An extended period of snow melt, combined with a period of heavy rain, caused an extended period of flooding along portions of the John Day River.
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The episode as NWS PDT wrote it up.
An extended period of snow melt, combined with a period of heavy rain, caused an extended period of flooding along portions of the John Day 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 16, 9:00 AM PST, 2 hours 30 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...Update National Weather Service Pendleton OR 1000 AM PDT Thu Mar 16 2017 Updated Aviation Discussion .SHORT TERM...Today and tonight...A cold frontal passage occurred overnight which will place the forecast area under a dry and cooler westerly flow through tonight. Skies will be mostly sunny today but then some increasing high clouds overnight with the potential for some patchy fog. .HYDROLOGY...As stated in the short term discussion...a cold front that swept across the region last night and early this morning has lowered snow levels and precipitation is diminishing behind the front. This leaves the current Flood Warnings for portions of Kittitas and Yakima counties as well as Flood Warnings for the Klickitat, Grande Ronde and Umatilla. Conditions will improve today but it may be slow for water levels to respond. Unfortunately, the dry and cooler conditions this afternoon through Friday morning will be followed by rain and increasing snow levels Friday afternoon through Saturday...and Hydrologic statements may be in order. Wister .AVIATION...18z TAFs...VFR conditions expected to persist at all terminals through the next 24 hours. Skies are mostly clear for most of the forecast area late this morning and are forecast to remain this way through the afternoon and evening hours. Expect only a few to sct mid level CU clouds, mainly over the mountains. Later tonight and into Friday morning the next weather system will begin to approach the area. This will bring increasing mid and high level clouds to the area. Rain and some lower CIGS will overspread the forecast area from west to east Friday afternoon. Winds will be slightly breezy mainly early this afternoon at KDLS...KPDT and KALW where some gust to near 20 kts will be possible. Otherwise from this evening into tonight and Friday morning winds will be AOB 12 kts. 77 && .PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 415 AM PDT Thu Mar 16 2017/ SHORT TERM...Today through Saturday. A cold front is making its way across the forecast area and is located in a line along the northern Blue Mountains south to the Ochoco Mountains. The front will exit the region by mid day. Precipitation has tapered off dramatically behind the front...and snow levels are falling. Based on surface temperatures...snow levels are currently around 4000 feet along the east slopes of the Washington and northern Oregon Cascades. This is good news for the areas who have experienced mass snow melt runoff the past week and have faced flooding or near flooding. By noon today...any showers will be isolated to scattered along the WA Cascades and the northeast mountains with snow levels around 2500 feet. It will be about 5-7 degrees cooler today compared to yesterday with highs in the 40s over the mountains and 50s elsewhere. It will be partly cloudy and chilly tonight with lows in the mid 20s to mid 30s. The dry conditions will not last long as a warm front spreads precipitation east of the Cascades Friday afternoon and Friday night. Snow levels will rise...but the east slopes of the WA Cascades above 3000 feet will likely observe about 1-3 inches of snow before snow levels rise to 5000 feet Friday night. Increasing snow levels and rain could mean water levels will rise again Friday night and Saturday. The warm front lifts north across Washington Friday night...and precipitation will taper off across most of central Oregon. However...an approaching cold front will bring widespread rain on Saturday with snow levels gradually decreasing late in the day. From Friday afternoon through Saturday afternoon...QPF amounts of 0.5-0.75 inch are forecast for the east slopes of the WA Cascades...the northern Blue Mountains...and the Wallowa Mountains. Elsewhere...QPF of 0.1-0.5 inch are expected with the central Oregon zones receiving the low end of QPF. Southwest winds will increase to 20-30 mph in many areas ahead of the cold front. Wister LONG TERM...Saturday Night Through Wednesday...An upper level trough will move through the CWA Saturday evening with decreasing precipitation and windy conditions. This will keep rain and higher mountain snow showers over the east slopes of the Cascades and northeast Oregon mountains Saturday evening. Sunday will be dry and cooler with an building ridge offshore and rising heights over eastern WA and OR. Monday afternoon a warm front will move north into the southern part of the CWA then spread across the rest of the CWA Monday night. A deepening offshore trough will provide abundant moisture for rain Monday night and Tuesday. The associated cold front will move through eastern WA and OR Wednesday with rain and high mountain snow. Coonfield && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... PDT 53 33 56 45 / 0 0 20 70 ALW 55 36 57 48 / 0 0 20 70 PSC 57 34 53 45 / 0 0 30 60 YKM 56 30 51 40 / 0 0 40 70 HRI 57 33 52 44 / 0 0 30 60 ELN 50 29 45 36 / 0 0 40 80 RDM 53 32 58 46 / 0 0 30 20 LGD 52 33 61 48 / 10 0 10 70 GCD 54 35 63 50 / 10 0 10 40 DLS 56 34 50 45 / 0 0 50 70 && .PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... OR...None. WA...None. && 91/77/77
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
The John Day river near Service Creek, ( flood stage 11.5) crested at 12.0 feet at 1815 on March 16th, fell below flood stage and then rose again to 12.1 feet at 1900 on March 19th. Fell below flood stage 0600 on the 20th.
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: 683647.