Name: Extreme Cold in Oregon, May 6 to 8, 2002
Start: 2002-05-06T07:00
End: 2002-05-08T09:00
Location: Oregon

The toll

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

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 forecasters said that day

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 Pendleton, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at May 6, 1:30 AM PST, 5 hours 30 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, May 6, 1:30 AM PST, 5 hours 30 minutes before

NORTHEAST OREGON/SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
230 AM PDT MON MAY 6 2002

A STRONG NORTHWEST FLOW WILL CONTINUE TODAY WITH RELATIVELY DRIER
AIR THAN ON SUNDAY.  AS A RESULT ANY SHOWER ACTIVITY WILL BE
CONFINED MAINLY TO THE MOUNTAINOUS ZONES DUE TO OROGRAPHIC LIFT WITH
THE HIGHEST CHANCE BEING IN THE NORTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS.  SURFACE
PRESSURE GRADIENTS WILL ALSO REMAIN HIGH ENOUGH FOR SOME LOCALLY
BREEZY AREAS TODAY.  THEN TONIGHT GRADIENTS RELAX WITH DRY AIR IN
PLACE.  THIS WILL ALLOW THE SURFACE WINDS TO DE-COUPLE WITH THE
WINDS ALOFT ALLOWING FOR STRONG RADIATIONAL COOLING.  LOW TEMPS
TONIGHT WILL BE CLOSE TO RECORDS IN MANY AREAS AND WILL HIGHLIGHT
THIS IN FORECAST WITH HEADLINES FOR NOW AND LET THE DAY SHIFT DECIDE
WHETHER OR NOT TO ISSUE A FREEZE WARNING TONIGHT.  ON TUESDAY A LOW
PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL SAG SOUTHWARD AND SETTLE OVER EXTREME NE OREGON
AND SE WASHINGTON. CAPES AND OTHER STABILITY INDICES INDICATE
POSSIBLE THUNDERSTORMS ON TUESDAY AFTERNOON.  OTHERWISE WILL GO WITH
MID TO HIGH CHANCE PRECIP IN MOST ZONES...WITH THE BEST CHANCE AGAIN
IN THE NORTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS.  CONDITIONS BECOME QUIET AGAIN BY
LATE TUESDAY NIGHT AS MORE STABLE AIR MOVES INTO THE FORECAST AREA
WITH ANOTHER VERY COLD NIGHT AND THEN MOSTLY DRY WEDNESDAY.  RSC.

EXTENDED...SOME UNCERTAINTY IN THE EXTENDED MODELS AS MRF IS BACKING
OFF ON THE IDEA OF ANOTHER WELL DEFINED TROUGH DROPPING INTO THE
PACIFIC NORTHWEST FRI AND SAT. INSTEAD IT SUGGESTS A MORE DIFFLUENT
NORTHWEST FLOW WITH MAIN STORM TRACK AND ENERGY STAYING NORTH OF
FORECAST AREA. THIS IS A BIG CHANGE THAT WOULD TEND TOWARDS A DRIER
WEATHER PATTERN OVER THE EXTENDED. WILL LEAVE CURRENT EXTENDED
FORECAST AS IS AND LET DAY SHIFT EXAMINE ALL THE NEW DAILY EXTENDED
MODEL RUNS TO FIND SOME CONSISTENCY AND GO FROM THERE.  SOLOMON

PDT 224  ALW 224  PSC 113  YKM 112

.KPDT...VCP32/CSR21...OPERATIONAL.

.KPDT...NONE.

Event by event

1 extreme cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill, Central Oregon

When: May 6, 7:00 AM PST to May 8, 9:00 AM PST
Where: Central Oregon forecast zone
Reported by: NEWSPAPER

Area low temperatures dipped into the mid teens and 20s across central and north central Oregon.

What these are

Extreme Cold/Wind Chill: Temperatures or wind chills at or below the local warning criteria, or cold that caused deaths.

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

The same day elsewhere

More

Every storm in Oregon in 2002 Every state in 2002 This day in weather history Warnings in Oregon, May 2002

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: 5297043.