Recent heavy rains from late March combined with snow melt caused the Columbia River at Vancouver to continue to flood until April 3rd.
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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 PQR wrote it up.
Recent heavy rains from late March combined with snow melt caused the Columbia River at Vancouver to continue to flood until April 3rd.
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 Mar 31, 8:22 PM PST, 3 hours 38 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Portland OR
922 PM PDT Fri Mar 31 2017
.SYNOPSIS...The next front will move in later tonight and Saturday,
with the main precipitation occurring Saturday morning, but it will
be weakening as it moves through with decreasing precipitation later
Saturday and Saturday night. A weak upper trough will be dropping in
from the northwest Sunday and Sunday night with a few showers,
especially over the higher terrain, lingering into Monday morning. An
upper ridge will then briefly build in before the next system arrives
for Wednesday night and Thursday.
&&
.SHORT TERM...Tonight through Monday...A mild and dry day with high
temperatures in the in the mid to upper 50, but a Hood River and
Corvallis reached 61. High clouds continue to thicken as the next
system approached front the west. Satellite presentation of the next
system looks somewhat disorganized. But surface analysis does show a
warm front extending south from near Vancouver Island to off the
south Washington coast. This front will likely occlude tonight as
the cold front catches up. Rain likely to start on the coast around
3 and 6 am Saturday then spreading to northern interior of the
forecast area by mid morning. So will keep the likely PoPs along most
of the coast and the northern interior forecast zones Saturday
morning. Precipitation will decrease Saturday afternoon and evening.
Another upper trough moves through from the northwest Sunday into
Monday, taking a somewhat of an inside slider track through the
Columbia Basin. This will reduce the threat of precipitation in our
forecast area, but we still expect a few showers across the north and
over the higher terrain. Whatever showers do develop will decrease a
lot as we go through Monday. We should again see decent sunshine by
Monday afternoon as clouds break up. Tolleson /mh
.LONG TERM...Monday night through Friday...An upper ridge will give
dry weather to start the period, with a weak warm front possibly
brushing the coast and north interior and a few clouds and may be
some sprinkles Tuesday as it moves north and the upper ridge
continues to amplify. The upper ridge then could lead to one of our
warmest days of the year so far on Wednesday. There is some hint of
some late day showers over the Cascades late Wednesday and Wednesday
evening. Otherwise the trailing cold front is forecast to move
through Wednesday night and Thursday for the next decent chance of
some rain and higher Cascade snow. The models are then showing a
decent system spreading in late next week and the following weekend
for some more rain. Tolleson
&&
.AVIATION...VFR conditions will persist across the forecast area
through late tonight. An approaching cold front will bring light
rain showers to the north coast after 10Z, with showers spreading
inland and south through the morning. Showers will likely bring
periods of MVFR cigs Saturday afternoon and evening. Areas of
mountain obscurations are also likely Saturday.
PDX AND APPROACHES...VFR conditions persist through late tonight.
Light rain showers return after 15Z with periods of MVFR cigs
likely in the afternoon and evening. /64
&&
.MARINE...Light winds and relatively small seas will persist
through Saturday afternoon. Sneaker wave concerns continue for
tomorrow afternoon as a long period swell train approaches the
coast. This hazard will be exacerbated by increased crowds at the
beaches due to the overlapping OR/WA spring breaks which will put
more people at risk. Will continue to touch on this hazard into
the weekend and hope that we will not have any incidents.
Otherwise, seas will increase above 10 ft by Saturday evening and
will peak around 13 to 14 ft on Sunday. Will go ahead and issue
the Small Craft Advisory for Hazardous Seas with the evening
package. Seas will fall slowly through the day Monday and will
likely fall below 10 ft Monday night and remain there until late
in the week.
Winds look to be a bit lower on Saturday, so will hold off on any
headlines for tomorrow afternoon. The next chance for advisory
winds is Saturday night and Sunday as northerlies develop along
the coast and will strengthen to low end small craft in southern
waters. Most of next week will see light winds below 20 knots.
/64/Bentley
&&
.PQR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...None.
WA...None.
PZ...Small Craft Advisory for hazardous seas from 9 PM Saturday to 5
PM PDT Sunday for Coastal Waters from Cape Shoalwater WA
to Florence OR out 60 nm.
Small Craft Advisory for Rough Columbia River Bar from 5 AM to
10 AM PDT Saturday.
Small Craft Advisory for Rough Columbia River Bar from 5 PM
Saturday to 5 AM PDT Sunday.
&&
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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.The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 flood. Local standard time, as filed.
To start off April, the Columbia River gauge at Vancouver was up around 17.22 ft, which is 1.22 ft above flood stage. On April 3rd, the river finally dropped below flood stage.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2017Every state in 2017This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, April 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: 696376.