A Pacific system brought significant snow fall to portions of south-central Washington February 5th and 6th.
Every event with a place to put it; 2 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 PDT wrote it up.
A Pacific system brought significant snow fall to portions of south-central Washington February 5th and 6th.
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 Feb 5, 3:45 AM PST, 15 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...Updated
National Weather Service Pendleton OR
345 AM PST Sun Feb 5 2017
Updated Aviation Discussion
.SHORT TERM...Today through Monday...An upper low just west of
Vancouver Island will keep a persistent west-southwest flow going
through today. Thus will see good amounts of precip along the
Cascade crest from Jefferson county in Oregon north to Kittitas
county in Washington. Areas of this precip will shift across the
east slopes of the Cascades as well. Less amounts of this precip
will head east of the Cascade east slopes, though a decent band may
set up across the lower basin in Washington this afternoon. Snow
levels will remain largely down to the valley floors in Kittitas
county, but should rise some over Yakima county. Snow levels in
eastern Klickitat county will generally run between 2500 and 3000
feet today. Temps in the Columbia Basin at locations below 1000 to
1400 feet still remain below freezing this morning, so some light
freezing rain will be possible. Expect temps to rise above 32 in
most of these areas by afternoon, though some spotty freezing rain
may not be completely ruled out of the Yakima valley. The upper low
will pull northeast into British Columbia tonight and Monday. At the
same time a strong disturbance will move through the region, pushing
a cold front through the area late tonight into Monday morning. Thus
will see further precip over much of the area. Snow levels will rise
further across much of the area this evening, except in Kittitas
county. Snow levels will fall Monday morning. South-central
Washington should see the greatest precip amounts and much of it
will be snow due to the low snow levels. Thus will continue the
current winter storm warning for heavy snow in the Washington
Cascade east slopes, but will add similar warnings for the Kittitas
valley and portions of the Yakima valley. Winds will increase across
portions of the area today. A wind advisory is still expected in the
Grande Ronde valley. Also winds may become locally very windy along
portions of the Blue Mountain foothills and central Oregon today.
Breezy conditions are expected across the Columbia Basin Monday
behind the cold front. 90
.LONG TERM...Monday Night through Friday. A surface cold front
will sag south Monday evening...lowering snow levels to near 1500
feet with about 1-3 inches of snow over the Blue Mountains and the
East Slopes of the WA/OR Cascades and a chance of light snow across
the remainder of central and northeast Oregon. Most of eastern
Washington will only see a slight chance of snow Monday evening
followed by drier air overnight. Winds will diminish overnight. The
next front Tuesday and Tuesday night will approach from the south.
The westerly flow will not only limit the amount of warming
aloft...but also keep most precipitation confined south of the WA
border. The 06Z NAM was an outlier bringing the moisture north into
the southern half of Washington. For now...will keep PoPs around 10-
30 percent for most of our eastern Washington zones but 40-70
percent for our eastern Oregon zones during this time. There could
be some winter highlights...mainly for areas in Central OR where low
level upslope and deep layer moisture will bring at least several
inches of snow. There will be a brief break in precipitation
Wednesday morning before the next system arrives Wednesday
afternoon. This will be a relatively strong warm front in a
southwest flow aloft that will increase snow levels to around 3000-
6000 feet in all areas with the exception of south central WA where
cold air damming should keep snow levels closer to 1000 feet...at
least through early Thursday. Rain and mountain snow is likely on
Thursday as the forecast area remains under a moist southwest flow
aloft. The upper flow will shift to the west Thursday night and
Friday...and cooler air aloft will lower snow levels down to 3500-
4500 feet along with scattered rain and snow showers. Wister
&&
.AVIATION...12Z TAFs. At KRDM, KBDN, KPDT and KALW...VFR conditions
will prevail for the next 24 hours and winds will be south 10-20
knots. KBDN may briefly receive MVFR conditions after 06Z/6th under
light snow showers. Precipitation associated with the next system
will mainly affect KYKM, KPSC and KDLS...and conditions will lower
to IFR/LIFR after 17Z. Deep cold air over the Yakima Valley will
result in light to moderate snow...especially tonight. KDLS is
currently 0C so there could be light freezing rain early this
morning. Wister
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
PDT 48 36 44 29 / 30 50 40 30
ALW 47 38 44 30 / 40 60 50 30
PSC 39 34 45 28 / 50 60 30 20
YKM 35 29 40 21 / 70 80 30 20
HRI 40 35 46 29 / 40 50 30 20
ELN 32 25 35 17 / 70 80 30 30
RDM 50 32 42 25 / 20 50 30 30
LGD 46 38 44 23 / 30 50 60 40
GCD 50 36 45 21 / 20 50 50 50
DLS 36 32 44 27 / 60 70 50 30
&&
.PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...Wind Advisory from 10 AM this morning to 7 AM PST Monday for
ORZ049.
WA...Winter Storm Warning until 4 AM PST Monday for WAZ026-027-520.
&&
90/85/85The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
3 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Storm total snow accumulation of 14 inches, 5 miles ESE of Cle Elum in Kittitas county.
Storm total snow accumulation of 12 inches, 1 mile SE of Ellensburg in Kittitas county.
Storm total snow accumulation of 7 inches at Tieton in Yakima county.
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, February 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: 682817, 682818, 682819.