Heavy Snow — Cimarron, Oklahoma

2024-11-06 to 2024-11-08 · Cimarron, Oklahoma

Event narrative

A very sharp cut off between rain and snow occurred dividing western Cimarron County from the eastern half. Boise City measured 4 to 6 of snow which melted fairly quickly during the afternoon of the 7th as precipitation transitioned back into rain. Further west of Boise City, where precipitation stayed all snow, accumulations almost two feet occurred. Kenton measured 20 inches of snow accumulation and Wheeless recorded 18 inches of snow. East of Boise City snow accumulations were minimal with mostly rain falling.

Wider weather episode

A storm system developed strengthened across the southern Rockies where it slowed down during the evening of November 6th. A cold front moved into the northwest Panhandles but stalled out, persisting throughout the event. This front allowed for snow to fall in parts of the northwest Panhandles while the rest of the Panhandles to the south and east stayed mostly a cold rain. Seasonably rich moisture was brought in place ahead of the system, and precipitation began as early as the evening of November 6th in the northwestern Panhandles, beginning as snow. However, some of the areas that saw snow had precipitation changed to rain during the day on the 7th, melting some of the snow that fell. Precipitation changed back to snow on the night of the 7th. The western half of Cimarron County in Oklahoma and western half of Dallam County in the Texas Panhandle stayed mostly all snow into the morning of the 8th. This allowed snow totals to add up with almost two feet falling in the western third to quarter of Cimarron County. In total, 20 inches of snow fell in Kenton, Oklahoma, 18 inches in Wheeless, Oklahoma, and 11 inches in Texline, Texas. Highway 87 was closed northwest of Dalhart, and a part of I-40 was closed into New Mexico. In addition, multiple rounds of showers and thunderstorms impacted the remainder of the Panhandles, with widespread 1 to 3.5 inches of rain being observed. A flash flood was reported in Canadian where a road was washed out. All precipitation ended by the evening of the 8th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1223216. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.