Winter Storm Fisher Brought Snow and Ice to Oklahoma and Texas After Burying the Southern Rockies With Over a Foot of Snow (RECAP)

(MORE: The Science Behind Naming Winter Storms)

Fisher will be most known for bringing heavy snow and freezing rain to parts of Oklahoma.

Southwest Snow Recap

Winter Storm Fisher brought snow to the Southwest and southern Rockies Dec. 31 through Jan. 2 as the jet stream dug through the Great Basin and into Arizona and New Mexico.

Several sites in New Mexico reported a foot to as much as 3 feet of snow, including the Pajarito Ski Area (9,000 feet in elevation) near Los Alamos.

Parts of the Albuquerque metro area saw 2 to 6 inches of snowfall. Drifts of 3 to 5 feet were witnessed on the east side of Albuquerque near the Sandia Mountains due to snow and wind, not just from this event, but also from the post-Christmas snow event there.

The snow prompted a shutdown of city buildings in Albuquerque for the first time since 2006.

A six-vehicle pileup led to one fatality and at least one injury on Interstate 40 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, according to KRQE.com. A New Mexico State Patrol officer was investigating a crash when a semi-truck slid on icy roads and hit the officer's vehicle and injured the officer. Then, a tow truck pulled up on the scene as another semi ran into the tow truck, killing the driver of the tow truck. The interstate reopened 10 hours later.

A foot of snow fell in just over four hours New Year's Eve night in Greer, Arizona, in the White Mountains at an elevation of about 8,300 feet.

Snow blanketed lower elevations in Arizona as well.

Tucson International Airport picked up a quick 0.4 inches of snow New Year's morning, its first measurable snow in almost 6 years, last occurring on Feb. 20, 2013. Parts of the Tucson area received additional snow on Jan. 2, though nothing was officially recorded at the airport.

Up to 5 inches of snow was estimated to have fallen near the border between Arizona and Mexico in Nogales as of early Jan. 2.

Plains Recap

Enough cold air became present from the Texas panhandle and north Texas to central Oklahoma and northwestern Arkansas that the moisture plume associated with the jet stream and Fisher began to produce a few areas of freezing rain and sleet across those areas.

A few waves of frozen precip moved through that area of Jan. 2 snarling traffic in Oklahoma.

Light freezing rain was reported at Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, Texas, early on Jan. 2. Multiple crashes were reported in icy conditions north of the Metroplex in Denton near the vicinity of Interstate 35 and North Loop 288.

Fortunately, temperatures in the rest of the Dallas-Ft. Worth metro area remained too warm for more significant icing to occur.

Light thunder freezing rain and thundersleet were reported on the evening of Jan. 2 from Lubbock, Texas, to the Oklahoma City metro area as a bit more energy worked into the Plains from the Southwest.

In the town of Jones, northeast of Oklahoma City, power was knocked out as numerous ice-laden trees fell onto power lines on the town's west side.

The icy conditions also contributed to crashes in the Tulsa, Oklahoma, metro area that night, according to tulsaworld.com.

A light glaze of ice was reported that evening in southeastern Oklahoma, including in Durant, and as far east as Fayetteville, Arkansas.

As colder air and a bit more energy worked into the southern Plains on Jan. 3, snow became prevalent across much of Oklahoma. Eventually, a cold-core low pressure system also moved across the region from New Mexico to Arkansas.

Officially, Will Rogers World Airport on the city's southwest side measured 4.5 inches of snow, their heaviest snowfall since February 9, 2011, and more snow in one day than they picked up the past three seasons, combined (3.7 inches total).

Up to 6.5 inches of snow was measured in Moore, Oklahoma, and the combination of 5 inches of wet snow and ice accumulation broke tree limbs near Tinker Air Force Base on the southeast side of Oklahoma City.

Several other locations in western Oklahoma and the eastern Texas panhandle picked up at least 6 inches of snow. One observer near Quail, Texas, about 75 miles east-southeast of Amarillo, measured 8 inches of snow on the ground.

An eighth of an inch of ice was observed in Wichita Falls, Texas, later topped by 2.5 inches of snow. Lawton, Oklahoma, picked up 3.5 inches of snow.

As the upper level low moved eastward into the South on Jan. 4, the area of snow left behind became apparent on satellite.

Below are select snowfall and ice totals from Fisher.

• Arizona: 14.1 inches at Pinetop-Lakeside; 5 inches in Nogales
• Arkansas: 0.02 inches of ice in Bentonville
• Colorado: 18.9 inches near Pagosa Springs; 4.5 inches near Durango
• New Mexico: 36 inches at the Pajarito Ski Area (9,000 feet in elevation); 24.4 inches near Los Alamos; 2 to 6 inches in the Albuquerque metro area
• Oklahoma: 10 inches near Guymon; 6.5 inches in Moore; 3.4 inches in Oklahoma City; 0.18 inches of ice in Norman
• Texas: 8 inches in Texoma; 0.1 inch of ice in Jayton and Dickens
• Utah: 6 inches in Monument Valley