A brief period of strong winds behind a cold front brought high winds to at least one location along the Oregon south coast.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 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.
A brief period of strong winds behind a cold front brought high winds to at least one location along the Oregon south 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 Medford, OR wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 21, 2:19 PM PST, 1 hour 55 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Medford OR
319 PM PDT Tue Mar 21 2017
Updated Long Term section...
.SHORT TERM...Tonight through Friday night...The occluded front
from this morning has dissipated, but not before cold air
entrained behind it temporarily lowering snow levels about one
thousand to fifteen hundred feet below what was freakiest this
morning. This lead to slush and snow falling across the Cascades
near Lake of the Woods, Keno, Klamath Falls, Chemult, Crescent,
and even Tennant California.
The next occluded frontal boundary is poised to move across
northern California and southern Oregon tonight. Ahead of this
front, showers and storms are occurring--not unlike what one may
see in areas of the Midwest. High resolution models continue to
indicate possibilities for some of these storms west of the
Cascades to become strong or even severe. The best chance for
severe weather will be offshore and along the coast, but areas of
Josephine County are seeing higher possibilities for strong
storms as well. This is highlighted in the current Marginal Risk
as well as Mesoscale Discussion #301 from the Storm Prediction
Center. The main threats with any strong to severe storms will be
gusty winds, potentially large hail, and brief waterspouts moving
on shore. The possibilities for these things occurring are very
small, but the threat is non-zero.
Strong storms may also develop north of the Umpqua Divide in Coos
and Douglas Counties. These strong storms may create the
possibility for hail and strong, gusty winds. The storms west of
the Cascades should begin to lose their strength shortly after
sunset.
Additionally, there is a hydrologic outlook out for areas of
Siskiyou and Klamath Counties. The rainfall with this these storms
will be moderate at times, but brief. Although it still appears
as if rivers should stay below flood stage at this time, small
streams and creeks in Siskiyou County could see impacts,
particularly if any storms begin to train like they are near
Shasta Lake, California.
Lastly, as the storms reach the Cascades this evening, snow levels
will be above 5000 feet. That being said, much like this morning,
the convective nature of the showers may well drop snow levels
to 4000 feet and affect passes along highways 66 and 140 as well
as US 97. Finally, there is enough potential energy to show the
possibility for thundersnow to occur over the Cascades in places
like Crater lake. This will need to be monitored closely as travel
concerns will be possible tonight.
Otherwise, current observations are showing gusty winds across
Summer Lake and many of the valleys east of the Cascades as well
as in Siskiyou County. The wind advisory will continue through
this evening for Summer Lake, and some of our notoriously breezy
spots like the Shasta Valley, Mt. Ashland, and Squaw Peak will
also see gusty winds--but not advisory level--through tonight.
This frontal system will move inland tonight and exit our area
tomorrow evening. This will bring the chances of showers down.
There is expected to be a brief period of ridging, or high
pressure, which will eliminate most of the rain chances on
Wednesday night and Thursday. Then, the next system will approach
on Thursday night bringing more rain, snow, and wind to the
forecast through the end of the short-term period. -Schaaf
.Long Term...Sat March 25th through Tue night March 28th...
GEFS Integrated Vapor Transport products and operational runs of the
GFS and ECMWF indicate that the cooler and wetter than normal
pattern is likely to generally persist through the long term period.
One upper level shortwave trough will move through Friday into
Friday night bringing lingering showers on Saturday. I adjusted snow
levels upward some for Saturday, to about 5000 feet. Saturday does
not appear to be a wash-out, by any means. In fact, on the East Side
we expect some periods of sunshine. Precipitation amounts will be
light, generally less than a tenth of an inch.
After a brief break Saturday night, the next frontal system is due
in Sunday. Snow levels for this one look to be around 5500 feet. The
system does appear strong enough to bring a round of gales to the
coastal waters, a surge of higher wind across inland areas, and
seasonably appreciable precipitation amounts across the area.
Guidance differs the most for early next week, with timing and
latitude differences between the two operational models in shortwave
trough activity. GEFS ensembles indicate a relative break in the
rainfall on Monday followed by another appreciable round of wetness
on the 28th and 29th, affecting us, but centered on Central Oregon
from about Eugene to the Sisters in the Cascades. BTL
&&
.AVIATION...21/18Z TAF CYCLE...A heavier more intense area of
showers that has briefly lowered snow levels to between 4000 and
4500 feet this morning is weakening as it moves through the Upper
Klamath and Sprague River Basins. Through the rest of the day we
anticipate shower development and the possibility of thunderstorms
to be greatest along and near the coast and in the coastal waters
and across northern California and the East Side. At the TAF
sites thunderstorms could affect the KOTH area between 23Z and 03Z
and wind shear is possible there between 03Z and 06Z. VFR is
expected for the most part today, with MVFR developing overnight
and into the morning. BTL
&&
.MARINE...Updated 250 PM PDT Tuesday 21 March 2017...A front will
bring gusty south winds and steep to very steep seas into this
evening...with gales expected beyond about 5 NM from shore and
from Cape Arago south to Nesika Beach. Isolated thunderstorms
could also bring strong wind gusts, hail and possible waterspouts.
Winds and seas will diminish Wednesday through Thursday
morning...then a stronger front will likely bring widespread gales
and very steep seas Thursday afternoon into Friday morning. Winds
will decrease Friday night into Saturday but seas should remain
steep. -Spilde
&&
.MFR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...Wind Advisory until 11 PM PDT this evening for ORZ031.
CA...None.
Pacific Coastal Waters...Small Craft Advisory until 11 PM PDT this evening for
PZZ350-356-370-376.
Small Craft Advisory for hazardous seas from 11 PM this evening
to 5 PM PDT Wednesday for PZZ350-356-370-376.
Gale Warning until 11 PM PDT this evening for
PZZ350-356-370-376.
Hazardous Seas Warning until 5 AM PDT Wednesday for
PZZ350-356-370-376.
BMS/BTL/MASPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR
1239 PM PDT TUE MAR 21 2017
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0900 AM HEAVY RAIN 6 E GOLD BEACH 42.42N 124.31W
03/21/2017 M1.07 INCH CURRY OR TRAINED SPOTTER
.
&&
NWS MEDFORD OR
IRIS SYSTEMPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR
1242 PM PDT TUE MAR 21 2017
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0830 AM HEAVY RAIN 5 NNE SELMA 42.35N 123.57W
03/21/2017 U1.14 INCH JOSEPHINE OR TRAINED SPOTTER
.
&&
NWS MEDFORD OR
IRIS SYSTEMPRELIMINARY LOCAL STORM REPORT
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MEDFORD OR
1243 PM PDT TUE MAR 21 2017
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0800 AM HEAVY RAIN 6 SE SELMA 42.23N 123.52W
03/21/2017 M1.60 INCH JOSEPHINE OR TRAINED SPOTTER
.
&&
NWS MEDFORD OR
IRIS SYSTEMThe national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 high wind. Local standard time, as filed.
The Flynn Prairie RAWS recorded a gust to 59 mph at 21/1713 PST, a gust to 60 mph at 21/1813 PST, and a gust to 64 mph at 21/1913 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, 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: 675848.