An incoming front brought strong winds to portions of southern Oregon.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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 MFR wrote it up.
An incoming front brought strong winds to portions of southern Oregon.
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 Medford, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 5, 1:53 PM PST, 38 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR
153 PM PST WED MAR 5 2014
.DISCUSSION...CURRENT VISIBLE IMAGE SHOWS THE LEADING EDGE OF THE
COLD FRONT NEAR 128W MOVING EAST TOWARDS THE OREGON COAST. THE IMAGE
SHOWS CONVECTION JUST AHEAD OF THE FRONT AND A FEW LIGHTNING STRIKES
WERE OBSERVED OVER THE MARINE WATERS AND WEST OF GOLD BEACH.
THEREFORE WE'LL INSERT ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS FOR THE MARINE
WATERS...COAST MOST OF SISKIYOU COUNTY FOR THIS EVENING. WINDS WILL
CONTINUE TO INCREASE ALONG THE COAST AND HEADLANDS AS THE FRONT
INCHES CLOSER TO THE COAST AND PEAK OUT EARLY THIS EVENING BEFORE
GRADUALLY DECREASING TONIGHT. MEANWHILE IT WILL REMAIN WINDY IN THE
SHASTA VALLEY AND EASTSIDE THROUGH TONIGHT. THERE IS SOME EVIDENCE
WINDS COULD APPROACH ADVISORY CRITERIA IN THE SOUTHERN END OF THE
ROGUE VALLEY EARLY THIS EVENING AND THUS HAVE ISSUED A WIND
ADVISORY.
PRECIPITATION WILL BECOME MODERATE TO HEAVY, PARTICULARLY ALONG THE
COAST AND COASTAL MOUNTAINS WHERE WE COULD PICK UP TO AN INCH
BETWEEN 5 PM AND 10 PM PST. PRECIPITATION IS EXPECTED TO DECREASE
SOME AS THE FRONT PUSHES INLAND TONIGHT, THEN INCREASE AGAIN
THURSDAY MORNING AS ANOTHER FRONT MOVES INTO THE AREA. COLD AIR
ALOFT WILL MOVE OVERHEAD BEHIND THE FRONT THURSDAY WITH 500 MB TEMPS
BETWEEN -25 AND -27C. MOVING INLAND THURSDAY AFTERNOON. THIS SHOULD
CREATE ENOUGH INSTABILITY FOR ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS MAINLY OVER THE
NORTHERN PART OF THE FORECAST AREA. MODERATE TO STRONG WINDS ARE
EXPECTED EAST OF THE CASCADES THURSDAY MORNING, THEN SHOULD
GRADUALLY TAPER OFF THURSDAY AFTERNOON. SNOW LEVELS WILL LOWER TO
AROUND 5000 FEET THURSDAY AFTERNOON, BUT COULD TEMPORALLY LOWER TO
4500 OR LOWER IN HEAVIER SHOWERS. WE'LL SEE SNOW STARTING TO
ACCUMULATE AROUND DIAMOND AND CRATER LAKE AND ALONG HIGHWAY 140
THURSDAY AFTERNOON. EXPECT 4-8 INCHES AROUND CRATER AND DIAMOND LAKE
AND 2-4 INCHES ALONG HIGHWAY 140 BY THURSDAY EVENING.
FINALLY THINGS WILL START TO SETTLE DOWN THURSDAY NIGHT AS AN UPPER
RIDGE BUILDS INTO THE AREA WITH PRECIPITATION AND WINDS DECREASING.
FRIDAY LOOKS DRY AND MILDER WITH THE UPPER RIDGE AXIS MOVING
OVERHEAD. THE RIDGE AXIS SHIFTS EAST SATURDAY AND ANOTHER FRONTAL
BOUNDARY WILL MOVE TOWARDS THE AREA. THE GFS AND EC ARE SIMILAR WITH
THE TIMING OF THE FRONT AND PRECIPITATION COULD MOVE INTO THE COAST
SATURDAY AFTERNOON...THEN MOVING INLAND SATURDAY NIGHT. THERE ARE
INDICATIONS THERE WILL BE A TROPICAL CONNECTION ASSOCIATED WITH THIS
FRONT, THUS BRINGING ANOTHER ROUND OF MODERATE TO HEAVY
PRECIPITATION TO THE COAST AND COASTAL MOUNTAINS. -PETRUCELLI
.LONG TERM...SATURDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...LITTLE CHANGE WAS MADE TO
THE EXTENDED FORECAST AS THE MODELS REMAIN IN DECENT AGREEMENT (WITH
ONE EXCEPTION NOTED BELOW.) AN UPPER RIDGE MOVES EAST ON SATURDAY AS
A FRONT APPROACHES THE COAST. RAINFALL MAY REACH THE COAST BY DAY'S
END SATURDAY, BUT THE VAST MAJORITY OF OUR FORECAST AREA WON'T SEE
ANY PRECIPITATION UNTIL SATURDAY NIGHT OR SUNDAY. SUNDAY DOES LOOK
LIKE A FAIRLY RAINY DAY FOR MOST OF THE AREA AS A COLD FRONT MOVES
THROUGH. CONSIDERABLE SHOWERY ACTIVITY WILL LAST THROUGH MONDAY,
ESPECIALLY MOUNTAINS AND WEST SIDE. THE GFS HAS A SECONDARY WAVE
MOVING THROUGH LATER MONDAY THAT WOULD KEEP SHOWERS GOING INTO
TUESDAY AS WELL. THE GFS IS AN OUTLIER AND THE OPERATIONAL SOLUTION
ISN'T VERY WELL SUPPORTED BY ENSEMBLES. WE ALREADY HAVE LOW POPS IN
PLACE INTO TUESDAY, AND WHILE THE GFS WOULD SUGGEST INCREASING THEM,
THE OTHER MODELS WOULD SUGGEST REMOVING THEM. I'LL CHOOSE TO LEAVE
IT ALONE FOR NOW AND ALLOW LATER MODEL RUNS TO CLEAR THE ISSUE UP.
ALL MODELS SHOW RIDGING RETURNING DURING THE MIDDLE OF NEXT WEEK
WHICH WOULD MEAN DRY WEATHER. -WRIGHT
&&
.AVIATION...BASED ON THE 05/18Z TAF CYCLE...A STRONG FRONTAL SYSTEM
IS APPROACHING THE COAST THIS AFTERNOON. SOUTH WINDS ARE ALREADY
BECOMING VERY GUSTY AHEAD OF THE FRONT AND WINDS WILL CONTINUE TO BE
A FACTOR THROUGH THE NIGHT. STRONG WINDS ALOFT WILL ALSO LEAD TO
MOUNTAIN WAVE TURBULENCE OVER THE ENTIRE REGION. CIGS AND VIS ARE
GENERALLY VFR AREA WIDE AT THIS TIME, BUT CONDITIONS WILL
DETERIORATE TO MVFR ALONG THE COAST AND WEST SIDE THIS AFTERNOON AND
EVENING AS SHOWERS INCREASE. IN ADDITION, A FEW LIGHTNING STRIKES
HAVE BEEN OBSERVED, AND THUNDERSTORMS WILL BE POSSIBLE THROUGH THE
EVENING, ESPECIALLY WEST SIDE AND OVER THE WATERS. EXPECT WIDESPREAD
MVFR CONDITIONS WITH LOCAL IFR OVERNIGHT AS THE FRONT MOVES INLAND.
MOUNTAINS WILL BECOME INCREASINGLY OBSCURED THROUGH THE EVENING AND
BE TOTALLY OBSCURED OVERNIGHT INTO THURSDAY MORNING. -WRIGHT
&&
.MARINE...A STRONGER STORM WILL BRING WIDESPREAD GALES THIS AFTERNOON
THROUGH THURSDAY MORNING. WITH 925MB GETTING UP NEAR 70 KTS AND A
SLIGHT ONSHORE COMPONENT, EXPECT A COASTAL JET TO DEVELOP JUST
OFFSHORE. THIS WILL RESULT IN SOME STORM FORCE GUSTS FROM NEAR
CAPE BLANCO TO ABOUT 20 NM OFFSHORE. IT WILL ALSO BRING VERY
STEEP, CHAOTIC SEAS. AFTER THE FRONT MOVES ONSHORE THURSDAY
MORNING, EXPECT SEAS TO TRANSITION FROM WIND WAVE DOMINATED TO
LONG PERIOD SWELL THURSDAY AFTERNOON. SEAS WILL REMAIN ELEVATED...PEAKING
AT 15 TO 20 FEET BEFORE GRADUALLY SUBSIDING THURSDAY NIGHT INTO
FRIDAY AS HIGH PRESSURE BUILDS IN. YET ANOTHER STRONG FRONT WILL
ARRIVE SATURDAY WITH THE POTENTIAL FOR GALES AGAIN BY SATURDAY
NIGHT. SPILDE
&&
.MFR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 10 PM PST THIS EVENING FOR ORZ021-022.
HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 10 AM PST THURSDAY FOR ORZ030-031.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 10 PM PST THIS EVENING FOR ORZ026.
CA...HIGH WIND WARNING UNTIL 10 AM PST THURSDAY FOR CAZ085.
WIND ADVISORY UNTIL 4 AM PST THURSDAY FOR CAZ081.
PACIFIC COASTAL WATERS...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR WINDS UNTIL 10 AM PST
THURSDAY FOR PZZ356.
STORM WARNING UNTIL 10 PM PST THIS EVENING FOR
PZZ350-356-370-376.
GALE WARNING UNTIL 10 AM PST THURSDAY FOR PZZ350-356-370-376.
HAZARDOUS SEAS WARNING UNTIL 10 AM PST THURSDAY FOR
PZZ350-356-370-376.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR
1024 AM PST WED MAR 5 2014
...TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
...DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1022 AM HEAVY RAIN 5 NNW WILDERVILLE 42.46N 123.49W
03/05/2014 M0.50 INCH JOSEPHINE OR TRAINED SPOTTER
HEAVY RAIN DURATION 24 HOURS OBSERVER
LOCATION 17 MI WEST OF TOWN
&&
NWS MEDFORD OR
IRIS SYSTEMThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The ODOT sensor at Humbug Mountain recorded numerous gusts of 58 mph or greater during this interval. The peak gust was 80 mph, recorded at 05/1546 PST and 05/1601 PST.
The Squaw Peak RAWS recorded a gust to 92 mph at 05/2039 PST.
The Summer Lake RAWS recorded a gust to 63 mph at 06/1238 PST and a gust to 65 mph at 06/1338 PST.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, March 2014
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: 494240, 494242, 494241.