Ice Storm in Oregon, February 24 to 25, 2014

Name: Ice Storm in Oregon, February 24 to 25, 2014
Start: 2014-02-24T05:00
End: 2014-02-25T05:00
Location: Oregon

February 24 to 25, 2014 · NWS PDT · 1 event in 1 county or zone

Localized areas of freezing rain occurred across the Southern Blue Mountains, with the heaviest hit area in Hardman Oregon. 00 over a 24 hour period.

Where it happened

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.

Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

Open the live radar over this ground

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 happened

The episode as NWS PDT wrote it up.

Localized areas of freezing rain occurred across the Southern Blue Mountains, with the heaviest hit area in Hardman Oregon. Ice accumulations reached 1.00 over a 24 hour period.

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 Feb 24, 3:28 AM PST, 1 hour 32 minutes earlier.

Area forecast discussion, Feb 24, 3:28 AM PST, 1 hour 32 minutes before

AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
328 AM PST MON FEB 24 2014

UPDATED AVIATION DISCUSSION

.SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL
BUILD OVER THE REGION THROUGH TUESDAY. THE RIDGE WILL PUSH OFF TO
THE EAST OF THE AREA WEDNESDAY AS A TROUGH MOVES INLAND OVER
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA. A SHALLOW COLD AIRMASS IS TRYING TO MAKE
PROGRESS SOUTHWARD ACROSS SOUTHERN WASHINGTON AND NORTHERN OREGON
BUT IS HAVING A DIFFICULT TIME DOING SO. THUS FAR THE MODELS HAVE
OVERFORECAST THE STRENGTH OF THE COLD INTRUSION. DO THINK THAT SOME
COOLING WILL OCCUR TODAY AND TONIGHT OVER SOUTHERN WASHINGTON AND
NORTHERN OREGON BUT MAY NOT BE AS COLD AS THE MODELS INDICATE. AT
THE SAME TIME THERE WILL BE SOME PRECIPITATION BUT NOT LIKELY TO BE
PARTICULARLY HEAVY DUE TO A LACK OF LARGE SCALE SUPPORT. FOR TODAY
HAVE DECIDED TO DROP THE SNOW ADVISORY FOR THE KITTITAS VALLEY. THUS
FAR ELLENSBURG HAS RECEIVED ONLY .02 INCHES LIQUID EQUIVALENT AND IT
IS NOT SNOWING THERE NOW. IT WILL LIKELY SNOW SOME THERE TODAY BUT
PROBABLY ONLY AN INCH OR SO OF ACCUMULATION. STILL SOME POTENTIAL
FOR HEAVIER SNOW ALONG THE CREST SO WILL EXTEND THE ADVISORY THERE
TIL 3 PM FOR AN ADDITIONAL 2-5 INCHES OF SNOW. A WINTER MIX OF
PRECIPITATION IS POSSIBLE ACROSS CENTRAL/NORTH CENTRAL OREGON AND
THE COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE LATER THIS EVENING...BUT AMOUNTS SHOULD BE
LIGHT. BY LATER TONIGHT PRECIPITATION SHOULD BE ON THE DECLINE AND
ALL PRECIPITATION SHOULD END BY MIDDAY TUESDAY. AS THE STORM SYSTEM
OVER CALIFORNIA APPROACHES LATER ON WEDNESDAY...CHANCES FOR MAINLY
RAIN WILL INCREASE. 78

.LONG TERM...WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY...A FRONT LOCATED
OFFSHORE WILL MOVE SLOWLY EAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND THURSDAY.
HOWEVER...THE NORTH SOUTH ORIENTATION OF THE JETSTREAM WILL LIMIT
THE SPEED OF THE FRONT AND AMOUNT OF PRECIPITATION. THE BEST LIFT
WILL BE ASSOCIATED WITH THE MID LEVEL LOW MOVING INTO NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA. SNOW LEVELS WILL BE 5-6 KFT OVER MOST OF THE AREA. COLD
AIR WILL REMAIN TRAPPED OVER THE KITTITAS VALLEY. MOST OF THE
PRECIPITATION WILL BE RAIN EXCEPT IN THE THE KITTITAS VALLEY AND
WASHINGTON CASCADES. THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON
AND NORTHEAST OREGON WILL BE BETWEEN SYSTEMS...BUT ENOUGH MOISTURE
WILL LINGER IN THE AREA FOR A FEW LIGHT OROGRAPHIC SHOWERS.

FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY ANOTHER SYSTEM WILL MOVE INTO OREGON. THE
BEST LIFT WILL BE IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BUT PRECIPITATION WILL MOVE
AROUND A MID LEVEL LOW INTO OREGON AND SOUTHERN WASHINGTON. GFS
MODEL SHOWS SOME COLD ARCTIC AIR SEEPING INTO WASHINGTON FRIDAY
NIGHT AND SATURDAY WHILE THE ECMWF KEEPS THE COLD AIR FARTHER NORTH.
THE ENSEMBLES STILL SHOW DIVERGENT SOLUTIONS SO CONFIDENCE IS LOW ON
HOW MUCH COLD AIR WILL REACH THE LOWER COLUMBIA BASIN AND WHAT TYPE
OF PRECIPITATION WILL FALL FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY. MOIST
NORTHWEST FLOW WILL REMAIN OVER THE AREA THROUGH SUNDAY WITH LIMITED
LIFT TRIGGERING SOME SHOWERS...MAINLY OVER THE MOUNTAINS.  COONFIELD

&&

.AVIATION...12Z TAFS. CEILINGS LOWERING TO 010-020  EXCEPT REMAINING
002-006 AT ALW THIS MORNING. COLDER AIR COULD RESULT IN MIXED RAIN
AND SNOW AFTER SUNSET. RESIDUAL MOISTURE AND STABILIZATION MAY
RESULT IN MAINLY IFR CIGS TONIGHT AT PSC YKM ALW AND PDT. SURFACE
WINDS UNDER 12 KT.  76

&&

.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
PDT  40  28  40  29 /  40  40  20  10
ALW  41  30  43  32 /  40  40  20  10
PSC  40  30  45  31 /  50  40  10  10
YKM  38  29  41  27 /  50  40  10  10
HRI  41  31  44  31 /  50  40  10  10
ELN  35  26  39  26 /  70  40  10  10
RDM  52  31  43  25 /  40  20  20  10
LGD  45  31  43  31 /  40  40  10  10
GCD  51  35  52  34 /  40  30  10  10
DLS  44  32  46  33 /  50  40  20  10

&&

.PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...NONE.
WA...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 3 PM PST THIS AFTERNOON FOR
     WESTERN KITTITAS COUNTY IN THE WAZ520.

&&

THREAT INDEX
TODAY : GREEN
TUESDAY : GREEN
WEDNESDAY : 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

78/76/76

Hazardous weather outlook, Feb 23, 3:31 PM PST, 13 hours 29 minutes before

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK...UPDATED
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
331 PM PST SUN FEB 23 2014

ORZ041-044-049-050-502-503-505>511-WAZ024-027>030-521-242345-
EAST COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE OF 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-NORTH CENTRAL OREGON-
CENTRAL OREGON-EASTERN COLUMBIA RIVER GORGE OF WASHINGTON-
YAKIMA VALLEY-LOWER COLUMBIA BASIN OF WASHINGTON-
FOOTHILLS OF THE BLUE MOUNTAINS OF WASHINGTON-
NORTHWEST BLUE MOUNTAINS OF WASHINGTON-SIMCOE HIGHLANDS-
331 PM PST SUN FEB 23 2014

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL
OREGON...NORTH CENTRAL OREGON...NORTHEAST OREGON...CENTRAL
WASHINGTON...SOUTH WASHINGTON...SOUTH CENTRAL WASHINGTON AND
SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON.

.DAY ONE...THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT

A COLD FRONT WILL MOVE SLOWLY SOUTH ACROSS THE REGION THIS EVENING
AND TONIGHT...BRINGING MUCH COLDER AIR AND A GREATER CHANCE OF
SNOW. SNOW LEVELS WILL LOWER TO 500-1000 FEET IN THE COLUMBIA
BASIN OF WASHINGTON BEHIND THE FRONT TONIGHT. SNOW LEVELS WILL BE
AROUND 5000 FEET IN CENTRAL OREGON.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

MORE WINTRY PRECIPITATION IS POSSIBLE MONDAY AND TUESDAY ACROSS
SOUTHEAST WASHINGTON AND NORTHERN OREGON. SOME FREEZING RAIN MAY
OCCUR ACROSS CENTRAL AND NORTH CENTRAL OREGON AND THE COLUMBIA
GORGE MONDAY NIGHT. TEMPERATURES WILL MODERATE LATER IN THE WEEK
BUT THERE IS A CHANCE OF COLD AIR AND SOME SNOW RETURNING FOR
NEXT WEEKEND.

WAZ026-520-242345-
KITTITAS VALLEY-EAST SLOPES OF THE WASHINGTON CASCADES-
331 PM PST SUN FEB 23 2014

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL
WASHINGTON.

.DAY ONE...THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT

PERIODS OF SNOW WILL CONTINUE THIS EVENING AND TONIGHT. A WINTER
WEATHER ADVISORY IS IN EFFECT FOR SIGNIFICANT ACCUMULATIONS. PLEASE
REFER TO NWS TEXT PRODUCT PDXWSWPDT FOR MORE DETAILS.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

MORE SNOW AND COLDER AIR IS EXPECTED ON MONDAY INTO TUESDAY
BEFORE TAPERING OFF. TEMPERATURES WILL MODERATE MID WEEK FOLLOWED
BY COLDER AIR FOR NEXT WEEKEND WITH A CHANCE OF SNOW.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 ice storm. Local standard time, as filed.

Ice Storm, Southern Blue Mountains

When: February 24, 5:00 AM PST to February 25, 5:00 AM PST
Where: Southern Blue Mountains forecast zone
Reported by: Public
Coordinates: 45.153, -119.262 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)

What these are

Ice Storm: Freezing rain accumulating a quarter inch or more of ice, or less where it caused significant damage.

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

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Oregon in 2014 Every state in 2014 This day in weather history Warnings in Oregon, February 2014

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: 498209.