A moist warm front passed through the region during the evening of December 28th. Widespread moderate and locally heavy snow amounts were noted in the valleys and the Columbia Basin of eastern Washington but most of this snow melted quickly with the warm front passage with only minimal travel impacts.
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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 OTX wrote it up.
A moist warm front passed through the region during the evening of December 28th. Widespread moderate and locally heavy snow amounts were noted in the valleys and the Columbia Basin of eastern Washington but most of this snow melted quickly with the warm front passage with only minimal travel impacts. The mountains received heavy snow out of this event making travel at higher elevations slippery and hazardous.
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
6 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
An observer near Deer Park reported 4.5 inches of snow during the evening of December 28th, most of which melted the next day as warm front passed through the area.
An observer near Clayton reported 5.1 inches of snow during the evening of December 28th, most of which melted by the next day as warm front passed through the area.
An observer near Diamond Lake reported 5.0 inches of snow during the evening of December 28th, most of which melted by the next day as warm front passed through the area.
An observer near Evans reported 5.5 inches of snow during the evening and overnight hours of December 28th, most of which melted by the next day as temperatures increased behind a warm front.
An observer at Newport reported 4.4 inches of snow during the evening and overnight hours of December 28th, most of which melted by the next day as temperatures increased behind a warm front.
The 49 North ski resort reported 12 inches of snow accumulation from this storm system.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2018Every state in 2018This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, December 2018
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: 793340, 793342, 793346, 793347, 793348, 793349.