A frontal system brought high winds to the Central Oregon Coast, heavy snow to the Cascades and a mix of ice and snow in the Columbia River Gorge and Hood River Valley.
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 frontal system brought high winds to the Central Oregon Coast, heavy snow to the Cascades and a mix of ice and snow in the Columbia River Gorge and Hood River Valley.
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 Dec 26, 2:42 PM PST, 3 hours 18 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Portland Oregon
242 PM PST Mon Dec 26 2016
.SYNOPSIS...A frontal system will come in off the Pacific this
afternoon and tonight with precipitation spreading across the area
through tonight. Onshore flow brings showery weather Tue behind the
front. The showers will slowly taper off Tue night and Wed as a ridge
of high pres builds in aloft. Another frontal system may brush the
region late in the week.
&&
.SHORT TERM...This afternoon through Thursday...Radar shows some
scattered returns this afternoon with more moderate rain just
arriving at the immediate coast. 1930Z ASCAT winds placed the
approaching front about 250 miles offshore and 21Z HRRR shows an
initial bout of moderate rain near the coast but most of it holding
off until closer to 00Z, which makes sense based on the front
location. Still expect precip everywhere with this system, so not
many adjustments needed to the forecast through tonight.
In the Cascades a fairly strong westerly 850 mb flow develops
tonight, peaking at around 40 to 50 kt, which will provide favorable
orographics for the terrain and likely shadow at least the western
Willamette Valley. The flow continues into Tue before beginning to
weaken late Tue and Tue night. Still expect to see quite a bit of
snow in the Cascades as showers will stick around through Tuesday
with that stout flow. However, Tuesday may turn out more dry than wet
in the interior lowlands.
Models agree on a weakening westerly flow Tue night and Wed as a
modest ridge of high pres builds in, finally tapering off showers by
Wednesday morning, even in the Cascades. With the upper ridge in
place, most of the area will remain dry from Wednesday through at
least Wednesday night with the exception of the S Washington and far
N Oregon coasts, which look like they'll be on the southern edge of a
system passing to the north. During the day Thursday, a piece of
energy from that system will sink southward and bring PoPs back up
across the local area, but precipitation amounts look unimpressive.
Snow levels Thursday generally look fairly high, above about 4000 ft,
but will have to keep an eye on the cold air through the Columbia
River Gorge with developing offshore flow. Bowen
.LONG TERM...Thursday night through Sunday...The upper level trough
finally passes through the area Friday and models agree with the
general theory that it will strengthen as it moves south, pulling the
local area into a cool north to northeast upper flow. With surface
high pressure briefly building over Oregon behind it on Saturday,
should see a break in the precip that day. The next system Saturday
night and Sunday may begin to usher in some changes. Although models
don't agree on the details, they show a similar pattern with low
pressure moving south along the North American west coast, into
Oregon during the day Sunday. At this point, it looks like snow
levels would remain above about 1,000 ft during the wettest portion
of the system. However, 850 mb temperatures are looking potentially
downright frigid just beyond the end of the current 7-day forecast as
models bring Arctic high pressure east of the Cascades, spilling its
cold air into the local area. If the cold air arrives before showers
completely dissipate behind Sunday's system, could see some wintry
precip near the valley floor, but it's far too early to have any
confidence in that happening. The other concern will be on the back
end of the cold air sometime next week whenever the next
precipitation arrives. Bowen
&&
.AVIATION...Generally VFR early this afternoon, except for
isolated pockets of IFR in the north and central Willamette
Valley. Precipitation arrived on the S Washington and far N Oregon
coast around 19Z and will spread SE over the next several hours.
Expect coastal sites to lower into MVFR by 00Z Tue. Heavier
precipitation occurs along the coast between 03Z and 09Z Tue,
likely resulting in areas of IFR. Inland areas remain VFR through
early evening then lower into MVFR, with local IFR possible after
05Z Tue. Frontal passage at the coast around 06Z Tue, then
reaching the Cascades between 09Z and 12Z. Improvement to VFR
shortly after frontal passage. Higher terrain, including the
Oregon Coast Range and Willapa Hills of SW Washington, become
obscured this evening through Tue morning.
KPDX AND APPROACHES...VFR at the terminal as of early afternoon.
Rain expected to begin around 00Z Tue, with conditions lowering to
MVFR between 04Z and 06Z Tue. Frontal passage around 09Z Tue, but
improvement to VFR shortly after 12Z. Weishaar
&&
.MARINE...Wind speeds early this afternoon near the cusp of gale
force over the north waters. Buoy 029 had a peak gust of 35 kt at
21Z. No changes to the current Gale warnings. Southerly gale
force wind gusts of 35 to 40 kt to spread from north to south
across the waters through the evening. Gusty west to northwest
wind of 25 to 30 kt will occur after frontal passage, which will
be around 03Z Tue for the outer waters and closer to 06Z along the
coastline. The 25 to 30 kt W-NW wind continues for much of
Tuesday. High pressure returns to the waters Tue night and holds
through at least Wed night. Longer range models have come into
better agreement regarding the weekend. Looks like fairly strong
North flow develops over the waters late Sat and continues into
early next week, likely resulting in small craft advisory wind
speeds for at least the outer waters.
Seas running around 5 ft early this afternoon, but will ramp up
to above 10 ft by late afternoon or early evening due to a large
wind-wave component. Seas build to around 15 ft late tonight and
Tue morning. A long 20-30 kt W-NW wind fetch will boost seas to
the upper teens Tue afternoon. Seas ease to the lower teens late
Wed or Wed night. ENP and spectral guidance continue to show a
core of very large seas, 35-ft on the ENP, near buoy 005 12Z Sun.
Trended a little higher for this forecast, to the upper teens, but
it appears the highest waves remain over the outer waters and
beyond 60 nm. These forecast wave heights likely to increase a
little more if future model runs continue in good agreement. Weishaar
&&
.PQR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...Winter Weather Advisory from 6 PM this evening to 6 AM PST
Tuesday for Upper Hood River Valley.
Winter Weather Advisory from 6 PM this evening to 2 AM PST
Tuesday for Western Columbia River Gorge.
Winter Weather Advisory from 6 PM this evening to 4 AM PST
Tuesday for Central Columbia River Gorge-Northern Oregon
Cascade Foothills.
Winter Storm Warning from 6 PM this evening to midnight PST
Tuesday night for Northern Oregon Cascades.
Winter Weather Advisory from 8 PM this evening to midnight PST
Tuesday night for Cascades in Lane County.
Winter Weather Advisory until 8 PM PST this evening for Coast
Range of Northwest Oregon.
WA...Winter Weather Advisory from 6 PM this evening to 2 AM PST
Tuesday for Western Columbia River Gorge.
Winter Weather Advisory from 6 PM this evening to 4 AM PST
Tuesday for Central Columbia River Gorge.
Winter Storm Warning from 6 PM this evening to midnight PST
Tuesday night for South Washington Cascades.
Winter Storm Warning from 6 PM this evening to noon PST Tuesday
for South Washington Cascade Foothills.
PZ...Gale Warning until 1 AM PST Tuesday for Coastal Waters from
Cape Shoalwater WA to Cascade Head OR out 60 nm.
Small Craft Advisory for winds until 6 PM PST this evening for
Coastal Waters from Cascade Head OR to Florence OR out 60
nm.
Gale Warning from 6 PM this evening to 3 AM PST Tuesday for
Coastal Waters from Cascade Head OR to Florence OR out 60
nm.
Small Craft Advisory for Rough Columbia River Bar from 10 PM
this evening to 4 PM PST Tuesday.
&&
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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 winter storm, 1 winter weather, 1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
SNOTELs and other stations reported a range of 12 to 25 inches of snow. Some specific reports include 25 inches at Mt Hood Meadows, 22 inches at Timberline, 14 inches at Government Camp and 12 inches at McKenzie Snotel.
Spotter reported 4 inches of snow in Hood River.
A weather station on the Yaquina Bridge recorded a maximum sustained wind of 59 mph, while other stations saw sustained winds around 35 to 39 mph.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2016Every state in 2016This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, December 2016
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: 672955, 672293, 670166.