A moist westerly flow brought heavy snowfall to northwest Deschutes County. Snowfall amounts in inches were 3 miles southwest of Sisters (7), 3 miles north northeast of Sisters (9).
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The episode as NWS PDT wrote it up.
A moist westerly flow brought heavy snowfall to northwest Deschutes County. Snowfall amounts in inches were 3 miles southwest of Sisters (7), 3 miles north northeast of Sisters (9).
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 Dec 14, 3:23 PM PST, 37 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR 323 PM PST TUE DEC 14 2010 UPDATED AVIATION DISCUSSION .SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH THURSDAY NIGHT...BREEZY WINDS BEHIND AN EXITING FRONT WILL GRADUALLY DIMINISH OVERNIGHT AS PRESSURE GRADIENTS DECREASE. WEAK INSTABILITY SHOWERS ARE CROSSING THE CASCADES THIS AFTERNOON. THESE SHOWERS WILL STOP SHORTLY AFTER SUNSET...BUT UPSLOPE SHOWERS IN THE NORTHEAST OREGON MOUNTAINS WILL CONTINUE OVERNIGHT. SNOW LEVELS HAVE DROPPED TO 2-4 KFT TODAY..AND WILL DROP TO THE SURFACE OVER THE ENTIRE CWA BY MORNING. A TRANSITORY UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL MOVE FROM THE COAST TO EASTERN WASHINGTON AND OREGON WEDNESDAY MORNING...THEN ANOTHER WEAK WAVE WILL MOVE THROUGH FOR MORE SHOWERS WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. COLDER TEMPERATURES ALOFT WILL KEEP A MIX OF RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS OVER THE LOWER COLUMBIA BASIN EVEN THOUGH TEMPERATURES WILL BE IN THE 40S BETWEEN SHOWERS. A STRONGER RIDGE WILL BUILD OVER THE COAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND MOVE INLAND THURSDAY. CLEARING SKIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE RIDGE WILL ALLOW RADIATIONAL COOLING TO LOW TEMPERATURES IN THE TEENS AND 20S. THURSDAY WILL BE MAINLY DRY EXCEPT NEAR THE CASCADES. CLOUD COVER WILL INCREASE THURSDAY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT AS THE NEXT SYSTEM APPROACHES THE COAST. COONFIELD .LONG TERM...FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY...UNSETTLED PATTERN WILL CONTINUE THROUGH THE EXTENDED. FOR THE MOST PART, THE REGION WILL BE SQUARE UNDER THE STORM TRACK. THIS MEANS FAIRLY FREQUENT PERIODS OF PRECIPITATION, BUT WITH TEMPERATURES STAYING FAIRLY CLOSE TO NORMAL. TIMING AND POTENTIAL PRECIPITATION AMOUNTS OF EACH SYSTEM WILL CONTINUE TO BE PROBLEMATIC AND GENERALLY TOOK HPC ADVICE TO STAY SOMEWHAT NEAR WHAT THE ECMWF WAS SHOWING. EXPECT THE UPPER LEVEL PATTERN WILL AMPLIFY TOWARDS THE FIRST PART OF NEXT WEEK WITH A TROUGH DIGGING JUST OFFSHORE. AS SUCH FEEL THAT TEMPERATURES WILL START NUDGING TOWARDS BELOW NORMAL NEARER TO THE CASCADES. ALL IN ALL...SNOW LEVELS WILL HOVER BETWEEN 3000 AND 4000 FEET. SOME PERIODS HAVE THE POTENTIAL FOR MODERATE SNOW ACCUMULATIONS, BUT MOST SYSTEMS ARE BY MOVING FAST ENOUGH TO LIKELY KEEP AMOUNTS BELOW ADVISORY LEVELS. BEST CHANCES FOR ACCUMULATING SNOW WILL BE SATURDAY AFTERNOON/NIGHT AND AGAIN ON TUESDAY. THERE IS SOME POTENTIAL FOR A WIND ADVISORY ACROSS THE SOUTHERN GRANDE RONDE VALLEY FRIDAY AS PRESSURE GRADIENTS TIGHTEN UP. THERE WILL ALSO BE PERIODS OF BREEZY TO WINDY CONDITIONS ACROSS THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS THROUGHOUT THE EXTENDED. /JBONK && .AVIATION...00Z TAF PACKAGE. THE BULK OF THE WINDS WILL DECREASE THROUGH LATER THIS EVENING. OVERNIGHT, WINDS WILL BECOME LIGHT AT KYKM WITH A POTENTIAL FOR IFR VISIBILITIES. KALW AND KPDT WILL POTENTIALLY SEE CIGS BETWEEN 2000 AND 3000 FEET ALONG WITH NEARBY SHOWERS AROUND THE 15 TO 20Z TIMEFRAME FROM WESTERLY UPSLOPE FLOW INTO THE BLUE MOUNTAINS. CONFIDENCE, HOWEVER, IS DIMINISHED DUE TO CONTINUED MODEL DIFFERENCES IN AVAILABLE MOISTURE. ELSEWHERE, EXPECT TO SEE LIGHTER WINDS AND PREDOMINANTLY VFR CONDITIONS. /JBONK && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... PDT 33 43 30 41 / 20 20 10 10 ALW 35 45 31 41 / 20 20 10 10 PSC 34 47 30 43 / 20 20 10 10 YKM 27 38 25 35 / 20 20 10 10 HRI 31 43 26 40 / 20 20 10 10 ELN 27 37 23 33 / 20 20 10 20 RDM 23 39 21 39 / 20 20 10 10 LGD 32 37 26 37 / 30 20 10 10 GCD 29 38 26 38 / 20 20 10 10 DLS 32 44 29 40 / 20 30 10 20 && .PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OR...NONE. WA...NONE. && THREAT INDEX WEDNESDAY : GREEN THURSDAY : GREEN FRIDAY : GREEN GREEN: NONE OR LIMITED NEED FOR WATCHES, WARNINGS, OR ADVISORIES. YELLOW: A FEW WATCHES, WARNINGS, OR ADVISORIES POSSIBLE OR IN EFFECT. RED: NUMEROUS WATCHES, WARNINGS, OR ADVISORIES POSSIBLE OR IN EFFECT. FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION, CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT... WWW.WEATHER.GOV/PENDLETON 76/87/87
HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR 1215 PM PST TUE DEC 14 2010 UPDATED TO REMOVE HEAVY SNOW AND WIND TODAY ORZ041-042-044-049-050-502-503-505>509-WAZ024-026>030-520-521- 151400- EASTERN COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE OF OREGON-NORTH CENTRAL OREGON- LOWER COLUMBIA BASIN OF OREGON-GRANDE RONDE VALLEY-WALLOWA COUNTY- NORTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON- SOUTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON-JOHN DAY BASIN-OCHOCO- JOHN DAY HIGHLANDS- FOOTHILLS OF THE NORTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON- FOOTHILLS OF THE SOUTHERN BLUE MOUNTAINS OF OREGON- EAST SLOPES OF THE OREGON CASCADES- EASTERN COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE OF WASHINGTON-KITTITAS VALLEY- YAKIMA VALLEY-LOWER COLUMBIA BASIN OF WASHINGTON- FOOTHILLS OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS OF WASHINGTON- NORTHWEST BLUE MOUNTAINS OF WASHINGTON- EAST SLOPES OF THE WASHINGTON CASCADES-SIMCOE HIGHLANDS- 1215 PM PST TUE DEC 14 2010 THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL AND NORTHEAST OREGON AS WELL AS SOUTH CENTRAL AND SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON. .DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. A STRONG COLD FRONT MOVED ACROSS THE REGION THIS MORNING. SCATTERED SNOW SHOWERS WILL PERSIST IN UPSLOPE AREAS OF THE NORTHEAST OREGON MOUNTAINS THIS AFTERNOON ND EVENING...BUT LITTLE ADDITIONAL ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED. WINDS WILL GRADUALLY DECREASE OVERNIGHT ACROSS THE LOWER COLUMBIA BASIN...BLUE MOUNTAIN FOOTHILLS...NORTH CENTRAL AND CENTRAL OREGON. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...WEDNESDAY THROUGH MONDAY THE PROBABILITY FOR WIDESPREAD HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS LOW. THE WEATHER PATTERN WILL REMAIN ACTIVE WITH FREQUENT WEATHER SYSTEMS MOVING ACROSS THE REGION WITH SHORT BREAKS IN BETWEEN. THERE WILL BE A GENERAL COOLING TREND THROUGH THE PERIOD THROUGH THE WEEKEND INTO EARLY NEXT WEEK. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... SPOTTER ACTIVATION MAY BE REQUIRED. WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES. GRAPHICAL FORECASTS OF WEATHER HAZARDS OUT TO SEVEN DAYS ARE DISPLAYED ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT: WWW.WRH.NOAA.GOV/PDT/CURRENTHAZARDS/HWO.HTML ALL LETTERS IN THE ABOVE URL ARE LOWER CASE.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2010Every state in 2010This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, December 2010
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: 264885.