A weather system produced widespread winter precipitation across the pacific northwest, with a warm front quickly to follow. Several inches of snow accumulated before the morning rush in central Oregon.
Every event with a place to put it; 8 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 weather system produced widespread winter precipitation across the pacific northwest, with a warm front quickly to follow. Several inches of snow accumulated before the morning rush in central Oregon. This snow quickly melted by late morning. Other areas continued to receive several inches of snow and some ice accumulations. Snowfall amounts in inches are as followed: (14) 5 miles north of La Pine, (10) 7 miles south of Greenhorn, (9) 3 miles southwest of Rowena, (8) 3 miles east of Prineville, (6) 5 miles west southwest of Lyle, (5.4) 6 miles north northwest of madras, (5) in Summerville, and (4) 6 miles west of Condon.
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 17, 2:59 AM PST, 4 hours 31 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
259 AM PST THU DEC 17 2015
.SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT...PRECIP ASSOCIATED WITH
THE NEXT PACIFIC SYSTEM'S WARM FRONT CONTINUES TO MOVE INTO THE
INTERIOR NORTHWEST EARLY THIS MORNING. SNOW IS FALLING ACROSS
CENTRAL AND NORTH CENTRAL OREGON. SNOW IS ALSO WORKING INTO PORTIONS
OF KLICKITAT AND YAKIMA COUNTIES. EXPECT THIS PRECIP TO CONTINUE TO
SPREAD NORTH, NORTHEAST AND EAST THROUGH MID MORNING. WARM AIR
POCKETS ARE CURRENTLY HARD TO FIND, THUS EXPECT TO SEE SNOW AT MOST
AREAS THROUGH DAYBREAK. SHOULD STILL SEE WARMING DUE TO INCREASED
SOUTHERLY FLOW IN CENTRAL OREGON CAUSING SNOW LEVELS TO BEGIN RISING
MID AND LATE MORNING. AT THE SAME COULD SEE AN ELEVATED WARM NOSE
WORK TOWARDS NORTH CENTRAL OREGON AND EXTREME SOUTH CENTRAL
WASHINGTON BY LATE MORNING. THUS THESE AREAS COULD STILL SEE
FREEZING RAIN MIXED WITH THE SNOW AT LOCATIONS WITH A SURFACE TEMP
BELOW 32 DEGREES. LOCATIONS WITHIN THIS AREA WITH TEMPS 32 DEGREES
OR HIGHER WILL MAINLY SEE RAIN LATE MORNING AND AFTERNOON. SOUTHEAST
FLOW WILL ALSO INCREASE ALONG THE BLUE MOUNTAIN FOOTHILLS WHICH
SHOULD GRADUALLY LEAD TO A RISE IN THE SNOW LEVELS IN THIS AREA AT
SOME POINT THIS AFTERNOON. SNOW LEVELS WILL CONTINUE TO RISE ACROSS
THE AREA TONIGHT, THUS WILL SEE AN END TO SNOW OVER A GOOD PORTION
OF THE LOWER ELEVATION AREAS. COLD AIR SHOULD BE SLOW TO MIX OUT AT
THE SURFACE OVER THE LOWER ELEVATIONS OF INTERIOR WASHINGTON. THUS
WILL SEE A CONTINUATION OF THE WINTRY MIX, THOUGH WITH A DECREASING
CONTRIBUTION FROM SNOW. OVERALL CURRENT HIGHLIGHTS LOOK GOOD AND
WILL NOT MAKE ANY ALTERATIONS AT THIS TIME. LOCALLY BREEZY WINDS
WILL BE POSSIBLE OVER CENTRAL OREGON, THE SOUTH END OF THE GRANDE
RONDE VALLEY AND OVER PORTIONS OF THE BLUE MOUNTAIN FOOTHILLS AT
TIMES TODAY AND TONIGHT. THE SYSTEM'S COLD FRONT WILL MOVE INTO THE
REGION FRIDAY AND EXIT LATE IN THE FRIDAY NIGHT PERIOD. THIS FRONT
WILL KEEP VARYING CHANCES OF PRECIP GOING OVER THE REGION THROUGH
FRIDAY NIGHT, THOUGH CHANCES WILL BE ON THE DECREASE FRIDAY NIGHT.
90
.LONG TERM...SATURDAY THROUGH THURSDAY...THE FORECAST AREA WILL
REMAIN IN AN ACTIVE PROGRESSIVE PATTERN WITH FREQUENT WEATHER
SYSTEMS THROUGH THE PERIOD. MODELS SEEM TO BE IN FAIR AGREEMENT WITH
SOME DIFFERENCES IN STRENGTH AND TIMING OF EACH SYSTEM. HOWEVER...
DUE TO THE HIGH FREQUENCY OF WEATHER SYSTEMS WILL KEEP AT LEAST A
CHANCE OF PRECIPITATION EACH DAY THROUGH THE EXTENDED PERIOD.
PRECIPITATION TYPE WILL BE MOSTLY RAIN OR POSSIBLY MIXED RAIN AND
SNOW IN THE LOWER ELEVATIONS WITH SNOW IN THE MOUNTAINS. THE
SCENARIO COULD BE RAIN DURING THE DAY TIME HOURS AND SNOW OR MIXED
RAIN AND SNOW AT NIGHT. TEMPERATURES WILL BE NEAR TO A FEW DEGREES
ABOVE NORMAL EACH DAY THROUGH THURSDAY. IT WILL BECOME LOCALLY
BREEZY TO WINDY AT TIMES...ESPECIALLY FROM SUNDAY ONWARD. LOOKING
AHEAD...AT THIS TIME...THE LONG TERM FORECAST MODELS ARE HINTING AT
A LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM CROSSING OREGON FROM SOUTHWEST TO NORTHEAST
WITH ENOUGH COLD AIR IN PLACE FOR SNOW ON CHRISTMAS DAY IN ALL
AREAS. HOWEVER...IT IS MUCH TOO EARLY TO BE CERTAIN IF THAT WILL
ACTUALLY OCCUR OR NOT. IT DOES LOOK TO BE UNSETTLED ENOUGH THOUGH
FOR SOME KIND OF PRECIPITATION FOR SOME TIME ON BOTH CHRISTMAS EVE
AND DAY. 88
&&
.AVIATION...12Z TAFS...PERIODS OF IFR OR LIFR CAN BE EXPECTED EARLY
THIS MORNING AT KRDM...KDLS...KBDN AND EVENTUALLY KYKM IN SNOW OR
MIXED RAIN AND SNOW AND MIST WITH LOW CIGS. ELSEWHERE IT WILL REMAIN
VFR UNTIL DAYLIGHT AND THEN CONDITIONS OVER THE REST OF THE AREA
WILL DETERIORATE AS THE WINTRY PRECIPITATION AND LOWERING CIGS
SPREADS EASTWARD. IT WILL BECOME LOCALLY BREEZY ALONG THE BLUE
MOUNTAIN FOOTHILLS AND OVER CENTRAL OREGON...OTHERWISE WINDS WILL BE
LIGHT. 88
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
PDT 33 33 46 32 / 100 80 40 30
ALW 34 35 49 34 / 100 90 60 30
PSC 33 32 45 31 / 90 80 30 20
YKM 32 32 42 21 / 100 80 30 10
HRI 33 33 47 31 / 100 80 30 20
ELN 31 28 39 21 / 100 80 40 20
RDM 40 36 45 23 / 90 70 40 30
LGD 33 33 42 27 / 100 90 70 60
GCD 34 37 41 28 / 100 80 50 50
DLS 36 34 45 32 / 100 80 50 30
&&
.PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 7 PM PST THIS EVENING FOR ORZ509-
511.
WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 7 PM PST THIS EVENING FOR ORZ041-510.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 4 AM PST FRIDAY FOR ORZ044-505-507-
508.
WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 4 AM PST FRIDAY FOR ORZ503-506.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 4 AM PST FRIDAY FOR ORZ049-050-502.
WA...WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 7 PM PST THIS EVENING FOR WAZ024.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 4 AM PST FRIDAY FOR WAZ028-029.
WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 4 AM PST FRIDAY FOR WAZ026-027-520.
WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY UNTIL 4 AM PST FRIDAY FOR WAZ030.
WINTER STORM WARNING UNTIL 10 PM PST THIS EVENING FOR WAZ521.
&&
FOR ADDITIONAL WEATHER INFORMATION, CHECK OUR WEB SITE AT...
WWW.WEATHER.GOV/PENDLETON
90/88/88PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
721 AM PST THU DEC 17 2015
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0600 AM HEAVY SNOW SUNRIVER 43.88N 121.44W
12/17/2015 M7.0 INCH DESCHUTES OR PUBLIC
7 INCHES OF NEW SNOW FELL OVER 3 HOURS AT THE SUNRIVER
CAMERA.
&&
DWEBERPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PENDLETON OR
729 AM PST THU DEC 17 2015
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0727 AM HEAVY SNOW 5 NNW LA PINE 43.74N 121.54W
12/17/2015 M0.0 INCH DESCHUTES OR TRAINED SPOTTER
OBSERVER REPORTED SNOW BEGAN AT 10 PM AND HAS PRODUCED 10
INCHES OF ACCUMULATION IN LESS THAN 12 HOURS.
&&
RQBThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
8 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2015Every state in 2015This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, December 2015
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: 604882, 604883, 604884, 604885, 604886, 604887, 604888, 604889.