Two climbers, one climber involved with a cornice failure resulting in one fatality.
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 SEW wrote it up.
Two climbers, one climber involved with a cornice failure resulting in one fatality.
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 Seattle, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 18, 8:45 AM PST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
845 AM PST SAT JAN 18 2014
.SYNOPSIS...THE REMAINS OF A WEAKENING FRONT COULD BRING A LITTLE
RAIN TO THE COAST AND OLYMPICS TODAY AND TONIGHT...BUT THE INTERIOR
LOWLANDS SHOULD REMAIN DRY. THE UPPER RIDGE WILL STRENGTHEN AGAIN
SUNDAY AND NEXT WEEK FOR MORE DRY WEATHER. FOG AND STRATUS IS LIKELY
EACH DAY OVER THE INTERIOR LOWLANDS.
&&
.SHORT TERM...SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS A WEAK FRONT HAS ALREADY MOVED
ASHORE. THE FORKS RAWS SITE GOT 0.01 INCH IN THE LAST HOUR...AND
THERE ARE NO OTHER REPORTS OF PRECIPITATION. THERE MIGHT BE A STRAY
HUNDREDTH HERE AND THERE ON THE COAST OR IN THE OLYMPICS THIS
MORNING BUT DO NOT EXPECT ANY RAIN INLAND. FOG AND STRATUS WILL
PERSIST OVER THE INTERIOR TODAY. THERE SHOULD BE A LITTLE MIXING
TODAY AS THE FRONT PASSES BUT NOT ENOUGH TO CLEAR THE SKIES. MORE
LIKELY THERE WILL BE JUST ENOUGH TO LIFT THE FOG INTO STRATUS. HIGHS
TODAY WILL BE NOTICEABLY LOWER ON THE COAST AND IN THE MOUNTAINS.
THE MID AND HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS WILL SEE TO THAT. THERE WILL PROBABLY
NOT BE MUCH CHANGE OVER THE INTERIOR LOWLANDS WHICH WILL REACH THE
LOW TO MID 40S...JUST LIKE THE LAST TWO DAYS.
SUNDAY WILL BE SIMILAR TO TODAY EXCEPT THERE WILL BE NO WEAK FRONT
TO MIX THINGS A BIT. HIGHS WILL BE SIMILAR TO TODAY...LOW TO MID 40S
INLAND AND PERHAPS THE LOW 50S ON THE COAST. ON MONDAY OFFSHORE
SURFACE FLOW RESUMES. THIS WILL ALLOW SKIES TO CLEAR ON THE COAST
AND IN THE MOUNTAINS...WITH HIGH TEMPERATURES BOTH PLACES RISING
INTO THE 50S OR EVEN A BIT HIGHER. THE INTERIOR LOWLANDS WILL REMAIN
UNDER A STRATUS AND FOG REGIME WITH LITTLE CHANGE IN TEMPERATURES.
THIS PATTERN IS LIKELY TO LAST ALL WEEK. BURKE
.LONG TERM...PREVIOUS DISCUSSION...THE STRONG UPPER RIDGE WILL
REMAIN OVER THE AREA TUESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY. SURFACE HIGH PRESSURE
ALONG THE WEST SIDE OF THE NORTHERN AND CANADIAN ROCKIES WILL
MAINTAIN LOW LEVEL OFFSHORE FLOW. THE AIR MASS WILL BE STABLE WITH A
STRONG INVERSION MOST OF THE PERIOD...RESULTING IN STRATUS AND FOG
MAINLY IN THE INTERIOR LOWLANDS. THE MODELS AGREE THAT A WEAK SYSTEM
WILL UNDERCUT THE RIDGE AND MOVE THROUGH OREGON AROUND WEDNESDAY...
BUT THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE IT WILL HAVE LITTLE IMPACT ON OUR
WEATHER. MCDONNAL
&&
.HYDROLOGY...RIVER FLOODING IS NOT EXPECTED FOR THE NEXT 7 DAYS.
&&
.AVIATION...AN UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL MAINTAIN DRY WEATHER ACROSS
THE PAC NW FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL DAYS. LIGHT WLY FLOW ALOFT BECOMING
LIGHT ELY ON SUNDAY. A WEAK TROUGH PASSING OVER THE RIDGE THROUGH
B.C. WILL DRAG AN UPPER LEVEL FRONT THROUGH WRN WA TODAY. THIS WILL
INCREASE MID/HIGH LEVEL MOISTURE. INVERSIONS REMAIN INTACT THIS
MORNING WITH MOISTURE BELOW 1500 FEET. THE INVERSIONS MAY LIFT IN
SPOTS THIS AFTERNOON BUT WILL BECOME RE-ESTABLISHED TONIGHT. STABLE
CONDITIONS. IFR CIGS WITH VIS DOWN TO 2-3SM WILL DOMINATE THROUGH
MIDDAY. SOME TERMINALS MAY SEE FURTHER IMPROVEMENT IF THE UPPER
LEVEL FRONT DEEPENS THE INVERSION LAYER OR BREAKS IT.
KSEA...THE INVERSION REMAINS INTACT THIS MORNING...ROUGHLY 1500 FEET
DEEP. IFR CONDITIONS MAY PERSIST THROUGH THE DAY. IT IS ALSO
POSSIBLE A WEAK UPPER LEVEL FRONT WILL DEEPEN THE INVERSION ALLOWING
CIGS TO RISE TO MVFR 1500-2500 FT THIS AFTERNOON. DTM
&&
.MARINE...WEAK OFFSHORE OR NLY FLOW THOUGH SUNDAY. THE LIGHT SURFACE
GRADIENTS SUGGEST WINDS WILL REMAIN BELOW 15 KT THROUGHOUT THE
WATERS.
ANOTHER SURFACE RIDGE WILL REBUILD OVER SRN B.C. AND ERN WA SUNDAY
NIGHT AND MONDAY FOR A RETURN TO SLIGHTLY STRONGER OFFSHORE FLOW.
SMALL CRAFT WINDS...OR POSSIBLY GALES...ARE EXPECTED TO DEVELOP AT
THE W ENTRANCE TO THE STRAIT. NO SIGNIFICANT FRONTS EXPECTED OVER
THE NEXT 7 DAYS.
&&
.SEW WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WA...WA...AIR STAGNATION ADVISORY FOR THE INTERIOR LOWLANDS FROM
WHIDBEY ISLAND SOUTHWARD UNTIL 10 AM PST FRIDAY JANUARY 24.
PZ...SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR ROUGH GRAYS HARBOR BAR.
&&
WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE
YOU CAN SEE AN ILLUSTRATED VERSION OF THE FORECAST DISCUSSION AT
WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SEATTLE/GAFD/LATEST_WEBAFD.HTML1 avalanche. Local standard time, as filed.
Two climbers, one climber involved with a cornice failure resulting in one fatality.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avalanche, West Slopes Northern Cascades and Passes | 2014-01-18 | Male | Outside/Open Areas | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2014Every state in 2014This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, January 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: 545749.