A very strong arctic front moved across Western Washington and Oregon on the 12th and 13th dropping temperatures below freezing. With cold air in the lowlands, all precipitation fell as freezing rain for areas along the coast, valleys in the Coast Range, and Willamette Valley northward into southwest Washington.
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 very strong arctic front moved across Western Washington and Oregon on the 12th and 13th dropping temperatures below freezing. With cold air in the lowlands, all precipitation fell as freezing rain for areas along the coast, valleys in the Coast Range, and Willamette Valley northward into southwest Washington. This caused significant impacts, especially around Springfield which received well over an inch of ice accumulation. Strong east winds in the Portland metro area resulted in significant tree damage and power outages. There were injuries and fatalities during this event due to cold exposure, falling trees and electrocution from fallen power lines. The State of Oregon estimated economic loss to businesses of $165 million due to winter weather for the month of January. While this was for the entire state, most of the impacts were in northwest Oregon.
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 Jan 11, 4:32 AM PST, 1 hour 28 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Portland OR
432 AM PST Thu Jan 11 2024
.SYNOPSIS...Cold northwest flow aloft will promote showery
conditions through Thursday night, with snow amounts increasing
again across the Cascades Thursday into Friday. An arriving
arctic air mass Friday into Saturday brings fresh snow concerns
to the Coast Range and Willapa Hills and the lowlands of far
northern Oregon including the Gorge and Portland metro as well
as freezing rain concerns for the central and southern
Willamette Valley, southern Coast Range, and Oregon and SW
Washington coast. Precipitation ends by early Sunday, with
frigid conditions lingering over the region through early next
week.
&&
.SHORT TERM...THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY NIGHT...Showers continue
across NW Oregon and SW Washington early Thursday morning, as
depicted on radar imagery. Showery conditions with light
accumulation will continue through tonight as northwest flow
persists over the region, with snow levels generally holding
steady around 1500 feet. It is possible that any stronger
showers may be able to briefly pull snow levels down closer to
the valley floor into this morning or tonight via dynamic
cooling processes, but temperatures in the mid 30s should
inhibit any accumulation on surfaces. Therefore do not
anticipate any significant winter weather issues in the lowlands
through tonight. Have issued a Winter Storm Warning for the
Cascades above 1500 feet as snow amounts will start to increase
again today as the next embedded trough starts to drop down
from the north. While snow amounts may not meet strict warning
criteria in any one 12 hour period over the next few days,
nearly continuous snow will add up to around 2 feet below the
passes and 2 to 4 feet for the passes and above through Saturday
afternoon.
The main focus of the next few days is the lowland winter
precipitation potential Friday into Saturday. Ensemble guidance
continues to indicate an arctic mass will push into the PacNW
from the east as a stronger weather system moves into the region
from the west. Latest ensemble and NBM guidance indicates high
confidence in the arctic mass pushing into central Oregon,
though some uncertainty remains into just how far south the
coldest temperatures will be. The 75th percentile from the 07z
NBM run keeps high temperatures in the 20s for the Portland
metro area and the 20s to low 30s as far south as Eugene.
Confidence continues to increase in a mix of wintery
precipitation across almost the entire forecast area Friday into
Saturday, though uncertainty still remains on the amounts and
type of wintery precipitation for portions of the area.
In terms of the track of the incoming low pressure system, the
last two GFS runs (00z and 06z Thursday) have begun nudging
closer to the more southern Euro and NAM tracks, as have the
majority of GEFS and Euro ensemble members. The tracks are not
exactly the same, but they trend to the low moving somewhere
into central Oregon instead of closer to the Oregon/Washington
border as previous GFS runs had. In turn, this increasing
consensus in guidance has shifted the bulk of precipitation
falling Friday into Saturday more south into central to southern
Oregon, which has reduced QPF amounts significantly across NW
Oregon and SW Washington, especially for areas north of a line
generally from southern Tillamook County to central Clackamas
county. Where 48 hour QPF totals from the forecast 24
hours ago were around 2-3 inches across the Willamette Valley
and lowlands of SW Washington, the latest forecast indicates
only 0.25-0.5 inch for the Portland metro area and north,
0.50-1.25 inch for the central Willamette Valley, and 1.5-2.25
for the southern Willamette Valley. This, of course, will then
impact the total amount of wintery precipitation that could
fall. Some uncertainty in the final track of this low still
remains, so we expect forecast QPF and wintery precipitation
amounts to fluctuate as we get closer to the event.
In terms of precipitation type, confidence is increasing on
this, as well. Latest runs of the LREF, HREF, and NBM all
indicate increasing potential for freezing rain late Friday
night into Saturday across the central and southern Willamette
Valley, the southern Coast Range, and the coast from central
Oregon to SW Washington. NBM indicates a 15-25% probability of
at least 0.1 inch of freezing rain for locations near and south
of Eugene, the southern Coast Range, and the Oregon coast around
and south of Tillamook. Additionally, there's a 40-70%
probability of any freezing rain for the same locations and a
15-25% probability of any freezing rain for locations around
Salem and the far northern Oregon coast into the SW Washington
coast. If any snow falls in these areas, temperatures may be too
warm for snow to stick.
Additionally, these models indicate precipitation will likely
fall as snow in the northern Willamette Valley into SW
Washington, though soundings do still show a notch of warm air
above 3000 feet that could allow some sleet to mix in,
especially in the earlier hours of snow. Probability of 1+ inch
of snow ranging from the lowlands of Cowlitz County, WA down to
the Salem area, including the Portland/Vancouver metro area,
are around 50-65% with a 40-50% probability down to the
Corvallis area. Probabilities for 4+ inch of snow for the same
areas have decreased to 25-40% and 0% respectively due to more
ensemble members lowering QPF in these areas.
There is also high confidence in easterly winds returning to
the Columbia River Gorge Friday evening into this weekend as
the TTD-DLS pressure gradient reaches an impressive -10 mb. This
would support 50 to 60 mph gusts through the western Gorge and
even higher gusts in favored locations such as Crown Point and
Corbett. Given the snow potential in the forecast, this points
to the strong possibility for blizzard conditions through the
Gorge Friday night into Saturday if the snowier solutions come
to fruition. Opted to issues Winter Storm Watches for each of
the areas discussed above given potential for significant
lowland winter weather impacts. Bottom line, stay tuned to the
forecast in the coming days as this remains a fluid situation
with several plausible outcomes still on the table. -CB/HEC
.LONG TERM...SUNDAY THROUGH WEDNESDAY...Guidance indicates
precipitation tapering off across the area by Sunday morning at
the latest, with mostly dry conditions likely through Tuesday as
ensemble clusters remain in strong agreement on ridging
developing over the region early next week. This will make cold
temperatures the primary forecast concern from Sunday through
Tuesday, with highs remaining below freezing in the lowlands and
overnight lows dropping into the teens. Winds will persist
through the Gorge, possibly bringing wind chills into the low
single digits in eastern parts of the metro through early next
week. Temperatures look to begin to moderate by the middle of
next week as onshore flow slowly returns and a weather system
approaches the region. -CB/HEC
&&
.AVIATION...Showers within northwesterly flow continue across the
area and will do so over the next 24 hours. Minimal changes
through the forecast as the main category changer will be CIGs.
CIGs will be a bit more variable bouncing around between high end
MVFR and low end VFR. Showers will increase in intensity around
20Z (from west to east) which will drop conditions to MVFR. While
some pockets of lower clouds are present, not necessarily looking
at them being predominate. Some breezier winds along the coast,
but in general winds remain northwesterly under 10 kt. Will see a
similar trend over the forecast. As a quick note, weather will
become much more active starting on Friday with the potential for
impactful winter weather. For more details, please read the long
term discussion portion of the area forecast discussion.
PDX AND APPROACHES...Minimal impact. Showers will persist,
intensifying around 22Z, though will not be "moderate". During
this period of heavier rain, CIGs will lower to MVFR. Temperatures
will hover right around freezing towards the end of the forecast
period. -Muessle
&&
.MARINE...Northwesterly winds will prevail through Thursday around
20 to 25 kt. Gusts up to 30 kt are likely. Seas, currently at 14
ft at 12 seconds at buoy 46050 will continue to ease through the
next 48 hours finally reaching 9 ft Saturday morning. Will
maintain the Hazardous Seas Warning through this period, but will
transition to a Small Craft Advisory late this morning.
Friday, a low pressure system will push through the waters. Winds
are likely to gust to high-end small craft/low-end Gales (30-35
kt) with an initial onshore component. However, winds turn more
easterly over the weekend as pressure gradients increase. The
easterly winds will counter act the westerly swell so not
expecting exceptionally high wave heights. However, around the
Columbia River Bar, and the coastal gaps, could see the higher end
winds of that range. Peak winds will occur on Saturday morning.
-Muessle/Alviz
&&
.PQR WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...Winter Storm Watch from Friday afternoon through late Saturday
night for Cascade Foothills in Lane County-Central Coast
Range of Western Oregon-Central Oregon Coast-Central
Willamette Valley-Coast Range of Northwest Oregon-Greater
Portland Metro Area-Lower Columbia-North Oregon Coast-
Northern Oregon Cascade Foothills-South Willamette Valley-
Western Columbia River Gorge.
Winter Storm Warning until 4 AM PST Sunday for Cascade Foothills
in Lane County-Cascades in Lane County-Northern Oregon
Cascade Foothills-Northern Oregon Cascades.
Winter Storm Watch from Friday morning through late Saturday
night for Central Columbia River Gorge-Upper Hood River
Valley.
WA...Winter Storm Watch from Friday afternoon through late Saturday
night for Greater Vancouver Area-I-5 Corridor in Cowlitz
County-South Washington Cascade Foothills-South Washington
Coast-Western Columbia River Gorge-Willapa Hills.
Winter Storm Warning until 4 AM PST Sunday for South Washington
Cascade Foothills-South Washington Cascades.
Winter Storm Watch from Friday morning through late Saturday
night for Central Columbia River Gorge.
PZ...Hazardous Seas Warning until 10 AM PST this morning for Coastal
waters from Cape Shoalwater WA to Florence OR out 10
NM-Columbia River Bar-Coastal waters from Cape Shoalwater
WA to Florence OR from 10 to 60 NM.
Small Craft Advisory from 10 AM this morning to 4 AM PST Friday
for Coastal waters from Cape Shoalwater WA to Florence OR
out 10 NM-Columbia River Bar-Coastal waters from Cape
Shoalwater WA to Florence OR from 10 to 60 NM.
&&
www.weather.gov/portland
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www.twitter.com/NWSPortland10 winter storm, 4 ice storm, 2 blizzard. Local standard time, as filed.
One to two feet of snow through the period. Sharp wind shift early the 13th resulted in bitter cold wind chills as low as -30 F, requiring ski areas to shut down. During the period January 8-13, the Oregon Cascades above 2000' generally received 2-5 feet of snow.
One to two feet of snow through the period. A sharp wind shift early the 13th resulted in bitter cold wind chills as low as -30 F. During the period January 8-13, the Oregon Cascades above 2000' generally received 2-5 feet of snow.
One to two feet of snow fell through the period. A sharp wind shift early the 13th resulted in bitter cold wind chills as low as -30 F.
The Cascade valleys had varying amounts of snow and ice - with reported ice accumulations around 1 inch, reaching crippling levels for portions of Lane county.
The Cascade valleys had varying amounts of snow and ice - with reported ice accumulations around 1 inch, reaching crippling levels for portions of Lane county.
Blizzard-like conditions were observed at the height of the storm with roughly 1 to 4 inches of a snow/sleet across the Portland and Vancouver metro area and widespread east wind gusts of 35-55 mph. This led to hundreds of downed trees and limbs, resulting in widespread and extended power outages. Multnomah County, the City of Portland, City of Lake Oswego declared a State of Emergency. Portland Parks and Recreation reported 380 downed trees or large branches, The City of Lake Oswego reported more than 100 downed trees. These reports along with trees downed on private property, at least 500 trees were downed in the Portland Metro area. Downed trees and power lines resulted in power outages. Portland General Electric had a peak count of 165,000 customers without power. Portland Bureau of Transportation had 29 road closures due to downed powerlines and trees within the city of Portland, TriMet cancelled all public transportation. Additional roads were closed across Washington and Multnomah Counties including parts of Highway 30 and US 26. At least 10 homes and 25 cars were damaged from downed trees. Damage estimates are from counties of Multnomah & Clackamas which have boundaries outside the NWS zone. There was no cost estimate from Washington county for this report.
There were 7 direct fatalities due to either suspected hypothermia, falling objects. Two indirect fatalities attributed to a generator used to warm an apartment caught fire. Another indirect fatality occurred when a tree fell on a RV, starting a fire killing one of two occupants. Three direct injuries occurred when a tree fell on a tent injuring the occupants.
A mix of snow and sleet, along with ice accumulations of up to one inch led to power outages, transportation disruptions across the Eugene, Springfield, Cottage Grove and Corvallis areas. Interstate 5 was closed at MP 209 (Linn County) due to truck crashes. Power outages continued through at least January 22nd where 92 percent of EWEB customers that lost power were restored at that time. Damage costs were from Lane, Linn and Benton counties whose borders do not exactly align with NWS zones.
Ice accumulations of up to two inches led to major infrastructure damage in portions of Lane County, leading many to be without power for weeks. This occurred in both the lowlands and the Coast Range portions of Lane & Benton counties.
Accumulations of snow and ice varied considerably. Combined with the mixed precipitation were strong wind gusts of up to 50 mph and temperatures in the teens and twenties.
Ice accumulations around one inch led to widespread downed trees and resulting power outages, transportation disruptions. Around 39% of Lincoln County residents lost power. The county declared a state of emergency.
Accumulations of snow and ice varied considerably. Combined with the mixed precipitation were temperatures in the teens and twenties.
Ice accumulations reported around 0.5 inch led to power outages as well as transportation disruptions. About 49% of Tillamook County residents, and 51% of Clatsop County residents were without power. A semi truck stopped traffic on US101 bridge in Tillamook County when it slid and blocked the road. There was a 15-vehicle collision on US-101's New Youngs Bay Bridge between Astoria and Warrenton. Damage costs are from Tillamook county only. Damage costs for Clatsop county were not available.
Blizzard conditions severely impacted travel on I-84 through the Columbia River Gorge. East winds gusted as high as 75 mph at the west end of the Columbia River Gorge. The Sternwheeler Columbia Gorge river cruise boat’s moorings broke due to strong winds in the Cascade Locks Marina and crashed into a footbridge. The winds resulted in downed trees/powerlines and power outages. The City of Cascade Locks had city-wide power outage (1500 homes). City of Corbett’s potable water infrastructure was disrupted due to freezing and electrical outages.
Blizzard conditions severely impacted travel on I-84 through the Columbia River Gorge. A Skywarn Spotter reported 6 inches of snow and a 1/4 mile visibility in Hood River in the late afternoon on Jan 13. Wind gusts of 75 mph with sustained winds of 35 to 50 mph were observed along the Columbia River Gorge.
One to two feet of snow fell.
Accumulations of snow and ice varied considerably. Combined with the mixed precipitation were temperatures in the teens.
As the offices recorded each death: direct deaths were caused by the weather itself, indirect ones by something it set in motion.
| Event | Date | Age | Sex | Where | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Winter Storm, Greater Portland Metro Area | 2024-01-12 | 26 | Male | Unknown | Direct |
| Winter Storm, Greater Portland Metro Area | 2024-01-13 | 58 | Male | Unknown | Direct |
| Winter Storm, Greater Portland Metro Area | 2024-01-15 | 63 | Female | Unknown | Direct |
| Winter Storm, Greater Portland Metro Area | 2024-01-15 | 90 | Male | Unknown | Direct |
| Winter Storm, Greater Portland Metro Area | 2024-01-15 | 81 | Male | Unknown | Direct |
| Winter Storm, Greater Portland Metro Area | 2024-01-14 | 76 | Female | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Winter Storm, Greater Portland Metro Area | 2024-01-14 | 76 | Female | Permanent Home | Direct |
| Winter Storm, Greater Portland Metro Area | 2024-01-14 | 81 | Male | Under Tree | Direct |
| Winter Storm, Greater Portland Metro Area | 2024-01-14 | 58 | Male | Under Tree | Direct |
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, January 2024
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: 1170694, 1170695, 1170696, 1170704, 1170705, 1158557, 1162470, 1170719, 1170716, 1162472, 1170717, 1162471, 1165451, 1165453, 1170715, 1170718.