Posted on 12/24/2009 7:19:28 PM PST by Star Traveler
By Staff and Wire Reports
Published: 12/24/2009 8:39 AM
Last Modified: 12/24/2009 8:43 PM
The blizzard that swept through Oklahoma on Christmas Eve was deadly for some travelers and forced many others to change their holiday plans.
Three people were killed in a crash on the icy Keystone Expressway west of Sand Springs, and Gov. Brad Henry declared a state of emergency for all 77 Oklahoma counties.
A blizzard warning was in effect through 6 a.m. Friday for more than 30 Oklahoma counties, including the Tulsa and Oklahoma City metropolitan areas.
The blizzard warning was the first for Tulsa County since the National Weather Service’s Tulsa office was opened in the early 1990s, said NWS forecaster Max Blood.
The governor’s emergency declaration provides a formal mechanism for local governments to seek reimbursement for recovery costs through the state’s disaster public assistance program should conditions warrant. The executive order is also the first step toward seeking federal aid should it become necessary.
About 1,300 homes in the Tulsa area had reported power outages by about 7 p.m. Thursday, but more outages were anticipated as conditions worsened into the night, AEP-PSO spokeswoman Andrea Chancellor said.
Precarious roads: Henry said he was “urging all Oklahomans to take winter storm precautions and stay off the roads unless travel is absolutely necessary. This is a very serious winter storm, and we want Oklahomans to stay safe.”
Three people were killed in a two-vehicle crash west of Sand Springs about noon Thursday.
The vehicles, a Hummer H2 and a Chevrolet Cobalt, collided on the Keystone Expressway west of Oklahoma 97 about noon, Sand Springs Fire Department Lt. Steve Pilant said.
The three victims, whose names have not been released, were in the Cobalt, Pilant said. The driver of the Hummer had minor injuries and was taken by EMSA to a local hospital, he said.
The official Oklahoma Highway Patrol report with further details of the wreck was not available Thursday night.
In Tulsa, city crews began spreading a mixture of sand and salt on bridges and overpasses about 11:45 a.m. Thursday, said Darren Stefanek, Public Works Department street maintenance manager.
By 1 p.m., the crews had moved to treating city streets, he said.
Fifty-five trucks went into “plow mode” about 4 p.m. and worked into the night, Stefanek said.
“We’re getting hit by waves of this stuff,” he said. “We catch up, and then another wave comes. That’s the way it’s going to be the rest of the night.”
At the National Weather Service’s Tulsa office, Blood said meteorologists heard “thundersnow” and saw lightning during the height of the snow storm. “In those convective bursts, we believe it was falling at the rate of 4 inches per hour,” he said, adding that they didn’t last long.
By 8:30 p.m., 5 inches of snow had been recorded at the weather service’s Tulsa office, and 4 inches was on the ground at Tulsa International Airport, Blood said.
But meteorologists were hearing of 2- and 3-foot drifts in some areas because of the intense winds.
Heavier snowfall was recorded in areas just southwest of Tulsa County, Blood said.
Western Pawnee County had the most snow in the area, Blood said. Officials there measured 10 inches of snow on the ground, and an estimated 13 inches had fallen in some areas there, he said.
Another inch or so was still possible, but with continued winds throughout the night, drifting should continue, he said.
Tulsa officials closed some of the worst city streets during the height of the blizzard, and the full lengths of the Creek and Turner turnpikes, as well as parts of other highways across the state, were closed.
Local authorities put Tulsa police on Operation Slick Streets about 7 a.m. Thursday, meaning emergency crews would not respond to noninjury crashes until the designation was lifted.
Air travel: Blowing snow and sleet caused flight delays and cancellations at Tulsa International Airport, but many of the problems are not related to local runway conditions, officials said.
“The runway looks good,” said Ken Miller, deputy director of airport operations.
Between 3 and 9 p.m. Thursday, 13 of 19 flights that were scheduled to leave from Tulsa were cancelled by the airlines. Destinations of the cancelled flights were Denver, St. Louis, Memphis, Houston, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Dallas-Fort Worth, Detroit and Atlanta.
Out of 25 flights that were scheduled to arrive between 3 and 9 p.m., 14 were cancelled, according to the airport’s Web site at www.tulsaairports.com.
Due to weather and heavy snow, Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City was closed as of 1 p.m. Thursday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Web site.
The FAA said arriving flights at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport were delayed an average of two hours and 20 minutes as of 4 p.m.
Miller said Tulsa International’s passenger terminal would be open regardless of the amount of snow.
The airport has a supply of de-icing chemicals and sand and plows to keep runways and roadways open, officials said.
The airport’s Web site published a winter weather advisory, saying, “Regardless of weather, the airline terminal building will remain open. Departing passengers and those picking up passengers for arriving flights are encouraged to confirm with their airline the status of that flight before leaving for the airport.”
“I’ve already cried,” said Kayla Barr, 23, of Tulsa, whose Christmas Eve flight from Tulsa to Memphis, Tenn., and on to Michigan on Delta Airlines was cancelled.
Barr said she wanted to see her 90-year-old great-grandmother, whose health has been declining.
Instead of rescheduling her flight for Friday, Barr said she will spend Christmas alone and request a $400 refund.
“I was supposed to fly back (to Tulsa) early Sunday morning, and there isn’t enough time because my family stays far from the airport in Michigan,” she said.
Mindy Sorey, 37, and her husband rented a car and planned to drive back to Colorado Springs with their 6-year-old son despite the icy road conditions Thursday evening.
Sorey said she and her family had spent a week in Bartlesville and were supposed to have flown to Denver on Thursday evening.
“We were told we wouldn’t be able to fly back to Colorado until New Year’s Eve because we needed three passenger seats,” she said.
Wesley Anderson of Tulsa was flying to Indiana but was supposed to have a layover in Memphis before his flight was cancelled.
“I’m angry, and I’ve been let down,” said Anderson, who would have to see his girlfriend, sister and mother a day later than planned.
He rescheduled his flights for early Friday morning.
Last-minute shopping: The weather improved Christmas Eve morning shopping, according to several local businesses, as those who had procrastinated until the last day rushed to do their shopping early, before conditions got too bad.
Daniel Moore, Food Pyramid store director at 41st Street and Peoria Avenue, said shoppers were stocking up on supplies and winter items such as ice-melting chemicals.
“People are probably buying a little more today so they don’t have to get out in that (weather) tomorrow,” Moore said.
Mangers of the J.C. Penney and Dillard’s stores at the Tulsa Promenade mall said they were ahead of their goals going into Thursday afternoon, as last-minute shoppers raced the weather.
Dillard’s manager Dennis Hix said his store was doing better than last year.
“We’re real pleased with the traffic,” he said. “Since 8 a.m., we’ve been packed.”
Ron Kise, the Penney’s manager, said the weather helped pack shoppers into his Tulsa store, but he said stores in the Oklahoma City area, which was hit by icy weather much earlier in the day, suffered.
World staff writers Jarrel Wade, Deon Hampton, Matt Barnard, Shannon Muchmore, Althea Peterson and D.R. Stewart contributed to this story.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission reports about 16,000 homes and businesses are without power due to the storm. This includes the following outages:
How to drive on snow and ice
The following winter-weather tips for motorists were provided by AAA-Oklahoma:
Contact information for airlines serving Tulsa International Airport:
Source: Tulsa Airport Authority.
1796
A famous cold day was felt at Cairo, IL where the temperature fell to -8 and in Kentucky where the mercury fell to -13. The Ohio and Mississippi Rivers were frozen.
1836
An intense cold wave drove the temperature down nearly 40 degrees in 10 hours at Fort Snelling, MN to -28° by Christmas morning, one degree shy of 1822's record.
1868
A severe freeze occurred at Jacksonville, FL when the temperature dropped to 20.
1872
Extreme cold gripped the Upper Midwest. Downtown Chicago, IL reported an all-time record low of -23°, which stood until 12/24/1983 and Minneapolis, MN plunged to -38°. The afternoon high at Minneapolis struggled to make it to -17°.
1879
It was a frigid Christmas Eve at Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada as the temperature fell to -54°.
1924
At Fairfield, MT, it was 63° at noon; by midnight the temperature had plunged an incredible 84 degrees to -21°.
1927
A Christmas Eve Blizzard buried Findon, West Sussex, United Kingdom driven by gale force winds. The deep and drifting snow cut off the town. 100 men were employed to remove the great snowfall from roads.
1955
For the month of December: Waco, TX: 91°, Abilene, TX: 89°, Dallas (Love Field), TX: 89° (broke previous daily record by 13 degrees), Dodge City, KS: 86° (broke previous daily record by 20 degrees), Oklahoma City, OK: 86° (broke previous daily record by 17 degrees), Wichita, KS: 83° (broke previous record by 20 degrees), Tulsa, OK: 80°-Tied (broke previous record by 13 degrees), Little Rock, AR: 80°-Tied,
Del Rio, TX: 89°, Dallas (DFW), TX: 88°, San Angelo, TX: 87°, Wichita Falls, TX: 87°, Austin, TX: 82°, Midland-Odessa, TX: 82°, Houston, TX: 82°-Tied, Amarillo, TX: 81° (broke previous record by 12 degrees), Lubbock, TX: 80°, Jackson, MS: 80°, Fort Smith, AR: 80°, Austin (Bergstrom), TX: 80°-Tied, New Orleans, LA: 79°, Roswell, NM: 78°, Meridian, MS: 78°, Tupelo, MS: 78°, Montgomery, AL: 78°, Clayton, NM: 77°, Goodland, KS: 77° (broke previous record by 10 degrees), Pueblo, CO: 76°, Memphis, TN: 76°, Birmingham, AL: 74°, Springfield, MO: 74°, Huntsville, AL: 73°, El Paso, TX: 72°, Chattanooga, TN: 72°, Atlanta, GA: 71°-Tied, Colorado Springs, CO: 70°, Denver, CO: 70°, Oak Ridge, TN: 70°, Huntington, WV: 70°-Tied, Bristol, TN: 69°, Columbia, MO: 69°, Beckley, WV: 67°, Kansas City, MO: 66°, Scottsbluff, NE: 65°, Grand Junction, CO: 64° (broke previous record by 10 degrees), Cheyenne, WY: 60°, Alamosa, CO: 58° and Casper, WY: 52°.
***See Slideshow***
1962
A band of precipitation over northern Scotland turned to snow, giving Glasgow, Scotland its first white Christmas in 24 years.
1963
The temperature fell to -13° at Memphis, TN, setting the all-time record low temperature for the city. This came only two days after Memphis had received its third heaviest snowfall on record with 14.3 inches.
1972
Queensland in Australia recorded one of its hottest days on record when the high temperature at Birdsville reached 118.4°.
1982
The "Blizzard of '82" blasted eastern Colorado with 18 to 34 inches of snow. Akron was buried under 28 inches of snow. Denver recorded 23.6 inches of snow in 24 hours to set a new all-time 24 hour snowfall record. Winds gusting to 60 mph whipped the snow into 4 to 8 foot drifts. All highways leading out of Denver were closed and Stapleton International Airport was closed for 33 consecutive hours as visibilities fell to a quarter of a mile or less for 17 consecutive hours. Laramie, WY picked up 18.2 inches of snow.
During an unseasonal period of severe weather, thunderstorms over Oregon County, Missouri produced an F4 tornado. The tornado kept up F4 intensity for 43 miles before dropping to F2 intensity and continuing its progress for an additional 33 miles. During its 35 minute life span the twister killed one person, injured 8 others and did over $10 million dollars in damage.
An F2 tornado touched down in Christian County, Missouri and cut a 300 yard wide 16 mile long path of damage. One person was injured and $5 million dollars of damage was reported.
1983
It was the coldest Christmas Eve on modern record in the United States. Arctic air covered almost 90 percent of the country with temperatures well below freezing and, in many areas of the north, well below zero. On Christmas day 125 record lows were set in 24 different states.. Chicago, IL recorded its' coldest temperature ever with a reading of -25°. Miles City, MT established a new U.S. record high barometric pressure of 31.42 inHg or 1063.9 millibars. Sioux Falls, SD led the nation with record cold as the city stayed below zero for 8 consecutive days. Oklahoma City, OK set their highest barometric pressure reading with 31.14 inHg.
Miles City, MT set their all-time record low and coldest high temperature with -38° and -25° respectively. Sheridan, WY also recorded their all-time coldest temperature of -37°.
Locations reporting their lowest December temperature: Alma, WI: -32°, Billings, MT: -32° (broke previous record by 18 degrees), Waukon, IA: -27°, Dubuque, IA: -25°, Chicago, IL: -25°, Rockford, IL: -24° and Youngstown, OH: -12°-Tied (broke previous daily record by 12 degrees).
Locations reporting daily record low temperatures for the date included: Chester, MT: -52°, Wisdom, MT: -52°, Havre, MT: -50°, West Yellowstone, MT: -48°, Bozeman, MT: -46°, Chinook, MT: -46°, Conrad, MT: -46°, White Sulphur Springs, MT: -46°, Fort Assinniboine, MT: -44°, Lincoln Ranger Station, MT: -44°, Shelby, MT: -43°, Great Falls, MT: -42° (broke previous record by 18 degrees), Lewistown, MT: -42°, Livingston, MT: -41°, Cut Bank, MT: -40°, Butte, MT: -40°, Boulder, MT: -40°, Grass Range, MT: -39°, Del Bonita, MT: -38°, Virginia City, MT: -38°, Glasgow, MT: -37°, Helena, MT: -37°, Townsend, MT: -37°, Choteau, MT: -35°, Valier, MT: -35°, Casper, WY: -33° (broke previous record by 20 degrees), Kalispell, MT: -30° (broke previous record by 13 degrees), Ennis, MT: -30°, Timber Lake, SD: -28°, Watertown, SD: -28°, St. Cloud, MN: -28°, Mobridge, SD: -26°, Wheaton, SD: -26°, Waterloo, IA: -26°, Rochester, MN: -26°, Rapid City, SD: -26°, Sisseton, SD: -25°, Valentine, NE: -25°, Cheyenne, WY: -25°, Aberdeen, SD: -23°, Sioux Falls, SD: -23°, Green Bay, WI: -21°, Scottsbluff, NE: -21°, Des Moines, IA: -19°, Moline, IL: -19° (broke previous record by 10 degrees), Grand Island, NE: -19°, Omaha, NE: -19°, Sioux City, IA: -18°, Peoria, IL: -18°, Lincoln, NE: -18°, Indianapolis, IN: -17°, Kansas City, MO: -17° (broke previous record by 14 degrees), Springfield, IL: -16°, Fort Wayne, IN: -16°, Columbia, MO: -16° (broke previous record by 14 degrees), South Bend, IN: -15° (broke previous record by 11 degrees), Akron, OH: -15°, Dayton, OH: -15°, Toledo, OH: -15°, Topeka, KS: -14°, Mansfield, OH: -14°, Lewiston, ID: -13°, Concordia, KS: -13°, St. Louis, MO: -12°, Cincinnati, OH: -12°, Columbus, OH: -12°, Marquette, MI: -11°, Pittsburgh, PA: -11°, Beckley, WV: -11°, Lexington, KY: -10°, Jackson, KY: -10°, Wichita, KS: -10°, Springfield, MO: -10°, Cleveland, OH: -10°, Elkins, WV: -10°, Detroit, MI: -9°, Pocatello, ID: -8°, Louisville, KY: -8°, Huntington, WV: -7° (broke previous record by 11 degrees), Paducah, KY: -6°, Charleston, WV: -6°, Wilmington, DE: -5°, Asheville, NC: -5°, Nashville, TN: -4°, Erie, PA: -3°, Bristol, TN: -3°, Amarillo, TX: -3°, Tulsa, OK: -2°, Knoxville, TN: -2°, Oak Ridge, TN: -2°, Atlantic City, NJ: -1°, Allentown, PA: -1°, Harrisburg, PA: -1°, Trenton, NJ: -1°, Fort Smith, AR: 0°, Oklahoma City, OK: 0°, Lubbock, TX: 0°, Roanoke, VA: 0°, Yakima, WA: 0°, Lynchburg, VA: 1°, Sterling (Dulles Airport), VA: 1°, Huntsville, AL: 2°, Chattanooga, TN: 2° (Broke previous record by 10 degrees), Atlanta, GA: 3°, Newark, NJ: 3°, Philadelphia, PA: 3°, Birmingham, AL: 4°, Baltimore, MD: 4°, Tupelo, MS: 4°, Greensboro, NC: 4°, New York (LaGuardia Airport), NY: 4°, Abilene, TX: 4°, Washington, D.C.: 5°, New York (Kennedy Airport), NY: 5° (broke previous record by 10 degrees), Dallas, TX: 5°, Charlotte, NC: 6° (broke previous record by 11 degrees), Raleigh, NC: 6°, New York (Central Park, NY), NY: 6°, Midland-Odessa, TX: 6°, San Angelo, TX: 6°, Wichita Falls, TX: 6°, Richmond, VA: 6°, Athens, GA: 7°, Dallas (DFW), TX: 7°, Bridgeport, CT: 8°, Shreveport, LA: 8°, Greenville-Spartanburg, SC: 8°, Jackson, MS: 9°, Wallops Island, VA: 9°, Montgomery, AL: 10°, Macon, GA: 10°, Meridian, MS: 10°, Norfolk, VA: 10°, Augusta, GA: 11°, Columbus, GA: 11°, Wilmington, NC: 11° (broke previous record by 10 degrees), Columbia, SC: 12°, Austin, TX: 12°, Waco, TX: 12°, Mobile, AL: 13°, Baton Rouge, LA: 13°, Cape Hatteras, NC: 13° (broke previous record by 10 degrees), Houston, TX: 14°, Olympia, WA: 14°, Pensacola, FL: 15°, Portland, OR: 15°, Del Rio, TX: 15°, San Antonio, TX: 15°, Savannah, GA: 16°, Austin (Bergstrom), TX: 16°, Lake Charles, LA: 17°, New Orleans, LA: 17°, Galveston, TX: 17°, Victoria, TX: 17°, Astoria, OR: 18°, Jacksonville, FL: 18°, Charleston, SC: 18°, Quillayute, WA: 18°, Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX: 19°, Tallahassee, FL: 20°, Corpus Christi, TX: 20°, Brownsville, TX: 24°, Daytona, Beach, FL: 30°-Tied and Orlando, FL: 35°.
If the brutal dangerous cold wasn’t enough, 1983 the Northern Plains was in the grip of a ferocious ground blizzard. Over the stretch beginning on the 18th through the 25th temperatures were rarely above zero across the area and strong winds made conditions especially dangerous. The worst conditions occurred from the 23rd through the 25th as light snow and loose surface snow combined with strong northwesterly winds to produce whiteout conditions for extended periods of time.
The ground blizzard paralyzed most areas, completely blocking most roads with drifts 4 to 5 feet high. One drift in southwest Minnesota climbed to 15 feet deep and took five hours to clear with a large snowplow. With sub-zero temperatures and winds gusting up to 60 mph, at times, wind chills were from -60° to -100°. The intense and long- lived cold spell burst gas lines, caused propane gas to solidify, and froze water pipes and tanks.
The last of five consecutive days that the temperature remained below zero occurred on this day for Chadron, Alliance and Scottsbluff, NE. Cheyenne, WY warmed above zero in the late evening on this day due to Chinook winds, and ended their longest recorded streak of below zero temperatures at 120 hours.
1986
A severe ice storm hit the Ottawa Valley in Ontario and southwestern Quebec Canada on Christmas Eve, forcing many residents to barbecue their holiday turkey as power was lost for 25% of the residents. 1.18 inches of freezing rain accumulated in about 14 hours.
1987
A 4-day siege of heavy rain began in the south central U.S. Flooding claimed 4 lives and caused millions of dollars property damage. Western Tennessee was drenched with up to 14 inches of rain in two days. Total rainfall exceeded 12 inches around Memphis TN, and the heavy rain and subsequent flooding added insult to injury to victims of the West Memphis tornado on the 14th of the month. Little Rock, AR experienced their wettest December day on record with 5.01 inches of rain. West Little Rock, AR reported 10.20 inches of rain in 24 hours.
1988
Early morning thunderstorms developing along a cold front spawned a powerful F4 tornado at Franklin, TN which killed one person, injured 7 others, and caused $8 million dollars damage.
Another in a series of winter storms in the western U.S. produced 20 inches of snow at Blue Canyon, CA in 24 hours. Bishop, CA received 14 inches of snow in just 6 hours, and Redding, CA, which averages 3 inches of snow per year, was blanketed with 10 inches.
1989
Many cities in the south central and eastern U.S. reported record low temperatures for the date. Key West, FL equaled their record for December with a morning low of 44°. The high of just 45° at Miami, FL was an all-time record for that location. This smashed their previous record for the date by 20 degrees.
Vero Beach, FL set their all-time record December low with 23° while Key West, FL tied their December record low with 44°.
Locations reporting daily record lows included: Elkins, WV: -22° (broke previous record by 12 degrees), Concord, NH: -20°, Mt. Pocono, PA: -20°, Burlington, VT: -18°, Caribou, ME: -18°-Tied, Albany, NY: -15°, Syracuse, NY: -14°, Portland, ME: -13°, Binghamton, NY: -11°, Lexington, KY: -10°-Tied, Evansville, IN: -9°, Hartford, CT: -9°, Avoca, PA: -9°, Huntington, WV: -9°, Williamsport, PA: -9°-Tied, Allentown, PA: -5°, Bristol, TN: -3°-Tied, Reading, PA: -1°, Roanoke, VA: 0°-Tied, Huntsville, AL: 1°, Tupelo, MS: 3°, Birmingham, AL: 4°-Tied, Bridgeport, CT: 6°, Jackson, MS: 6°, Meridian, MS: 6°, Montgomery, AL: 7°, Shreveport, LA: 8°-Tied, Mobile, AL: 9°, Columbus, GA: 9, Georgetown, DE: 9, Baton Rouge, LA: 10, Macon, GA: 10-Tied, Pensacola, FL: 11°, Houston, TX: 11°, Lake Charles, LA: 12°, Islip, NY: 12°, Tallahassee, FL: 13°, Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX: 13°, Austin (Bergstrom), TX: 14°, New Orleans, LA: 15°, Corpus Christi, TX: 15°, Gainesville, FL: 16°, Charleston, SC: 16°, Victoria, TX: 16°, Savannah, GA: 16°-Tied, Brownsville, TX: 18°, Daytona, Beach, FL: 20° (broke previous record by 10 degrees), Orlando, FL: 22° (broke previous record by 13 degrees), Tampa, FL: 24°, Ft. Myers, FL: 27°, West Palm Beach, FL: 28° and Miami, FL: 31°.
Record low temperatures in the southeast were the result of a heavy Christmas Eve to Christmas day snowstorm that dumped up to 20 inches of snow in Eastern North Carolina giving many locations their first white Christmas ever. Cape Hatteras, NC was in the second day of their greatest snowstorm on record with 13.3 inches. This storm was one of those coastal lows that actually had an "eye" show in IR satellite imagery like tropical hurricanes. Temperatures were in the teens on the coast but just 50 miles off shore were they in the middle 50's.
***See Slideshow***
1990
A deep upper level trough continued to bring dangerous record lows from the Rockies to the West Coast. Many locations reported record low temperatures for the date including:
Cache Valley, UT: -44°, Roosevelt, UT: -34°, Alamosa, CO: -33°, Milford, UT: -33°, Winnemucca, NV: -27°-Tied, Ely, NV: -22°, Pocatello, ID: -21° (broke previous record by 13 degrees), Boise, ID: -20° (broke previous record by 11 degrees), Pueblo, CO: -17°, Burns, OR: -17°, Reno, NV: -11° (broke previous record by 11 degrees), Albuquerque, NM: -2°, Yakima, WA: -1°, Bishop, CA: 3°, Medford, OR: 10°, Salem, OR: 10°, Olympia, WA: 11°, Las Vegas, NV: 14°, Portland, OR: 15°-Tied, Sacramento, CA: 19°, Stockton, CA: 19°, Fresno, CA: 20°, Santa Maria, CA: 23°-Tied, Eureka, CA: 27°, Redding, CA: 27°, San Francisco Airport, CA: 29° and Downtown Los Angeles, CA: 35°-Tied.
1993
Light snow at Sioux Falls, SD pushed the melted precipitation for the year for the city to 36.03 inches. This set a new all-time record for yearly precipitation for the location.
1996
Southerly flow out ahead of a cold front brought a few record high temperatures to parts of the Northeast. Central Park in New York City soared to 63°, tying the record high temperature for the date. Other record highs included: Boston, MA: 61°, Hartford, CT: 59°-Tied, Milton, MA: 58° and Worcester, MA: 57°-Tied.
2001
Buffalo, NY had gone through the entire month of November without any snow, the very first time in history that had occurred. But the city would make up for it on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as 25.2 inches of snow fell in just 24 hours, the 3rd highest 24 hour snowfall for the city. The new record would fall just two days later when 29.6 inches of snow fell between 7pm on the 26th and 7pm on the 27th. 82.3 inches of snow fell during a 5-day period, almost as much as the city normally receives in an entire winter season.
2004
The residents of Victoria, TX awoke to their first white Christmas in 86 years when south Texas received a rare blanket of snow that reached 13 inches.
Several locations from the upper Midwest to the Ohio Valley reported record low temperatures for the date including: International Falls, MN: -35°, Valentine, MT: -25°, Marquette, MI: -18°, Alpena, MI: -12°-Tied, Evansville, IN: -10° and Paducah, KY: -6°-Tied.
Last Update: 8:58 pm
FOX23 Chief Meteorologist James Aydelott says Green Country could see up to 10 inches of snow overnight, some areas could see more.
A Winter Storm Warning has been upgraded to a Blizzard Warning for most counties in NE Oklahoma with significant snow accumulations possible. Blowing snow is making travel conditions extremely hazardous. There are scattered power outages in our area, and Southwestern and Central Oklahoma are seeing thousands of outages. A number of highways, including the Broken Arrow Expressway at Hwy 169, the Turner Turnpike and Creek Turnpike are closed down, as well as all interstates in the Oklahoma City area.
We'll be monitoring and fine tuning the forecast every hour, and we will cut in on FOX23 every half hour throughout the afternoon. Stay tuned to FOX23 News and FOX23.com for continuing coverage of Breaking Weather.
In the middle of getting 20” of snow here in MN and the city of Minneapolis hasn’t even declared a snow emergency yet (no parking on streets for 24hrs etc). Stores were still packed today even in the crappy weather.
How’s FEMA on this? Obama better be careful—if Bush caused hurricanes, does Obama cause blizzards?
Do the good people of OK, have live traffic video, I was trying to find them earlier today. Maybe there are still using smoke signals.
Posted: Dec 24, 2009 7:02 AM
Updated: Dec 24, 2009 8:44 PM
TULSA, OK -- A winter storm is moving across Oklahoma - leaving roads in parts of the state slick and hazardous. In Oklahoma City, all interstates were closed by the Oklahoma Department of Safety at about 2:45 p.m. Numerous accidents and stranded vehicles are blocking all roadways. Around 4:15 p.m. the Turner Turnpike was also closed and around 6:30 p.m. the Creek Turnpike Near Tulsa was added to that list.
Travel and western and southwestern parts of the state is discouraged at this time, according to an advisory. Blizzard conditions in far western and southern counties have reduced visibility. Highways remain slick in the western two thirds of the state, and conditions continue to deteriorate.
"If you must travel today and tonight, plan for delays and prepare for a prolonged slow period of travel," said Alan Crone, News On 6 meteorologist. "Falling snow will be over Friday, but travel issues will remain even Friday, Christmas Day, with snow on the ground across a large area of the state."
Drivers are advised to use caution and to pack an emergency kit should they have car troubles on the road.
Freezing rain, sleet and snow were falling in the western half of the state and has moved eastward across the state through the day. Thurday night, it is the eastern half of Oklahoma getting hit hard by this storm.
Southwest and American Airlines have canceled all departing flights from Will Rogers World Airport and Tulsa International Airports.
LOL... it’s winter time; it gets cold during winter... :-)
Do the good people of OK, have live traffic video, I was trying to find them earlier today. Maybe there are still using smoke signals.
I've see them before, but I'm not sure what the web page is... sorry...
Folks in Oklahoma will behave in a reasonably responsible and self-reliant manner, unlike people in New Orleans.
okies easily confused...
CARTER COUNTY, OK -- Near white-out conditions in Ardmore tonight which has made for dangerous driving conditions. Several interstates, highways, and roads are now closed, including Interstate 35.
Posted: 6:17 PM Dec 24, 2009
Reporter: Austin Wright
Email Address: austin.wright@kxii.com
CARTER COUNTY, OK -- Near white-out conditions in Ardmore tonight which has made for dangerous driving conditions. Several interstates, highways, and roads are now closed, including Interstate 35.
Thursday's weather has been a steady downhill plunge all day long turning the freeways and roads into the last place you want be.
The worse blizzard conditions seen in years hit Ardmore around lunch time today. Since then, local officials have been unable to keep up with the number of weather related accidents.
"We have responded to probably thirty or forty crashes but most of them have been vehicles running off the road," Trooper Don Westbrook of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said.
Those crashes involve anything from slipping off the road to other serious accidents like one at Holiday Drive and Broadway. Fortunately, injuries in both accidents were not severe.
Trooper Westbrook says your best bet tonight is to stay off the roads.
"They can walk outside they don't have to call the highway patrol and ask what the road conditions are they walk outside and see what the roads are like and we pray that they stay home and have a merry Christmas."
Most of the stores in Ardmore were packed this afternoon with people that decided to try and stock up on supplies before conditions got any worse.
"It's starting to get slick, and the slick roads are scary. I lost my niece four years ago on this, so it gets scary and it gets really dangerous so I hope people get in and stay in," shopper Sandy Rowley says.
Conditions have grown so bad that many sections of the major roadways in and out of town have been shut down.
All interstates in the Oklahoma City Metro area have been shut down due to weather. 12-24-09/1437 KJM
More announcements at the site.
I’ve lived here in OK for 20 years - never been through a blizzard before. The wind gusts were over 50 mph. All of the interstates and turnpikes are closed. Lots of multicar pileups. Wind chill temps are below zero - all kinds of records being broken.
The most shocking thing when I moved to the south was watching the grocery store shelves clear out of milk and bread and likes with just a mention of possible snow.
So I see:
The governor just closed every state highway and all the Interstates in the entire state now... hoo-boy!
“82.3 inches of snow fell during a 5-day period, almost as much as the city normally receives in an entire winter season.”
I remember reading about that one. That must’ve been something! We’ve had 100 inches of total snow for each of our past two winters here in southern Wisconsin. We’re only at about 20” so far this year...I’m thinking we’re going to have one or two good storms that paralize us for a few days.
The past two days have been horrible; a 1/4” of ice on everything when we woke up this morning, and now it’s ‘warmed up enough’ to rain, so we’ll have everything sopping wet...and it’ll freeze again this coming week!
I’ll take 100” of snow over rain and ice in the winter months anytime. ;)
December 25, 2009 -- Updated 0015 GMT (0815 HKT)
(CNN) -- Oklahoma's governor ordered every state highway, interstate and turnpike closed Thursday night, hours after declaring a statewide emergency because of a major winter storm battering the state and the rest of the central U.S.
"I am urging all Oklahomans to take winter storm precautions and stay off the roads unless travel is absolutely necessary," Gov. Brad Henry said earlier in the day after declaring a state of emergency. "This is a very serious winter storm, and we want Oklahomans to stay safe."
Heavy snow and limited visibility has left treacherous road conditions in Oklahoma on Christmas Eve, snarling holiday travel, according to CNN affiliate KOCO-TV.
In Midwest City, Oklahoma, nearly 50 vehicles were involved in a chain-reaction accident, the station reported. The quickly accumulating snow also caused the roof collapse of a well-known, landmark furniture store in Oklahoma City, officials told KOCO-TV
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