A snow advisory was issued for the above counties at 0530 PST on 11/24/01, and it was upgraded to a Heavy Snow Warning at 0750 PST. The above spotter reports verified the warning for zones ORZ029 and ORZ031.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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 snow advisory was issued for the above counties at 0530 PST on 11/24/01, and it was upgraded to a Heavy Snow Warning at 0750 PST. The above spotter reports verified the warning for zones ORZ029 and ORZ031. No reports were received from ORZ030, but it is likely that this zone verified as well. Zone ORZ028 wound up with snow totals right around the warning threshold...but an advisory likely was the appropriate response there. Zone ORZ027 should have had a Snow Advisory in effect. Snow levels wound up being a lot lower than the expected 2500 to 3000 feet. Parts of the Rogue Valley as low as 1300 feet received up to 3 inches of snow. A Snow Advisory would have been appropriate for ORZ025/026 and possibly for ORZ024.
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 Nov 24, 8:30 AM PST, 25 minutes earlier.
SOUTHWEST OREGON/NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR
830 AM PDT SAT NOV 24 2001
12Z ETA/NGM/AVN IN.
HEAVY SNOW IS NOW OCCURRING OVER ABOUT HALF OF THE FORECAST AREA...
THE APPROPRIATE WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES ARE LISTED BELOW. HAD TO
UPGRADE THE EAST SIDE AND MOST OF THE CALIFORNIA ZONES TO HEAVY SNOW
THIS MORNING DUE TO SPOTTER REPORTS.
THE STORM CAUSING ALL THE SNOW IS NOW MOVING ONSHORE INTO NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA. THE MODELS HAVE INITIALIZED THIS STORM QUITE POORLY...
ABOUT 10 MB TOO HIGH. STILL...THIS STORM IS MOVING ALONG AT A GOOD
CLIP AND THE HEAVY SNOW SHOULD MOVE ON TO THE EAST BY THIS EVENING.
UPPER LEVEL RIDGING FROM THE SOUTHWEST WILL DEVELOP TONIGHT BUT THE
FORECAST AREA IS STILL VULNERABLE TO SHORT WAVES EMBEDDED IN THE
FLOW. SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TONIGHT AND INTO SUNDAY...BUT
COVERAGE WILL BE A LOT LESS WIDESPREAD COMPARED TO WHAT IS HAPPENING
NOW. A BIT OF A BREAK IN THE ACTION IS EXPECTED SUNDAY NIGHT...BUT
ANOTHER SHORT WAVE WILL BRING IN SOME PRECIPITATION LATE
MONDAY...MOSTLY TO WESTERN AND CENTRAL SISKIYOU COUNTIES.
THATS IT FOR NOW...MORE IN THE AFTERNOON DISCUSSION.
.MFR...HEAVY SNOW WARNING...CAZ082/083/084/085...ORZ029/030/031.
SNOW ADVISORY...CAZ080/081...ORZ028.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY...FLORENCE OR TO PT. ST. GEORGE CA.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OREGON
718 AM PST SAT NOV 24 2001
TIME(PST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0702 AM CA
11/24/01 SISKIYOU SPOTTER SY13 RECEIVED 5
INCHES OF SNOW AT 7600
FEET. 3 INCHES OF SNOW IN
THE TOWN OF MT. SHASTA.
0705 AM CA
11/24/01 SISKIYOU SPOTTER SY13 REPORTED 5
INCHES OF SNOW AT 7600
FEET. 3 INCHES AT 6700
FEET AND IN THE TOWN OF
MOUNT SHASTA.
0710 AM LOOKOUT CA
11/24/01 MODOC SPOTTER MO38 REPORTED 5
INCHES OF SNOW IN LOOKOUT.
0711 AM MT SHASTA CA
11/24/01 SISKIYOU SPOTTER SY83 11/2 MILES
NORTHWEST OF MT SHASTA
REPORTED 7 INCHES OF SNOW
AS OF 7AM.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OREGON
853 AM PST SAT NOV 24 2001
TIME(PST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0828 AM SUMMER LAKE OR
11/24/01 LAKE SPOTTER LA-20 AT ELEVATION
4272 FEET REPORTED 4
INCHES OF SNOW BETWEEN 2
AM AND 8 AM THIS MORNING.
0852 AM LAKEVIEW OR
11/24/01 LAKE SPOTTER LA-21 AT ELEVATION
OF 5000 FEET REPORTED 4
INCHES OF SNOW BETWEEN 5
PAM AND 8 AM THIS MORNING.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OREGON
855 AM PST SAT NOV 24 2001
TIME(PST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0853 AM ETNA CA
11/24/01 SISKIYOU SPOTTER SY-53 AT 3000 FEET
ELEVATION REPORTED 4.75
INCHES OF SNOW BETWEEN 2
AM AND 8 AM THIS MORNING.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Spotter KL-53 reported 8 inches of snow at 4870 feet between 0200 and 0800 PST.
Spotter LA-20 reported 11 inches of snow at 1100 PST and still snowing about 1 inch an hour.
Spotter LA-21 reported a storm total of 11 inches within the past 24 hours.
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, November 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: 5273299, 5273300, 5273301.