Heavy Snow in Oregon, November 7 to 8, 1998

Name: Heavy Snow in Oregon, November 7 to 8, 1998
Start: 1998-11-07T15:00
End: 1998-11-08T08:00
Location: Oregon

November 7 to 8, 1998 · NWS PDT · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

Five and a half to fourteen inches of snow fell overnight in northeast Oregon above 3000 feet elevation. Up to eighteen inches of snow fell above 6000 feet.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 1
Property damage: None recorded
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS PDT wrote it up.

Five and a half to fourteen inches of snow fell overnight in northeast Oregon above 3000 feet elevation. Up to eighteen inches of snow fell above 6000 feet. Close to two inches of snow was reported at 1800 feet. A rental truck slid on the snow, smashed through a guard rail on Interstate 84, and rolled down a 100-foot embankment about 12 miles northwest of La Grande. The driver was treated at the Grande Ronde Hospital. In a separate incident, a tractor-trailer tanker skidded off the interstate near Meacham. No one was hurt and the truck did not spill any of the gasoline that it was carrying.

Event by event

2 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.

Heavy Snow, Northeast Oregon

When: November 7, 3:00 PM PST to November 8, 8:00 AM PST
Where: Northeast Oregon forecast zone
Injuries: 1 direct, 0 indirect
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

Heavy Snow, Columbia Deschutes Plateau

When: November 7, 3:00 PM PST to November 8, 8:00 AM PST
Where: Columbia Deschutes Plateau forecast zone
Reported by: TRAINED SPOTTER

What these are

Heavy Snow: Snowfall reaching the local warning threshold without the other hazards of a winter storm.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Oregon in 1998 Every state in 1998 This day in weather history Warnings in Oregon, November 1998

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5675784, 5675785.