A Winter Storm Warning was issued for almost all of Southern Oregon/Northern California west of the Cascades at 0953 PST on 02/10/01, including Oregon zones 021/022/023/024/025/026/028 and California zones 080/081/082. The storm remained offshore as it moved south instead of veering inland as forecast.
Every event with a place to put it; 5 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
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.
The episode as NWS MFR wrote it up.
A Winter Storm Warning was issued for almost all of Southern Oregon/Northern California west of the Cascades at 0953 PST on 02/10/01, including Oregon zones 021/022/023/024/025/026/028 and California zones 080/081/082. The storm remained offshore as it moved south instead of veering inland as forecast. The warnings were cancelled for zones ORZ028 at 10/1445 PST, ORZ022/023/025/026 at 10/2258 PST, ORZ021/024 and CAZ080/081 at 11/0430 PST, and CAZ082 at 11/1143 PST. In the end, only zones ORZ022/026 and CAZ081/082 verified a warning, as listed above. Many other zones verified for snow advisories, however. The warning for CAZ082 was cancelled prematurely, as one of the spotter reports verifies.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Medford, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 11, 2:30 AM PST, 4 hours 49 minutes earlier.
SOUTHWEST OREGON/NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR
230 AM PST SUN FEB 11 2001
LOW HAS BECOME MORE OCCLUCED ENLONGATING THE COLD FRONT AND HINDERING
ITS ADVANCEMENT AS IT WEAKENS. EVENING AVN RUN HAS LOW FURTHER WEST
AND MOVING FASTER DOWN THE COAST THAN YESTERDAYS RUN. HAVE LOST OUR
RADAR BUT RAWS SITES INDICATE WHAT HEAVY PRECIP OREGON HAD TERMINATED
IN THE COASTAL RANGE. SPENES MESSAGE CONFIRMS THIS.
PROJECTED TRACK OF THE LOW WILL QUICKLY PUSH THE REGION OF MAX PRECIP
FAR INTO CALIFORNIA TODAY. UPSLOPE IN SISKIYOU COUNTY WILL CONTINUE
SNOW TODAY SO WILL DROP ADVISORIES AND WARNINGS FOR OREGON. ETA DOES
BRING AND EXTRA SHOT OF PRECIP TO SISKIYOU AT 00Z WHILE AVN DIFFERS
IN PUSHING THE FOCUS TO CENTRAL CALIFORNIA.
MONDAY WILL DRY OUT THE AREA AS THE RIDGE BUILDS IN. THERE CONTINUES
UNCERTANTY IN THE EXTENDED DUE TO A COUPLE OF INSIDE SLIDERS COMING
DOWN THE EAST SIDE OF THE RIDGE BUT WILL MAINTAIN THE DRY TREND
THROUGH SATURDAY.
MO
.MFR...WINTER STORM WARNING TODAY CAZ082.
SNOW ADVISORY TODAY CAZ080-081-083.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FLORENCE TO POINT ST. GEORGE.
OTH WB 045/034 049/032 050 118520
4BK WB 047/036 051/034 053 119620
RBG WE 045/031 047/034 045 117320
MFR OE 044/029 046/025 046 117520
LMT SE 034/017 036/013 039 117520
LKV SE 033/014 033/005 040 117320
MHS SC 034/024 035/021 040 11+740The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
5 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Spotter JA45 in Butte Falls reported 4.5 inches of snow since midnight.
5 inches of snow was reported in Prospect overnight.
Spotter JA14 at Ashland golf course reported 4.25 inches of snow overnight.
Spotter JA21 in Ashland reported 6 inches of snow in 12 hours ending at 0930 PST.
Spotter JA27 on Eagle Crest in Medford reported 4.25 inches of snow overnight.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, February 2001
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: 5231666, 5231667, 5231668, 5231665, 5231664.