Like the villain in a ‘90s action movie, winter struck back with a vengeance in January following the unusual warmth that closed out 2024. Several strong cold fronts delivered blustery winds, snow, ice, and some of the coldest air the state had seen since the generational freeze of February 2021.
Winter made a striking return to Oklahoma in January, surprising a state that had just experienced its fourth-warmest December on record. This frosty resurgence brought with it a myriad of wintry phenomena, including freezing fog, freezing rain, snowstorms, a blizzard warning, an ice storm warning, and the lengthiest stretch of sub-freezing temperatures since the infamous Arctic air outbreak of February 2021. Following a seasonably mild first week, Arctic air surged southward in multiple waves.
Oklahoma’s January 2023 may have begun with a springlike bang, but it ended with a more appropriate wintry punch. Warm weather dominated the first three weeks of the month, and was on pace to become one of the warmest Januarys on record before winter crashed the party. The early springlike weather also brought Oklahoma its earliest tornadoes within the calendar year since accurate records began in 1950. On Jan. 2, severe storms developed across northeastern Oklahoma and quickly became tornadic, producing five confirmed tornadoes according to the National Weather Service.
Winter arrived with conviction at the dawn of the new year in Oklahoma and delivered a startling counterpunch to the record-shattering heat of December. At least five strong cold fronts traversed the state during January, each one drawing Oklahoma back into a more familiar winter mindset as memories of December’s warmth faded. The disparity in the hours below freezing as measured by the Oklahoma Mesonet was demonstrative of the difference between the two winter months. During December, most of the state spent between 50 and 150 hours below freezing.
The winter storm that began the year captured January’s biggest weather headline. The event straddled the changeover from 2020 to 2021, with as much as 10 inches of snow falling in Vici on New Year’s Day. Reports of 4-8 inches were widespread across the northwestern half of the state. Seasonal totals through January climbed to nearly 3 feet across northwestern Oklahoma. The National Weather Service cooperative observer at Arnett reported 34.3 inches since late October, 24.1 inches more than their entire normal seasonal total of 10.2 inches.
Although January’s weather continued this winter’s general tilt towards unusually mild conditions, that failed to prevent several bouts of wintry weather from striking the state. In true Oklahoma fashion, the first bout of snow and ice was foreshadowed by severe weather, including a couple of tornadoes. Those weak twisters struck on January 10 near Prague and Park Hill according to National Weather Service reports. The Park Hill tornado was the more destructive of the two, damaging roofs, outbuildings and trees.
The weather was a bit confused in Oklahoma during January. The first half of the month was on the warm and wet side of normal, while the second half was dominated by short, intense periods of dry winter’s chill. The state received an average of 1.86 inches of precipitation from January 1-12, but only 0.31 inches throughout the rest of the month – the 5th wettest and 25th driest such periods on record, respectively. The month’s biggest thrill came in the form of a winter storm on January 3, with freezing rain, sleet and snow falling across much of the state.
The dry weather that plagued Oklahoma through the final three months of 2017 showed no signs of letting up during the first month of 2018. The lack of precipitation was especially prominent across western Oklahoma where 19 of the Oklahoma Mesonet’s 120 stations received no precipitation for the month, and another 47 saw less than a quarter-inch. In some cases, the precipitation-free streak extended back to early October. The Mesonet sites at Woodward and Hooker had gone 113 consecutive days without a single drop of moisture by the end of January.
January 2017 would have been remembered as exceedingly warm and dull if not for the visit from a powerful mid-month winter storm. The storm struck over the weekend of Jan. 13-15 and prompted a State of Emergency declaration for all 77 counties by Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin. An unusually moisture-laden weather system for January, the storm left the northwestern half of the state encased in ice and the southeastern half waterlogged.
Considering the extreme precipitation that ended 2015, and with the “super” El Niño that boosted the November-December period to the wettest on record for the state still in place, January was a veritable dud. According to preliminary data from the Oklahoma Mesonet, the statewide average precipitation total was 0.71 inches, nearly an inch below normal and the 28th driest January since records began in 1895. Only 29 of the Mesonet’s 120 stations recorded at least an inch of rain, and only three exceeded 2 inches. Cloudy led all Mesonet sites with 2.45 inches.