A quick moving winter storm swept through parts of Southeast Oregon bringing strong winds and four to seven inches of snow over parts of western Harney County.
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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 BOI wrote it up.
A quick moving winter storm swept through parts of Southeast Oregon bringing strong winds and four to seven inches of snow over parts of western Harney County.
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 Boise, ID wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Dec 1, 7:28 PM PST, 6 hours 32 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE ID 828 PM MST TUE DEC 1 2015 .DISCUSSION...DIFFICULT FORECAST DUE TO THE COMPLEXITY OF WHEN AND WHERE COLD AIR WILL MIX OUT OF THE VALLEYS...AND THE RESULTING PCPN- TYPE WITH THE INCOMING PACIFIC SYSTEM. AT 8 PM MST /03Z/ THE SYSTEM WAS ALREADY ON THE OREGON COAST. IT SHOULD SPREAD PCPN AS FAR EAST AS THE OR/ID BORDER BY 12Z THEN WEAKEN RAPIDLY AS IT CONTINUES EAST ACROSS SWRN IDAHO WED MORNING. MEANWHILE...VALLEY TEMPS HAVE FINALLY BEGUN TO RISE IN HARNEY COUNTY AND SNOW THERE LATE TONIGHT MAY MIX WITH OR CHANGE TO SLEET AND FREEZING RAIN AS WARMER AIR MOVES IN ABOVE. WINTER WX ADVISORY LOOKS GOOD IN HARNEY COUNTY WHERE THE STORM WILL STILL BE RELATIVELY STRONG. PCPN WILL DECREASE FARTHER EAST AS THE STORM WEAKENS...BUT THE FARTHER EAST ONE GOES THE MORE LIKELY PCPN WILL REMAIN AS SNOW. NO UPDATES FOR NOW. && .AVIATION...MAINLY VFR TONIGHT EXCEPT FOR PATCHY IFR STRATUS IN THE KBOI AREA. AREAS OF MVFR VISIBILITIES AND IFR CEILINGS IN LIGHT SNOW DEVELOPING BY 09Z AT KBNO AND KBKE...SPREADING INTO THE WEST CENTRAL IDAHO MOUNTAINS BY 12Z...AND AS FAR EAST AS KMUO BY 15Z. FREEZING RAIN POSSIBLE KBNO AREA 09Z-18Z. PRECIPITATION BECOMING ISOLATED OVER HIGHER TERRAIN AFTER 18Z...BUT AREAS OF IFR CEILINGS PERSISTING. SURFACE WINDS...EAST TO SOUTH 5-15 KTS. WINDS ALOFT... SOUTHWEST TO WEST 15-25 KTS UP THROUGH 10K FT MSL. && .PREV DISCUSSION... SHORT TERM...TONIGHT THROUGH THURSDAY...A FAST MOVING UPPER TROUGH WILL TRACK INTO THE PAC NW OVERNIGHT...WEAKENING AS IT MOVES EASTWARD. LIGHT SNOW WILL DEVELOP ACROSS SE OREGON AFTER 09Z WITH HARNEY COUNTY AND THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF SW BAKER COUNTY SEEING THE MOST ACCUMULATION. WARM AIR WILL QUICKLY MOVE IN ALOFT OVER HARNEY COUNTY...CHANGING THE PRECIPITATION TO FREEZING RAIN BELOW 5- 6K FEET MSL. EXPECT ENOUGH ACCUMULATION OF SNOW AND ICE IN HARNEY COUNTY TO PRODUCE HAZARDOUS CONDITIONS SO WENT WITH AN ADVISORY. THE INVERSION REMAINS IN PLACE ACROSS FAR EASTERN OREGON AND SW ID INTO THURSDAY. WARM AIR ALOFT WILL NOT GET MUCH FURTHER EAST THAN HARNEY COUNTY SO EXPECT THE PRECIP TYPE TO REMAIN ALL SNOW FOR THE TREASURE AND BAKER VALLEYS. THE UPPER RIDGE IN PLACE WILL ACT TO WEAKEN THE SHORTWAVE TROUGH AS IT EXITS OREGON EARLY WEDNESDAY. LIGHT ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOW ARE POSSIBLE FROM BOISE WESTWARD. UP TO AN INCH IS POSSIBLE NEAR THE ID/OR BORDER DECREASING TO LESS THAN A QUARTER INCH EAST OF THE ADA/CANYON LINE. SHOWERS TAPER OFF IN THE AFTERNOON. EASTERLY SURFACE WINDS INCREASE WEDNESDAY NIGHT AS A DEEPER LOW APPROACHES THE COAST. A WEAK WARM FRONT WILL CROSS THE AREA EARLY THURSDAY MORNING WITH ANOTHER ROUND OF LIGHT SNOW. WITH THE INVERSION STILL IN PLACE...STRONG SW WINDS ALOFT COULD ACT TO SHADOW THE SNAKE PLAIN. HOWEVER...ANY REMAINING LOW STRATUS COULD COUNTERACT THE SHADOWING...THUS CONFIDENCE FOR PRECIP IN THE VALLEY IS LOW. SNOW LINGERS IN THE E-CENTRAL OREGON AND SW ID MTNS THURSDAY AFTERNOON WHILE EAST WINDS AND COOLING ALOFT BEGIN TO BREAK DOWN THE INVERSION. AREAS WITH CLEAR SKIES THIS EVENING WILL SEE TEMPERATURES FALL QUICKLY...THUS HAVE DROPPED LOW TEMPS FOR TONIGHT ACROSS MUCH OF SW ID. INCREASING CLOUDS IN SE OREGON WILL LIMIT COOLING. TEMPERATURES REMAIN BELOW NORMAL IN LOWER VALLEYS UNDER THE INVERSION WITH NORMAL TEMPERATURES IN THE MTNS. LONG TERM...THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY...UPPER LEVEL RIDGE WILL MOVE ACROSS THE REGION WITH TEMPERATURES WARMING ALOFT. BIGGEST FORECAST CHALLENGE IS THE BREAKDOWN OF THE INVERSION WITH THE COLD ARCTIC AIR TRAPPED IN THE VALLEY LOCATIONS. MODELS GENERALLY SCOUR OUT THE COLD AIR TOO QUICKLY AND IT/S QUITE POSSIBLE THAT FREEZING RAIN COULD BE AN ISSUE ON FRIDAY MORNING AS A COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH THE REGION /HOWEVER LEFT IT OUT OF CURRENT FORECAST DUE TO LOW CONFIDENCE/. COLD FRONT THAT MOVES THROUGH FRIDAY SHOULD BE STRONG ENOUGH TO MIX OUT THE INVERSION COMPLETELY. UPPER LEVEL RIDGING RETURNS FOR SUNDAY WITH TEMPERATURES WARMING ALOFT ONCE AGAIN. SUNDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY...ACTIVE WEATHER PATTERN DURING THE PERIOD WITH A SERIES OF SHORTWAVES PASSING THROUGH. MODEL AGREEMENT IS FAIRLY GOOD DURING THIS TIME SO STUCK WITH A MODEL BLEND OF THE GFS AND ECMWF. BOTH MODELS INDICATE THE MAJORITY OF THE MOISTURE TO STICK FURTHER NORTH THROUGH THE PERIOD WHICH MEANS OUR NORTHERN COUNTIES...BAKER...ADAMS...WASHINGTON...AND VALLEY COUNTIES ARE LIKELY TO SEE THE MAJORITY OF THE PRECIPITATION IF ANY. TEMPERATURES ARE LOOKING TO BE AROUND 5 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. && .BOI WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... ID...NONE. OR...WINTER WEATHER ADVISORY FROM 1 AM TO 10 AM PST WEDNESDAY ORZ061. && WEATHER.GOV/BOISE DISCUSSION...LC AVIATION.....JT PREV SHORT TERM...DG PREV LONG TERM....KA/JC
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Trained spotters near Riley and Burns, Oregon reported 4 to 7 inches of snowfall overnight.
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: 612355.