A three year old toddler was found dead outside his home at approximately 3:30 am on January 6th. The boy had left his house without winter clothing during the middle of the night.
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 PDT wrote it up.
A three year old toddler was found dead outside his home at approximately 3:30 am on January 6th. The boy had left his house without winter clothing during the middle of the night.
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 Jan 5, 2:33 PM PST, 5 hours 27 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OREGON 233 PM PST MON JAN 5 2004 .SHORT TERM... MAJOR WINTER STORM TO IMPACT THE WARNING AREA THE NEXT 36-48 HOURS. PREFER THE MESO ETA SOLUTION OF HANGING ON TO THE COLD AIR MUCH LONGER THAN THE GFS. COPIOUS MOISTURE AND PROLONGED PERIOD OF LIFT SHOULD LEAD TO GENEROUS QPF AMOUNTS AND HEAVY SNOWFALL AREAWIDE. WILL ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS ACCORDINGLY THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. FREEZING RAIN AND SLEET A POSSIBILITY BEGINNING TUESDAY NIGHT IN CENTRAL OREGON AND EVENTUALLY NORTHEAST OREGON AND SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON AS LOW LEVEL COLUMN GRADUALLY WARMS. TEMPERATURES SHOULD FINALLY RISE ABOVE FREEZING AT THE LOWER ELEVATIONS ON THURSDAY. 78 .LONG TERM...FRIDAY THROUGH MONDAY...AN APPROACHING UPPER LEVEL SHORT WAVE WILL SPREAD MOISTURE INTO THE FORECAST AREA ON FRIDAY FOR SNOW LIKELY IN THE MOUNTAINS AND A CHANCE OF SNOW AT LOWER ELEVATIONS. SCATTERED OROGRAPHIC SNOW SHOWERS WILL LINGER OVER THE MOUNTAINS FRIDAY NIGHT AS THE WEATHER SYSTEM MOVES THROUGH AND EXITS THE REGION. THEN HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST OVER THE WEEKEND WITH HIGH PRESSURE CONTINUING THROUGH MONDAY FOR MAINLY DRY CONDITIONS FOR SATURDAY THROUGH MONDAY. THE HIGH PRESSURE WILL BRING A GRADUAL WARMING TREND AND SLOWLY RISING SNOW LEVELS OVER THE WEEKEND THROUGH MONDAY. POLAN && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... PENDLETON (AIRPORT) -2 18 16 31 / 60 80 70 50 WALLA WALLA -1 22 20 31 / 60 80 70 50 TRI-CITIES -4 21 19 31 / 60 80 70 50 YAKIMA -3 21 19 28 / 60 90 70 50 && .PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OR...HEAVY SNOW WARNING OR ZONE 045 WINTER STORM WARNING OR ZONES 042>044 AND 047>048 SNOW ADVISORY OR ZONE O46 AND 049>050. WA...HEAVY SNOW WARNING WA ZONE 026>027 AND 029 WINTER STORM WARNING WA ZONE 028 SNOW ADVISORY WA ZONE 025 AND 030. && 78
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR 335 PM PST MON JAN 5 2004 ORZ041>050-WAZ024>030-061242- THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST OREGON AS WELL AS SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON. .DAY ONE... EXTREMELY COLD TEMPERATURES WILL CONTINUE INTO TONIGHT AS AN ARCTIC AIR MASS IS ENTRENCHED OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST. MEANWHILE...A WARM MOIST WEATHER SYSTEM IS ALREADY BEGINNING TO MOVE OVER THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST...BRINGING SNOW SHOWERS TO CENTRAL OREGON AND THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE THAT WILL SPREAD NORTH AND EAST TONIGHT. AS A RESULT...NUMEROUS WARNINGS AND ADVISORIES HAVE BEEN ISSUED FOR THE REGION FOR TONIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY NIGHT. PLEASE SEE THE TEXT PRODUCT PDXWSWPDT (WWUS46). .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... THE BRUNT OF THE MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS WEATHER SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO THE REGION TUESDAY WITH SNOW EVENTUALLY CHANGING OVER TO A MIX OF PRECIPITATION TUESDAY NIGHT AND WEDNESDAY. THIS SYSTEM HAS THE POTENTIAL TO PRODUCE SIGNIFICANT SNOWFALL AS WARM MOIST AIR RIDES OVER THE COLD ARCTIC AIR MASS. WARMER BUT WET CONDITIONS WILL PERSIST THROUGH THE REST OF THE WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION IS NOT ANTICIPATED AT THIS TIME. WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 cold/wind chill. Local standard time, as filed.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cold/Wind Chill, Grand Ronde Valley | 2004-01-06 | 3 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2004Every state in 2004This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, January 2004
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: 5383778.