Avalanche, E King/E Pierce/E Lewis
- When
- February 22, 3:45 PM PST
- Where
- E King/E Pierce/E Lewis forecast zone
- Injuries
- 4 direct, 0 indirect
- Reported by
- NEWSPAPER
Avalanche in Washington, February 22, 2002
An avalanche about 8 feet deep and 200 feet wide knocked a car off the road and injured the 4 occupants.
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 4
- 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 happened
The episode as NWS SEW wrote it up.
An avalanche about 8 feet deep and 200 feet wide knocked a car off the road and injured the 4 occupants.
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 Seattle, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 22, 3:08 PM PST, 37 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Feb 22, 3:08 PM PST, 37 minutes before
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA 230 PM PST FRI FEB 22 2002 .SYNOPSIS...A FRONTAL SYSTEM OVER NORTHWEST WASHINGTON WILL SAG SOUTH OVERNIGHT...AS A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM APPROACHES THE OREGON COAST THIS EVENING. RAIN ALONG THE FRONT WILL DISSIPATE AS IT SAGS SOUTH. COOLER AIR WILL GRADUALLY MOVE INTO THE AREA OVER THE WEEKEND. SHOWERS WILL END BY SATURDAY AFTERNOON WITH A GOOD CHANCE OF SUNNY PERIODS SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND SUNDAY. .DISCUSSION...A NEARLY STATIONARY FRONTAL BAND REMAINS ACROSS THE OLYMPICS AND NORTH CASCADES. MODERATE RAIN CONTINUES ALONG FRONTAL BOUNDARY BUT IS ONLY SPOTTY ELSEWHERE. A SURFACE LOW IS SLOWLY APPROACHING THE OREGON COAST AND AS IT MOVES INLAND EARLY SATURDAY IT SHOULD HELP PULL THE SURFACE FRONT SOUTH OF THE AREA. COOL AIR IS ALREADY FILTERING INTO THE NORTH INTERIOR WITH TEMPS ABOUT 10 DEGREES COOLER THAN IN CENTRAL PUGET SOUND. AS GRADIENTS BECOME MORE NORTHERLY OVERNIGHT THIS COOL AIR SHOULD SHIFT FARTHER SOUTH. WILL ADJUST TEMPS DOWN A BIT IN FIRST PERIOD TO REFLECT THE IMPACT OF THIS COOLER AIR. SHOWERS SHOULD PERSIST IN THE CONVERGENCE ZONE AND HIGHER TERRAIN THROUGH A GOOD PART OF SATURDAY BEFORE THINGS EVENTUALLY DRY OUT. .EXTENDED...NO CHANGES WITH MRF AND ECMWF STAYING CLOSE TOGETHER. COLMAN UIL 8311 SEA 7311 OLM 7311 .SEW...FLOOD WATCHES AND WARNINGS IN EFFECT. .KATX...VCP21...OPERATIONAL.
In the hours before
Local storm report, Feb 22, 1:48 PM PST, 1 hour 57 minutes before
WAC045-WAC027-WAC009-230048-
PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
148 PM PST FRI FEB 22 2002
TIME(PST) CITY LOCATION STATE EVENT/SPOTTER/REMARKS
COUNTY LOCATION
830 AM HOODSPORT WA HEAVY RAIN
02/22/02 MASON MASON 17H
24 HR RAINFALL ENDING AT
8 AM WAS 2.21 INCHES
835 AM PACIFIC BEACH WA HEAVY RAIN
02/22/02 GRAYS HARBOR GRAYS HARBOR 1H
24 HR RAINFALL ENDING AT
8 AM WAS 2.65 INCHES.
915 AM PORT ANGELES WA HEAVY RAIN
02/22/02 CLALLAM CLALLAM 20
24 HR RAINFALL ENDING AT
9 AM WAS 2.85 INCHES.
1115 AM SEKIU WA HEAVY RAIN
02/22/02 CLALLAM CLALLAM 2
36 HOUR RAINFALL ENDING
AT 11 AM WAS 7.46 INCHES.Event by event
1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Avalanche
- A mass of snow sliding down a mountainside that caused a death, an injury or damage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
More
Every storm in Washington in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, February 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: 5282868.