A Snow Advisory was in effect for this area at the time. This report is the only one that verified a Heavy Snow Warning.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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 in effect for this area at the time. This report is the only one that verified a Heavy Snow Warning. Given the altitude of this report, it is likely that it is not representative of the whole area and that most areas did verify within the Snow Advisory criteria.
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 Mar 7, 2:30 AM PST, 5 hours 24 minutes earlier.
SOUTHWEST OREGON/NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR
230 AM PST THU MAR 07 2002
COLD FRONT CURRENTLY MOVING ACROSS THE AREA...JUST S OF MFR AT 2AM.
EXPECT FRONT AND AREA OF RAIN/SNOW TO CONTINUE MOVING SE INTO NRN CAL
LATER THIS MORN. SATELLITE SHOWS STRONG VORT MAX OFF THE NRN ORE
COAST. THIS WILL CROSS THE REGION LATER TODAY WITH ADDITIONAL PRECIP.
COLD AIR WILL BE IN PLACE BY THEN SO PRECIP SHUD BE MORE IN THE WAY
OF SNOW. LOOKING FOR SNOW LEVEL TO DROP TO ABOUT 1000 WITH
ACCUMULATIONS LIKELY ABOVE 2000 SO WILL CONTINUE WITH SNOW ADVISORY
TODAY WESTERN ORE ZONES. SNOW SHOWERS WILL TAPER OFF TONIGHT.
CASCADES WILL KEEP SNOWING THE LONGEST AS COLD NW FLOW PROVIDES GOOD
UPSLOPE. UPR RIDGE BUILDS IN FRI FOR A DRY DAY..THO STILL ON THE COOL
SIDE. RIDGE MOVES EAST ON SAT. MODEL TREND OF SPEEDING NEXT SYSTEM UP
CONTINUES AND AVN NOW BRINGS RAIN INTO WESTERN ORE LATE SAT..SO WILL
INTRO PRECIP THESE ZONES. SAT ALSO LOOKS BREEZY/WINDY AND WILL ADD
THIS TO FORECAST. ALL ZONES WILL RECEIVE PRECIP SAT NIGHT/SUN AS TROF
MOVES THRU. ANOTHER FRONT SLIDES THRU MON AND WILL CONTINUE TREND OF
WET WX INTO ERLY NEXT WEEK.
.MFR...SNOW ADVISORY TODAY ABOVE 2000 ORZ21/22/23/24/25/26.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORYPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OREGON
534 AM PST THU MAR 07 2002
TIME(PST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0531 AM KENO OR
03/07/02 KLAMATH SPOTTER KL-53...ELEVATION
4870 FT...REPORTED 3/4
INCH OF SNOW ON THE GROUND
AND CONTINUES TO SNOW VERY
LIGHTLY.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OREGON
728 AM PST THU MAR 07 2002
TIME(PST) .....CITY LOCATION..... STATE ...EVENT/REMARKS...
....COUNTY LOCATION....
0727 AM KENO OR
03/07/02 KLAMATH SPOTTER KL-09...ELEVATION
4090 FT...REPORTED 3
INCHES OF SNOW ON THE
GROUND SINCE 4 AM.
CONTINUES TO SNOW
MODERATELY AT 7:25 AM.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Spotter JA20 near Ashland at 2400 feet reported 4 inches of snow overnight.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, March 2002
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: 5281363.