A storm system brought snow to portions of the Interior Northwest January 25th through 27th. Heaviest snow was over portions of the Washington Cascade east slopes.
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 storm system brought snow to portions of the Interior Northwest January 25th through 27th. Heaviest snow was over portions of the Washington Cascade east slopes.
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 Jan 25, 3:26 PM PST, 2 hours 4 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...Updated
National Weather Service Pendleton OR
326 PM PST Thu Jan 25 2018
Updated Aviation Discussion
.SHORT TERM...Tonight through Saturday night...A shortwave trough
will move east of the area this evening while another upstream
impulse moves across the region later tonight and Friday. This will
keep unsettled weather over the area with isolated to scattered rain
showers and snow showers above 1500-2500 feet. QPF amounts will be
light so significant snow accumulations are not expected. The much
more potent storm system approaches the area Friday night in the
form of a warm front. This will spread precipitation region-wide and
heavy snow across the northern Blue Mountains. Initially snow levels
will be 1500-2500 feet so some lower elevation snow will be possible
late Friday night and Saturday morning. A rapid influx of warm air
will change the snow over to rain rather quickly Saturday except
over NE ORE and the Blue MTNS of WA. Have issued a winter storm
watch for the Northern Blue Mountains for mainly late Friday night
through early Saturday evening. By around 7 pm Saturday snow should
change to rain at even the highest elevations of the Blues. There
may be other areas that need winter highlights for a period of time
before the snow changes to rain such as the Grande Ronde Valley and
Wallowa County. As of now snow amounts in these locations are
marginal for warnings so will not issue a watch with this forecast
package. Overnight on Saturday expect rain to be likely especially
central and north with temperatures in the 40s/30s mountains. 78
.LONG TERM...Sunday through Thursday night...A warm front will be
lifting to the north out of the region Sunday morning with snow
levels at or above 6000 feet. Precipitation associated with the
front will trail off Sunday night as upper level ridging builds in.
The ridge begins to break down Monday night as the upper level low
in the Gulf of Alaska opens up and progresses through the region
during the day on Tuesday with weak embedded shortwaves following
until Thursday morning (ECMWF) or Friday morning (GFS). The bulk of
the precipitation associated with these waves will be confined to
the mountains, especially the Cascades of Washington where a plume
of 1 to 1.5 inch PWATs is focused, elsewhere significant rain
shadowing is expected with minimal accumulations expected. Snow
levels will start out 2500-3500 feet Tuesday and fall to near 1000
feet on Wednesday. Winter highlights for the eastern slopes of the
Washington Cascades may become necessary for Tuesday evening into
Wednesday morning if model trends continue. Winds will be breezy to
locally windy Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning as cold air
advection transports a significant portion of 30-40KT H850 winds to
the surface. 74
&&
.AVIATION...00Z TAFs...Weak waves embedded in the westerly flow will
yield spotty showers for the remainder of this afternoon and
overnight. Generally VFR conditions are expected to prevail outside
of any spotty snow showers near RDM/BDN between midnight and early
morning. Breezy winds, 15-20KT with gusts to 25-30KT will taper off
in the next hour or two. Winds will increase again across the
northern sites Friday afternoon with surface heating as we mix into
20-25KT winds aloft. 74
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
PDT 32 48 37 52 / 20 20 60 80
ALW 34 51 37 50 / 30 20 40 60
PSC 34 52 35 49 / 20 10 60 70
YKM 29 46 34 46 / 20 10 80 50
HRI 33 50 36 51 / 20 10 70 70
ELN 26 43 28 42 / 30 10 80 60
RDM 24 42 31 48 / 40 10 80 50
LGD 30 42 31 43 / 40 20 50 90
GCD 26 40 31 45 / 40 20 70 90
DLS 34 47 34 49 / 40 30 90 40
&&
.PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...Winter Storm Watch from Friday evening through Saturday evening
for ORZ502.
WA...Winter Storm Watch from Friday evening through Saturday evening
for WAZ030.
&&
78/74/741 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Measured snow accumulation of 15.5 inches at Easton in western Kittitas county.
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, January 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: 734150.