A low pressure system moved into far northern California, this time really only bringing heavy snow to the south Willamette Valley. Cold air was already in place due to snow still on the ground from the previous snow event earlier in the week.
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.
A low pressure system moved into far northern California, this time really only bringing heavy snow to the south Willamette Valley. Cold air was already in place due to snow still on the ground from the previous snow event earlier in the week.
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 Feb 26, 8:48 PM PST, 12 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...Updated
National Weather Service Portland OR
848 PM PST Tue Feb 26 2019
Updated Aviation Discussion
.SYNOPSIS...February is supposed to be a short month. But, try
telling that to Mother Nature. Chilly air mass remains in place, with
another round of low elevation snow tonight into Wed. Then showers
for rest of the week, with low snow levels.
&&
.SHORT TERM...735 UPDATE...Tonight through Friday...Snow has returned
much of the southern two-thirds of the forecast area. At 0330Z KRTX
dual-pol doppler radar showed the highest reflectivities (and most
likely heaviest snowfall) along a Crawfordsville to Detroit line.
Snow began in Eugene by late afternoon and spread north and east
through the early evening. The Eugene airport reported 0.13 liquid by
03Z, but with temperatures around 33 deg and wet-bulb temperatures at
freezing, the rain-to-snow ratio is likely rather low. Have had
reports of around 2 inches in Cottage Grove. The 00Z NAM-Nest higher
resolution model shows a band of heavier forecast reflectivities over
the south interior valleys between 04Z and 06Z and then shift north.
The NAM NSSL model is not quite as intense with the main precip band.
Will need to watch snowfall amounts for the South Willamette Valley
for a possible upgrade to a Winter Storm Warning. Latest available
model guidance shows precip diminishing by 12Z Wed. Expected snowfall
amounts for areas near the Gorge will be on the low side, generally
an inch or so due to the very low dew points. In fact, at 03Z KTTD
had a dew point of 9 deg. Such low dew points will make it difficult
for much snow to accumulate, or even reach the ground.
The other significant weather issue is wind. At 03Z the KTTD-KDLS
gradient was -8 mb. More impressively the larger scale KOTH-KGEG
gradient was -17.5 mb and KOTH-KSEA gradient was -11.6 mb. These
latter two values are rather strong for late February and is also
indicative of a synoptic scale offshore event instead of a Gorge gap
event. Wind gusts at some of the North Oregon Cascade ski areas have
been as much as 60 mph. This has resulted in wind chill readings of
20 to 25 below zero. The gradients are expected to weaken Wed
afternoon through Wed night.
Precip becomes more showery Wed morning and the offshore Gorge
gradient nearly vanishes by late Wed night. But, it will strengthen
again Thu as another surface low pressure area develops offshore and
approaches the coast. The air mass remains cold for this time of year
with model 850 mb temps hovering in the -6 to -8C range. Thus, low
elevation snow remains a threat through at least Thu. Weishaar
.LONG TERM...Friday night through Tuesday...The operational GFS and
ECWMF both have a high pressure building over the Columbia River
Basin, on the eastern side of the Cascades through Friday night. In
response to the high, a surface trough within the Willamette Valley
starts to develop Friday night. This pattern will be maintained
through Tuesday, resulting in a surface pressure gradient of 6 to 7
mb across the Cascades. This will result in an offshore flow pattern
through out the weekend. That will cause breezy to windy east winds
conditions over within the Gorge and in the Portland/Vancouver metro
area. As well as northerly winds for the central and southern parts
of the Willamette Valley. Overnight temperatures are expected to
remain below freezing throughout the extended period, with daytime
temperatures in the mid 40s. No precipitation is expected during
this time frame. /42
&&
.AVIATION...06Z TAF thoughts: Starting to see snow spread north
from EUG to SLE. With snow, seeing deteriorating conditions, with
LIFR conditions at EUG, and IFR conditions at CVO. As snow picks
up at SLE, expect to see cigs come down to 1500 feet or less
soon. Snow spreads north into UAO, HIO, PDX, and TTD, starting
around 05Z at UAO, and closer to 06-07Z for HIO, PDX, and TTD. With
the snow, seeing deteriorating conditions. Will see MVFR cigs
right around the time snow starts to make it to the surface
between 05-07Z. Snow will also lower vis to MVFR or even IFR at
times. Best chance for accumulating snow will be at terminals
farther away from the Columbia Gorge. Will continue to see east
winds gusting up to 30 to 35 kt at TTD and PDX overnight,
starting to let up around daybreak Wednesday. With that, will see
winds turn southerly across most of the area Wednesday morning
as the low pressure system lifts northward along the coast. PDX,
TTD, HIO, and AST will probably continue to see east winds
through most of Wednesday, though, due to the offshore gradient.
Will see snow changeover to rain at our terminals during the day
on Wednesday with the switch to southerly winds. Only exception
may be TTD and PDX, which will continue to get the direct tap to
the colder air from the Columbia Gorge. With the changeover to
rain, should see conditions improve to predominantly MVFR
Wednesday morning, then improve to VFR midday Wednesday as
showers are coming to an end.
KPDX AND APPROACHES...VFR through this evening. Will see snow
start to reach the ground around 06Z-07Z. Accumulation should be
less than a half inch if anything at all. East winds continue to
gust up to 30 to 35 kt overnight, finally starting to decrease
around daybreak Wednesday morning. Scattered light snow showers
will linger through Wednesday morning, coming to an end around
midday. With decreasing showers, expect conditions to improve to
VFR and should stay VFR through Wednesday evening. -McCoy
&&
.MARINE...Issued an SCA for winds earlier today and offshore
flow has increased today as expected, especially through Coast
Range gaps. Expect winds will increase further this evening with
gusts 25 to 30 kt are being shown by all higher resolution
models and the bulk of the lower resolution 12z runs. Another low
will move from south to north through the waters on Wednesday
and remain nearby through Thursday. NAM and ECMWF are in decent
agreement regarding the position/strength of the low and thus
have followed those models over the GFS. Bering in mind, the GFS
is really not all that different as well. A similar offshore
flow returns this weekend and early next week with an additional
set of SCA level wind gusts looking probable at this time.
Seas remain 4-6 feet through the week. except for Wednesday
night and Thursday. A 17-22 second west swell arrives and will
push seas to around 8 feet. Seas decay again Thursday night and
through the weekend. JBonk
&&
.PQR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...Winter Weather Advisory until 4 PM PST Wednesday for Upper Hood
River Valley.
Winter Weather Advisory until noon PST Wednesday for Central
Coast Range of Western Oregon-Central Columbia River Gorge-
Central Willamette Valley-Coast Range of Northwest Oregon-
South Willamette Valley-Western Columbia River Gorge.
Winter Weather Advisory until 6 PM PST Wednesday for Cascade
Foothills in Lane County-Northern Oregon Cascade Foothills.
Winter Weather Advisory until midnight PST Wednesday night for
Cascades in Lane County-Northern Oregon Cascades.
Winter Weather Advisory until noon PST Wednesday for Greater
Portland Metro Area.
WA...Winter Weather Advisory until noon PST Wednesday for Central
Columbia River Gorge-Western Columbia River Gorge.
Winter Weather Advisory until noon PST Wednesday for Greater
Vancouver Area.
PZ...Small Craft Advisory for winds until 5 AM PST Wednesday for
Coastal Waters from Cape Shoalwater WA to Florence OR out
60 NM.
&&
Interact with us via social media:
www.facebook.com/NWSPortland
www.twitter.com/NWSPortland
This discussion is for Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington
from the Cascade crest to 60 nautical miles offshore. This area is
commonly referred to as the forecast area.1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
There were several public reports of 4 to 8 inches of snow. This storm hampered recovery efforts from the February 24-25 snow storm, extending power outages for many customers.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2019Every state in 2019This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, February 2019
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: 811022.