A surface low offshore of Northern California moved northeast early in the morning on February 9th, and produced a period of gusty winds for the Central Oregon Coast.
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 PQR wrote it up.
A surface low offshore of Northern California moved northeast early in the morning on February 9th, and produced a period of gusty winds for the Central Oregon Coast.
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 Portland, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Feb 9, 2:25 AM PST, 4 hours 42 minutes earlier.
AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE PORTLAND
225 AM PST MON FEB 9 2015
.SYNOPSIS...A LOW PRESSURE MOVING NORTH JUST OFFSHORE THE OREGON
COAST WILL CONTINUE SHOWERS ACROSS THE AREA THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING.
THE LOW WILL PRODUCE A BRIEF PERIOD OF GUSTY WINDS FOR THE COAST
TODAY. SNOW LEVELS WILL DROP TO THE CASCADE PASSES MONDAY
NIGHT...WITH A FEW INCHES OF ACCUMULATION POSSIBLE TUESDAY MORNING.
HIGH PRESSURE AND DRIER WEATHER ARE EXPECTED FOR THE REST OF THE
WEEK...THOUGH A WEAK FRONT WILL CLIP THE THE NORTH COAST THURSDAY.
SUBSIDENCE INVERSIONS WILL RESULT IN WARM TEMPERATURES FOR THE HIGHER
TERRAIN...AND FOG WITH LOW CLOUDS FOR THE INTERIOR VALLEYS.
&&
.SHORT TERM...TODAY THROUGH THURSDAY...SATELLITE IMAGERY SHOWS AN
ALMOST VERTICALLY STACKED LOW AROUND 43N 130W WITH SHOWERS WRAPPING
AROUND IT. THE LOW IS WEAKENING AND MOVING NORTH AND LOW WILL OPEN UP
TO A WAVE BY THIS AFTERNOON...AND PUSH INLAND TONIGHT AND TUESDAY
MORNING. THERE WILL BE BURST OF GUSTY SOUTH WINDS FOR THE COAST LATER
THIS MORNING...ESPECIALLY FOR THE CENTRAL OREGON COAST WHERE GUSTS UP
TO 50 MPH ARE POSSIBLE FOR THE BEACHES AND HEADLANDS. THE WINDS WILL
TURN ONSHORE THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING WITH GUSTS AROUND 35 MPH.
SHOWERS WILL CONTINUE THROUGH TUESDAY MORNING WITH THE ONSHORE WINDS
THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING FAVORING OROGRAPHIC ENHANCEMENT FOR THE
HIGHER TERRAIN OF THE COAST RANGE AND CASCADES. A MOIST ATMOSPHERE
REMAINS WITH PRECIPITABLE WATER VALUES NEAR AN INCH...AND WAVES
ROTATING AROUND THE LOW WILL PROVIDE ENOUGH LIFT TO PRODUCE ANOTHER 1
TO 2 INCHES OF RAIN FOR THE HIGHER TERRAIN THROUGH TONIGHT....AND 0.5
TO 1 INCH FOR THE LOW LANDS.
SNOW LEVELS WILL LOWER TO THE CASCADE PASSES LATE TONIGHT INTO
TUESDAY WITH 2 TO 4 INCHES OF SNOW ACCUMULATION POSSIBLE AROUND 4000
FEET. THE SNOW WILL NOT REMAIN ON THE GROUND TOO LONG HOWEVER AS A
STRONG UPPER RIDGE BUILDS TUESDAY.
A SUBSIDENCE INVERSION WILL SET UP TUESDAY AFTERNOON FOR WARM
TEMPERATURES FOR THE HIGHER TERRAIN WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY...AND
TEMPERATURES FOR THE HIGHER TERRAIN WILL WARM. EXPECT FOG...LOW
CLOUDS AND COOLER TEMPERATURES FOR THE INTERIOR VALLEYS. THE UPPER
RIDGE WILL MOVE EAST WEDNESDAY NIGHT AND A COLD FRONT CURRENTLY
APPROACHING 140W WILL APPROACH THE OREGON AND WASHINGTON COAST. THIS
FRONT WILL WEAKEN AS IT NEARS...AND BE STEERED NORTHWARD OVER THE
UPPER RIDGE. THE FRONT MAY CLIP THE EXTREME NW PORTION OF THE
PORTLAND FORECAST AREA...FOR LIGHT RAIN...BUT OTHERWISE JUST BRING A
MIX OF MID AND HIGH LEVEL CLOUDS ACROSS THE REGION. TJ
LONG TERM...THURSDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT...GENERAL HIGH
PRESSURE ALOFT WILL REMAIN THROUGH SATURDAY FOR WARMER AND DRIER
CONDITIONS THAN NORMAL. INLAND VALLEYS WILL BE THE EXCEPTION...WITH
PERSISTENT FOG AND LOW CLOUDS TRAPPED UNDER STRONG TEMPERATURE
INVERSIONS. A WEAK FRONTS WILL BRUSH BY THE NORTH COAST WITH CLOUDS
AND A LITTLE LIGHT RAIN THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY...BUT OTHERWISE NO
STRONG SYSTEMS ARE EXPECTED. AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH FROM WESTERN
CANADA WILL SLIDE SOUTHWARD...MAINLY OVER LAND TOWARDS OREGON
SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY. IF THIS PANS OUT...CONVECTIVE SHOWERS ARE
POSSIBLE OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN SUNDAY...AND POSSIBLY SOME COOLING.
TJ
&&
.AVIATION...MOIST AND UNSTABLE FLOW ALOFT OVER REGION WILL
MAINTAIN SHOWERS...AND EVEN A FEW ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS THROUGH
MID AFTERNOON. SOUTHERLY FLOW ALOFT WILL GRADUALLY TURN MORE
SOUTHWESTERLY AFTER 20Z. OVERALL...MOSTLY VFR TODAY WITH POCKETS
OF MVFR CIGS UNDER SHOWERS. CIGS WILL LOWER TO LOW VFR AND EVEN
MVFR AFTER 03Z AS FLOW ALOFT TURNS MORE WESTERLY. THIS COOLER
WESTERLY FLOW WILL ALLOW CIGS TO LOWER...WITH INCREASING MVFR.
KPDX AND APPROACHES...VFR TODAY WITH SHOWERS INCREASING AGAIN
AFTER 15Z. WILL HAVE OCCASIONAL BUT BRIEF MVFR CIGS UNDER THE
HEAVIER SHOWERS TODAY INTO THIS EVENING. SHOWERS DECREASE TONIGHT
BUT INCREASING MVFR CIGS DUE TO COOLER WEST FLOW ALOFT. ROCKEY.
&&
.MARINE...AS LOW PRES OVER THE COASTAL WATERS SLOWLY WEAKENS AND
LIFTS N TODAY...GUSTY SOUTH WINDS WILL GRADUALLY EASE. STRONGEST
WINDS WILL BE S OF CASCADE HEAD...SO WILL MAINTAIN GALE WARNING
FOR CENTRAL OREGON COASTAL WATERS. TO THE N...WINDS NOT AS STRONG
WILL WILL KEEP SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY UP FOR THAT AREA. MAY HAVE FEW
GUSTS A BIT STRONGER NEAR THE SHOWERS AND ISOLATED THUNDERSTORMS
TODAY. WINDS WILL EASE TONIGHT AS THE LOW MOVES FURTHER AWAY.
SEAS MOSTLY 10 TO 13 FT TODAY...BUT WITH STRONGER WINDS TO THE S
WILL KEEP SEAS 13 TO 16 FT ON THE CENTRAL OREGON COASTAL WATERS
TODAY. LIKE THE WINDS...SEAS WILL SUBSIDE TONIGHT INTO TUE.
AFTERWARDS...HIGH PRES WILL BUILD OVER THE REGION FOR MORE BENIGN
CONDITIONS FOR TUE THROUGH THU...POSSIBLY LONGER. ROCKEY.
&&
.PQR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...NONE.
WA...NONE.
PZ...GALE WARNING UNTIL 6 PM TODAY ON COASTAL WATERS FROM CASCADE
HEAD TO FLORENCE.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR WINDS AND HAZARDOUS SEAS THROUGH
TONIGHT ON WATERS FROM CAPE SHOALWATER TO CASCADE HEAD.
SMALL CRAFT ADVISORY FOR ROUGH COLUMBIA BAR THIS MORNING AND
AGAIN THIS EVENING.
&&
INTERACT WITH US VIA SOCIAL MEDIA
WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/NWSPORTLAND
WWW.TWITTER.COM/NWSPORTLAND
THIS DISCUSSION IS FOR NORTHWEST OREGON AND SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON
FROM THE CASCADE CREST TO 60 NAUTICAL MILES OFFSHORE. THE AREA IS
COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS THE FORECAST AREA.1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
Several weather stations along the Central Oregon Coast reported gusty winds. Sustained winds were generally around 40 mph with gusts around 60 mph. However, Florence reported a peak gust of 79 mph, and Yachats had a gust of 72 mph.
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, February 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: 563945.