1 heavy snow, as filed by the National Weather Service.
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 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 Mar 18, 8:30 AM PST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
NORTHEAST OREGON/SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
830 AM PST MON MAR 18 2002
LOTS OF MOISTURE WILL FEED INTO EASTERN WASHINGTON AND OREGON THIS
AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT AS A MOIST PACIFIC WEATHER SYSTEM SLIDES
SOUTHEAST ACROSS THE REGION. THIS SYSTEM WILL BEGIN A WARMING
TRANSITION PROCESS THAT WILL LIKELY CONTINUE INTO MID WEEK.
MAIN SHORT TERM CONCERN IS AMOUNT OF SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS AND COLD
AIR PERSISTING MANY AREAS. ALTHOUGH WARMER AIR WILL BEGIN TO MOVE
OVER THE AREA TONIGHT AND TUESDAY...ENOUGH COLD AIR SHOULD PERSIST
TO ALLOW AT LEAST A MIXTURE OF RAIN AND SNOW MANY AREAS AS THE
PRECIPITATION BEGINS. WILL LIKELY NEED TO UPDATE FORECAST TO LOWER
TEMPERATURES SOME TODAY. ALSO...IT APPEARS THERE SHOULD BE A PERIOD
OF SOME PRECIPITATION IN THE YAKIMA AND KITTITAS VALLEYS BEFORE THE
DOWNSLOPE OF THE CASCADES TAKES OVER. SNOW ADVISORY FOR THE
NORTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS LOOKS GOOD. BAUCK
PDT 465 ALW 465 PSC 324 YKM 423
.KPDT...WSR-88D...VCP21/CSR21...OPERATIONAL.
.KPDT...SNOW ADVISORY TONIGHT AND TUESDAY ABOVE 4000 FEET IN OREGON
ZONE 46 AND WASHINGTON ZONE 30.1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
11.5 inches new snow 7 miles northwest of Easton and 12 inches at Cle Elum in Kittitas County.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2002Every state in 2002This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, 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: 5286716.