Heavy rain and snow melt resulted in flooding along portions of the Umatilla river.
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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 PDT wrote it up.
Heavy rain and snow melt resulted in flooding along portions of the Umatilla river.
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 Mar 15, 9:55 PM PST, 2 hours 5 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...Updated National Weather Service Pendleton OR 1055 PM PDT Wed Mar 15 2017 Updated AVIATION Discussion .SHORT TERM...Tonight...Infrared and water vapor satellite imagery loops as well as the KPDT radar indicate that the cold front has accelerated eastward and is moving through the Lower Columbia Basin this evening. Thus I lowered PoPs for lower elevations, especially for ares immediately east of the Cascades for the remainder of this evening and for overnight. The Northern Blue Mountains and Wallowa County will be receiving additional rainfall through this evening before rain tapers off overnight. Polan && .AVIATION...06Z TAFS...VFR conditions will occur over the next 24 hours. Gradually clearing skies from the west tonight and this will be followed by partly cloudy skies Thursday morning, and then mostly sunny Thursday afternoon. Winds diminishing tonight and 5-10 kts through Thursday afternoon. Polan && .PREVIOUS DISCUSSION... /issued 143 PM PDT Wed Mar 15 2017/ SHORT TERM...Tonight through Saturday...The moist southwest flow will give way to a westerly flow overnight as a result of a cold frontal passage. The front will bring precipitation to the forecast area as it transitions the area overnight with drying and cooler conditions behind it for Thursday. Snow levels will lower overnight but as the precipitation is decreasing so no significant accumulations expected. However, the lowering freezing level will help to reduce snowmelt occurring in the mountains. The next weather system will arrive Friday afternoon and evening as a warm front followed by another cold front late Saturday. The warm front will mainly impact the north and northwest portion of the forecast area with rain. However, initial snow levels will be around 2500-3000 feet late Friday along the east slopes of the Washington Cascades so some snow accumulations will be possible before snow levels rise. The cold front will bring a better chance of precipitation to the entire forecast area on Saturday with snow levels 5000-7000 feet. The cold front will also produce some windy conditions with south winds becoming westerly in the afternoon. LONG TERM...SATURDAY NIGHT THROUGH WEDNESDAY...AN UPPER LEVEL TROUGH AND ASSOCIATED SURFACE COLD FRONT WILL PUSH THROUGH THE AREA SATURDAY NIGHT. THIS WILL KEEP RAIN AND HIGHER MOUNTAIN SNOW SHOWERS IN THE FORECAST SATURDAY NIGHT, ESPECIALLY ALONG THE EAST SLOPES OF THE CASCADES AND EASTERN HALF OF THE CWA. WESTERLY WINDS COULD BE QUITE GUSTY FOR A TIME SATURDAY EVENING IN PARTS OF THE AREA. ON SUNDAY THE AREA WILL BE UNDER A FAIRLY STRONG COLD AIR ADVECTION PATTERN, WITH DRY MID AND LOW LEVEL AIR IN PLACE BEHIND THE DEPARTING UPPER LEVEL TROUGH. SKIES WILL BE PARTLY CLOUDY, WITH ONLY A SLIGHT CHANCE OF MOUNTAIN RAIN AND SNOW SHOWERS. SNOW LEVELS DROP TO BETWEEN 1500-3500 FEET OVER THE FORECAST AREA. EVEN WITH THE COLDER AIR ALOFT IN PLACE, HIGH TEMEPRATURES ARE STILL EXPECTED TO REACH THE LOWER TO MID 50S IN THE VALLEYS/BASINS SUNDAY AFTERNOON, WHICH IS ONLY A FEW DEGREES SHY OF THE SEASONAL AVERAGE. ON MONDAY ANOTHER UPPER LEVEL TROUGH WILL BEGIN TO DEEPEN OFF THE WEST COAST. THIS TURNS THE MID AND UPPER LEVEL FLOW MORE SOUTHERLY OVER THE CWA. THIS WILL BRING A SLIGHT CHANCE TO LOW END CHANCE OF RAIN AND MOUNTAIN SNOW SHOWERS TO THE SOUTHERN THIRD OF THE FORECAST AREA, MAINLY LATER IN THE DAY. FOR TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY THE LATEST MODEL GUIDANCE IS IN FAIRLY GOOD OVERALL AGREEMENT THAT THE OFFSHORE TROUGH WILL BEGIN TO APPROACH THE INLAND PACIFIC NW. THEREFORE THE OFFICIAL FORECAST NOW HAS CHANCE POPS FOR LOWER ELEVATION RAIN, AND HIGH CHANCE TO LOW END LIKELY POPS FOR RAIN AND HIGH MOUNTAIN SNOW. SNOW LEVELS WILL BE MAINLY BETWEEN 4000 TO 6000 FEET, EXCEPT PERHAPS SLIGHTLY LOWER(2000-3000 FEET)TUESDAY MORNING ESPECIALLY IN WASHINGTON. TEMPERATURES WILL HOLD NEAR TO SLIGHTLY BELOW AVERAGE FOR MOST OF THE AREA FOR EARLY AND MID-WEEK. 77 HYDROLOGY...MILD TEMPERATURES CONTINUE TO CAUSE RAPID SNOWMELT ACROSS MUCH OF THE REGION AND WITH ADDITIONAL RAINFALL TONIGHT, THE CURRENT FLOODING IN YAKIMA AND KITTITAS COUNTIES WILL CONTINUE THROUGH EARLY THURSDAY. A FLOOD WATCH WILL CONTINUE FOR THE EAST SLOPES OF THE WASHINGTON CASCADES AND FLOOD WARNINGS ARE IN EFFECT FOR THE PORTIONS OF THE KLICKITAT, GRANDE RONDE AND UMATILLA RIVERS AS THE RUNOFF MAKES IT'S WAY INTO THE LARGER RIVERS. 93 && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... PDT 41 53 34 57 / 40 10 0 20 ALW 44 55 38 59 / 50 10 0 20 PSC 42 58 35 55 / 30 10 0 20 YKM 36 58 31 54 / 20 10 0 30 HRI 41 56 33 54 / 20 10 0 20 ELN 32 51 30 48 / 20 10 0 30 RDM 36 55 29 61 / 20 10 0 20 LGD 40 56 33 61 / 80 20 0 10 GCD 41 57 33 63 / 70 10 0 10 DLS 41 57 35 52 / 40 10 0 40 && .PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OR...None. WA...Flood Watch until 5 AM PDT Thursday for WAZ520. && 99//99/77/77/93
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The Umatilla river near Gibbon (flood stage 7.0) crested at 7.8 feet around 0500 on March 16th.
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, March 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: 683641.