Yet another in a series of strong storms brought heavy precipitation and strong winds to portions of southwest Oregon.
Every event with a place to put it; 3 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 MFR wrote it up.
Yet another in a series of strong storms brought heavy precipitation and strong winds to portions of southwest Oregon.
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 Medford, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Jan 9, 3:30 AM PST, 3 hours 30 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Medford OR
330 AM PST Mon Jan 9 2017
.DISCUSSION...Extremely active weather continues over our area for
the next couple of days, and numerous products have been issued
that range from Flood Watches to Winter Storm Warnings to High
Wind Watches. The summary list can be found at the bottom of this
AFD.
A rich moisture plume will remain aimed at us through tonight. The
coastal mountains will continue to bear the brunt of the moisture,
but plenty will make it across to affect other areas as well. Snow
levels have fallen to around 3000 feet as expected, and thus snow
will be plentiful above this elevation. Winter storm warnings
remain in effect for much of our area above 3000 feet. As the
upper jet works its way onshore tonight, this will allow the
heavier snow to begin affecting the east side. The winter storm
watch that was up for the east side has been upgraded to warnings
and advisories for tonight. The lower elevations on the west side
will remain wet, but the majority of the rain will get squeezed
out over the coastal ranges, so our totals shouldn't be too bad
through tonight.
All that changes tomorrow, however, as a mild and very wet system
arrives. Snow levels surge briefly to 6000 feet, and models show a
period of very intense precipitation along the coast and in the
mountains during the afternoon. The ground is already saturated
and we'll see 1-3 inches of rain today and tonight in these areas.
Then when the system arrives tomorrow, we may dump as much as 4
inches of rain on top of that. Add in some snow melt over higher
elevations, and there is going to be quite a lot of water moving
around. An areal flood watch has been issued for Curry, Josephine,
and western Siskiyou Counties for tomorrow afternoon. We're only
looking at up to an inch of rain over inland valleys, so it will
be wet, but areal flooding doesn't look likely. This rain is
expected to push some rivers to flood stage, including the
Coquille at Coquille and Myrtle Point and the Rogue at Agness.
Flood watches remain in effect for these points.
We have the winter storm warning ending in the Cascades tomorrow
morning as snow levels rise and precipitation rates decrease a
bit. However, high places like Crater Lake and possibly Mt.
Ashland may remain all snow throughout even the warmest part of
the storm tomorrow. If this is correct, we could be looking at a
really significant amount of snow, and the winter storm warning
may need to be extended through the remainder of tomorrow. We've
issued quite a lot of products this morning, so we'll let the day
shift have another look at that.
Last but not least, as low pressure associated with Tuesday's
system nears the coast and the jet aloft pushes in, high winds are
a good bet over the Shasta Valley and much of the east side. The
models are in two camps regarding the strength and track of the
low with the GFS/NAM bringing the low to near Brookings and the
GEM/ECMWF taking the low in around North Bend. This will have a
big impact on the winds over the west side, waters, and coast, but
either solution supports high winds in the Shasta and east side.
Thus a high wind watch was issued for these areas.
The extended forecast wasn't changed much, so the pertinent
portion of the previous discussion follows. -Wright
Extended Discussion...Wednesday through Sunday. Showers slowly
taper off Wednesday into Thursday morning, and the region is
expected to see a lull in the action, but that comes with a return
of the cold weather as we see some clearing that allows temperates
temperatures to fall below freezing aver all inland areas Friday
morning and single digits over the east side.
The weak ridge breaks down and the models diverge on the timing of
systems that move through into next weekend, but most agree that and
active pattern returns. Sven
&&
.AVIATION...09/00Z TAF CYCLE...From the Cascades west...Steady rain
and widespread MVFR with higher terrain obscured and strong
southerly low level winds will continue into Monday morning...with
heavier areas of precipitation and areas of fog producing periods of
IFR conditions through tonight. Some improvement is expected in the
morning, but most areas will remain at most MVFR.
East of the Cascades....Mainly MVFR with steadier light to moderate
rain and areas of higher terrain obscured. Precipitation will taper
to light showers late tonight with snow levels falling to valley
floors into Monday morning. Snow will continue through the remainder
of the taf period.
&&
.MARINE...Updated 830 PM PST Sunday 8 January 2017...Very steep seas
will continue through much of the week with a mix of dominant wind
wave and a fresh southwest swell. Several fronts will pass through
the waters over the next few days, each producing small craft
advisory winds and perhaps brief periods of gale force gusts. High
pressure will then move in late Wednesday with diminishing seas
and calmer winds.
&&
.MFR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...Winter Weather Advisory from 1 PM this afternoon to 7 AM PST
Tuesday for ORZ029>031.
Winter Storm Warning from 1 PM this afternoon to 7 AM PST
Tuesday for ORZ029>031.
High Wind Watch from Tuesday afternoon through Tuesday evening
for ORZ029>031.
Flood Watch from late tonight through Tuesday afternoon for
ORZ022-024.
Winter Storm Warning until 10 AM PST Tuesday ABOVE 3000 FEET for
for ORZ024.
Winter Storm Warning from 7 AM this morning to 4 AM PST Tuesday
ABOVE 3000 FEET for for ORZ025-027-028.
CA...Winter Weather Advisory from 1 PM this afternoon to 7 AM PST
Tuesday for CAZ084-085.
Winter Storm Warning from 1 PM this afternoon to 7 AM PST
Tuesday for CAZ085.
High Wind Watch from Tuesday afternoon through Tuesday evening
for CAZ084-085.
Flood Watch from late tonight through Tuesday afternoon for
CAZ080.
Winter Storm Warning until 10 AM PST Tuesday ABOVE 3000 FEET for
for CAZ082-083.
Winter Storm Warning until 10 AM PST Tuesday ABOVE 3000 FEET for
for CAZ080.
Winter Weather Advisory from 10 AM this morning to 4 AM PST
Tuesday for CAZ081.
High Wind Watch from Tuesday morning through Tuesday evening for
CAZ081.
Pacific Coastal Waters...Hazardous Seas Warning until 10 PM PST Wednesday for
PZZ350-356-370-376.PRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR
202 AM PST MON JAN 9 2017
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
1200 AM HEAVY RAIN 1 NNE LANGLOIS 42.94N 124.45W
01/09/2017 M3.11 INCH CURRY OR TRAINED SPOTTER
24 HOUR TOTAL OF 3.11 INCHES, 12 HOUR TOTAL
1.87 INCHES.
&&
NWS MEDFORD OR
IRIS SYSTEMThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
2 heavy snow, 1 winter weather. Local standard time, as filed.
A spotter 7NNW Rogue River reported 12.0 inches of snow in 24 hours ending at 10/0700 PST. Many trees were down on Queen's Branch and East Evans Creek Road.
The cooperative observer at Odell Lake East reported 13.0 inches of snow at 10/0800 PST and an additional 18.0 inches of snow at 11/0800 PST. An avalanche occurred inside Crater Lake National Park about 1/2 mile west of the park entrance on Highway 62, closing Highway 62 and the park.
The Rock Creek RAWS recorded a gust to 58 mph at 11/0527 PST. The Summer Lake RAWS recorded a gust to 60 mph at 11/0238 PST and a gust to 66 mph at 11/0338 PST. The Summit RAWS recorded a gust to 60 mph at 11/0503 PST.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, January 2017
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: 668135, 668137, 668142.