Alert archive / Oregon / Blizzard Warnings in 2009

Blizzard Warning 1, NWS Pendleton, OR

January 4, 2009Union County, Oregon

NWS Pendleton, OR issued this blizzard warning at Jan 4, 2009, 9:27 AM PST for Union County, Oregon. It took effect at Jan 4, 2009, 10:00 PM PST. It was in force for 16 hr. No storm report in the archive falls inside the area while it was in force.

The area

The counties it named.

The facts

Issued: Jan 4, 2009, 9:27 AM PST (17:27 UTC)
In effect from: Jan 4, 2009, 10:00 PM PST
Expired: Jan 5, 2009, 2:16 PM PST
In force: 16 hr
Issued by: NWS Pendleton, OR

County Union County, OR

The radar

The Pendleton radar (KPDT), 78 km from the middle of the area, began a volume at 17:32 UTC, the scan nearest the moment this went out.

Open the radar archive at this moment

The archived warnings, watches and discussions in force at that minute are drawn over the scan, this one among them.

The nearest sounding before it

Boise Airport, ID (KBOI), launched 12:00Z, 5.5 hours before the alert went out and 241 km from the middle of its area. This is the routine balloon launch nearest before it, the air the forecaster had in hand, not a measurement taken for the alert.

Skew-T log-p

Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed.

Hodograph

The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km.

Mixed-layer CAPE: 0 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN: No buoyant parcel
Mixed-layer LCL: 1643 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear: 37 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity: 43 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity: 98 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter: 0.0
Supercell composite: 0.0

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

What forecasters said that day

The local office's own words before this blizzard warning went out, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.

NWS Pendleton, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before this blizzard warning went out at Jan 4, 9:10 AM PST, 17 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Jan 4, 9:10 AM PST, 17 minutes before

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Hazardous weather outlook, Jan 4, 7:50 AM PST, 1 hour 37 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
750 AM PST SUN JAN 4 2009

ORZ041>044-049-050-501>506-WAZ024-026>030-501-502-051415-
EASTERN COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE OF OREGON-NORTH CENTRAL OREGON-
CENTRAL OREGON-LOWER COLUMBIA BASIN OF OREGON-GRANDE RONDE VALLEY-
WALLOWA COUNTY-FOOTHILLS OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON-
NORTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON-
SOUTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON-
NORTHERN WHEELER AND SOUTHERN GILLIAM COUNTIES-JOHN DAY BASIN-
OCHOCO-JOHN DAY HIGHLANDS-
EASTERN COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE OF WASHINGTON-KITTITAS VALLEY-
YAKIMA VALLEY-LOWER COLUMBIA BASIN OF WASHINGTON-
FOOTHILLS OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS OF WASHINGTON-
NORTHWEST BLUE MOUNTAINS-
EAST SLOPES OF THE CENTRAL CASCADES OF WASHINGTON-
EAST SLOPES OF THE SOUTHERN CASCADES OF WASHINGTON-
750 AM PST SUN JAN 4 2009

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST OREGON
AS WELL AS SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

SNOW
     EAST SLOPES OF THE CENTRAL CASCADES OF WASHINGTON, EAST SLOPES
     OF THE SOUTHERN CASCADES OF WASHINGTON, KITTITAS VALLEY,
     YAKIMA VALLEY, NORTHWEST BLUE MOUNTAINS, NORTH CENTRAL OREGON,
     CENTRAL OREGON, WALLOWA COUNTY, NORTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF
     OREGON, SOUTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON, NORTHERN WHEELER
     AND SOUTHERN GILLIAM COUNTIES, JOHN DAY BASIN, OCHOCO-JOHN DAY
     HIGHLANDS

STRONG WIND
     GRANDE RONDE VALLEY

SUNDAY NIGHT A WINTER STORM WILL BRING SNOW AND AREAS OF FREEZING
RAIN TO EASTERN WASHINGTON AND OREGON. AS A WARM FRONT MOVES NORTH
OVER THE AREA WIDESPREAD SNOW WILL DEVELOP TONIGHT....THEN CHANGE TO
RAIN LATE TONIGHT IN OREGON. AREAS OF FREEZING RAIN ARE LIKELY
IN THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE AND THE YAKIMA VALLEY. FREEZING RAIN IS
POSSIBLE IN OTHER PARTS OF THE LOWER COLUMBIA BASIN. A WINTER STORM
WARNING WILL BE ISSUED SHORTLY FOR THE EAST SLOPES OF THE EAST
SLOPES OF THE CENTRAL AND SOUTHERN WASHINGTON CASCADES...THE YAKIMA
AND KITTITAS VALLEYS...AND THE NORTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS. A WINTER
WEATHER ADVISORY WILL BE ISSUED FOR THE OCHOCO-JOHN DAY
HIGHLANDS...JOHN DAY BASIN...SOUTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS...AND CENTRAL
AND NORTH CENTRAL OREGON...AND WALLOWA COUNTY. A BLIZZARD WARNING
WILL BE ISSUED FOR THE GRANDE RONDE VALLEY...PRECEDED BY WIND
ADVISORY. FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION SEE PRODUCT PDXWSWPDT.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

SNOW MONDAY
     EAST SLOPES OF THE CENTRAL CASCADES OF WASHINGTON, EAST SLOPES
     OF THE SOUTHERN CASCADES OF WASHINGTON, KITTITAS VALLEY,
     YAKIMA VALLEY, NORTHWEST BLUE MOUNTAINS, NORTH CENTRAL OREGON,
     CENTRAL OREGON, GRANDE RONDE VALLEY, WALLOWA COUNTY, NORTHERN
     BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON, SOUTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON,
     NORTHERN WHEELER AND SOUTHERN GILLIAM COUNTIES, JOHN DAY
     BASIN, OCHOCO-JOHN DAY HIGHLANDS

RAIN AND SNOW WILL CONTINUE MONDAY...BUT THERE WILL BE SIGNIFICANT
SNOW LEVEL INCREASES MONDAY MORNING...ALLOWING ANY FROZEN
PRECIPITATION TO CHANGE OVER TO ALL RAIN.

SNOW LEVELS WILL RISE LATER MONDAY WITH A MORE SUBSTANTIAL RISE
EXPECTED AS ADDITIONAL WEATHER DISTURBANCES CROSS THE REGION ON
TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY. STREAM AND RIVER RISES ARE ANTICIPATED DURING
THIS TIME WITH THE RATE OF RISE AND FINAL STAGES STRONGLY DEPENDENT
ON THE SPECIFIC PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS AND RESULTING SNOW LEVELS.
PRELIMINARY FORECAST INFORMATION INDICATES THAT MOST MAINSTEM RIVERS
WILL REACH THEIR CREST BETWEEN WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY MORNING
WITH TRIBUTARIES LIKELY CRESTING SLIGHTLY EARLIER. PLEASE CONTINUE
TO MONITOR THE LATEST RIVER FORECASTS AND STATEMENTS OVER THE NEXT
SEVERAL DAYS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED.

WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER
CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.

GRAPHICAL FORECASTS OF WEATHER HAZARDS OUT TO SEVEN DAYS
ARE DISPLAYED ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT:

WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/PDT/CURRENTHAZARDS/HWO.HTML

ALL LETTERS IN THE ABOVE URL ARE LOWER CASE...EXCEPT THE H IN
CURRENTHAZARDS.

The office that day

Everything else NWS Pendleton, OR issued on the same UTC day.

Issued	Product	Office	Counties	Lasted
Jan 4, 7:56 AM PST	Wind Advisory	PDT	Union	14 hr
Jan 4, 9:27 AM PST	Winter Storm Warning	PDT	Gilliam, Sherman, Umatilla, Union, Wallowa, Wasco	53 hr
Jan 4, 9:27 AM PST	Winter Weather Advisory	PDT	Crook, Deschutes, Gilliam, Grant, Jefferson, Morrow and 5 more	29 hr

Nearby

Blizzard Warnings in Oregon, 2009 Every blizzard warning in 2009

Sources

The product and its follow-ups from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service and Storm Prediction Center text; the sounding from the Mesonet's radiosonde archive; radar from the NEXRAD Level II archive.