered temperatures for tonight into tomorrow morning (especially south of I-40). Freezing drizzle is possible overnight into tomorrow morning for areas generally north of I-40 and west of I-35. Some light accumulation is possible, especially on bridges and overpasses. Will be watching trends for potential Winter Weather Advisory. Thompson && .NEAR TERM... (Rest of today and tonight) Issued at 252 PM CST Tue Feb 4 2025 A shallow, colder air mass has become entrenched across Oklahoma and north Texas today. After yesterday's record highs, temperatures are 30 to 60 deg F colder than 24 hours ago. Even with abundant cloud cover, there's enough solar insolation to counter the ongoing cold air advection from northerly winds. Temperatures have actually been steady and/or slowly rising across most locations this afternoon--shifting the freezing line back to the northwest. For tonight, surface winds will become light with abundant cloud cover. As a result, temperatures are not expected to change significantly with only a slight cool down forecast with limited temperature advection and an unfavorable environment for appreciable radiational cooling. Increasing isentropic ascent from southerly winds above the frontal inversion may result in drizzle tonight into tomorrow morning. Forecast soundings indicate a modestly deep, low-level saturated layer. Temperatures across northwest into north central Oklahoma are most likely to be at or below freezing. Therefore, there area has the potential for freezing drizzle. Northwest Oklahoma will have the greatest potential for impacts as temperatures here are more likely to be at 28 deg F or lower. Mahale && .SHORT TERM... (Wednesday through Thursday night) Issued at 252 PM CST Tue Feb 4 2025 The temperature forecast for tomorrow (Wednesday) has low confidence as it'll depend how far north the cold front lifts back to the north as a warm front. Among short-term models, there is a 10 to 25 deg F spread between the 25th and 75th percentiles tomorrow afternoon. Usually these colder air masses erode slower than most synoptic-scale models would indicate--especially if there is cloud cover and drizzle. Therefore, trended temperatures on the cooler end of guidance. There will likely be a northeast to southwest temperature gradient somewhere across the area tomorrow afternoon. Another cold front will move through Wednesday night into Thursday, which will temper any warm up across the northern half to two-thirds of Oklahoma. Far southern Oklahoma and western north Texas, temperatures are forecast to warm into the mid 70s to low 80s deg F ahead of the front. Mahale && .LONG TERM... (Friday through Monday) Issued at 206 AM CST Tue Feb 4 2025 With persistent quasi-zonal flow aloft, above-average temperatures are forecast for Friday and Saturday. A potent mid- level trough moves ashore northern California end of the week. This feature is prog'd to reach the northern plains on Friday night and pushes a strong cold front into our area on Saturday. It's been a tough week with respect to temperature forecasting and this continues into next weekend with model boxplot diagrams depicting 30 degree temperature differences for Friday and Saturday. From there, there is better agreement and thus better confidence of cooler temperatures returning on Sunday and into next week. Precipitation chances return next week. Thompson && .AVIATION... (06Z TAFS) Issued at 1114 PM CST Tue Feb 4 2025 Widespread IFR/LIFR ceilings tonight are expected to persist overnight and into the daytime hours on Wednesday. This set of TAFs is more pessimistic with improving conditions likely waiting until later in the day on Wednesday to improve significantly in many areas. We will also see an areas of fog and drizzle overnight and into early Wednesday morning, with some potential for freezing drizzle in northwest Oklahoma (including KWWR) where temperatures are below freezing. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Oklahoma City OK 34 59 48 59 / 20 10 0 0 Hobart OK 33 62 44 66 / 20 10 0 0 Wichita Falls TX 37 71 55 76 / 10 10 0 0 Gage OK 26 69 38 58 / 20 10 0 0 Ponca City OK 32 52 41 53 / 20 10 0 0 Durant OK 43 70 62 77 / 10 10 0 0 && .OUN WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OK...None. TX...None. && NEAR TERM...01 SHORT TERM...10 LONG TERM....01 AVIATION...26
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
Icy road conditions, caused by freezing drizzle, were reported to have played a role in a fatal single vehicle accident along Oklahoma Highway 34 near Sharon.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Weather, Woodward | 2025-02-05 | 39 | Female | Vehicle/Towed Trailer | Indirect |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oklahoma in 2025Every state in 2025This day in weather historyWarnings in Oklahoma, February 2025
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: 1240145.