A frontal boundary slowly moving south across the region and the passage of a shortwave in northwest flow aloft led to the development of convective showers developing in the late morning and early afternoon of March 5th. Under these convective showers, at least one landspout was able to develop south of Milton-Freewater in the late morning hours.
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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 PDT wrote it up.
A frontal boundary slowly moving south across the region and the passage of a shortwave in northwest flow aloft led to the development of convective showers developing in the late morning and early afternoon of March 5th. Under these convective showers, at least one landspout was able to develop south of Milton-Freewater in the late morning hours.
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 Mar 5, 9:15 AM PST, 45 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...Updated
National Weather Service Pendleton OR
915 AM PST Tue Mar 5 2024
Updated aviation discussion
.MORNING UPDATE...Snowfall continues this morning across portions
of Oregon, including the Foothills of the Blue Mountains as well
as Central Oregon through the Ochoco-John Day Highlands. Snowfall
has been particularly notable across the Foothills of the Blues as
a few slow moving cells put down some decent snowfall, but the
majority of this is melting off as ground and air temperatures
continue to rise above freezing. Activity should transition to
rainfall over the next hour or so, while the snowfall to the south
across Central Oregon will continue through the late morning hours
before pushing off to the southeast. Some lingering activity may
persist through this afternoon, but it will be light at best, and
by tonight look for dry conditions as we enter a clear, ridging
pattern through the end of the week. Goatley/87
&&
.AVIATION...18z TAFs...VFR conditions are expected to prevail
through the period. However, light snow will continue at KPDT, KALW,
KRDM, and KBDN through early afternoon occasionally reducing VSBYs
and CIGs to MVFR or less. Skies will clear overnight. There is a
low chance fog could develop overnight, but have only mentioned it
in KPDT at this time. Winds will be 10 kts or less through the
period. Earle
&&
.PREV DISCUSSION... /issued 222 AM PST Tue Mar 5 2024/
SHORT TERM...Today through Thursday...An upper level trough
centered over central Canada continues to dominate the weather from
the Pacific Northwest eastward to the Upper Plains. A shortwave
moving through the trough is moving through Washington and northeast
Oregon this morning ushering in cool drier air from the north.
Meanwhile, a nearly stalled front remains over central and southern
Oregon. This front will continue to generate light to moderate
snowfall across central Oregon through the morning and then decrease
to showers in the afternoon as the front slowly sags southward. The
winter weather advisories for this area continues through 10am. The
showers over central Oregon will come to an end this evening. The
upper level trough will finally move off to the east leaving the
forecast area under a dry but cool northwest flow Wednesday and
Thursday. The cool northwest flow will continue to hold high
temperatures slightly cooler than normal through the short term
period.
LONG TERM...Friday through Tuesday...Ensembles depict a generally
progressive pattern through the period, yielding seasonable
conditions with chances of valley rain and mountain snow through
early next week. QPF ensembles aren't particularly impressive across
our lower elevations, while signaling more respectable values across
our high mountain zones.
Friday looks to be dry as ensembles suggest transitory ridging
overhead before switching to a more prolonged SW pattern through the
weekend heading into early next week. NBM PoPs generally range from
20-40% outside of crest level until late Sunday / early Monday, when
ensembles bring the axis of a shortwave across the PacNW, increasing
PoPs across the entirety of the forecast area. This pattern as
depicted by guidance will preclude chances for wintry precip across
most of our population zones thanks to mild SW flow aloft, but our
mountain passes could see accumulating snow fall with snow levels
hovering around the 3000-4000 ft range. Uncertainty is on the higher
end, however, with forecast confidence in impactful pass-level
snowfall only around 30-40%, due to how progressive the synoptic
pattern is (affecting timing) and the borderline snow levels.
Temps will hover around seasonal averages for the period. Expecting
highs in the low 50s across our population centers, with rain being
a threat primarily toward the latter half of the period when the
trough axis passes through. Difficult to dial in on details beyond
the shortwave passage, as the progressive synoptic pattern leads to
greatly diverging solutions across ensemble clusters beyond Monday.
Evans/74
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
PDT 43 26 44 27 / 30 0 0 0
ALW 44 26 45 28 / 30 0 0 0
PSC 48 30 48 31 / 10 0 0 0
YKM 47 25 47 26 / 0 0 0 0
HRI 47 29 48 29 / 20 0 0 0
ELN 44 21 43 23 / 0 0 0 0
RDM 38 19 41 21 / 60 0 0 0
LGD 39 20 41 23 / 30 0 0 0
GCD 38 18 40 21 / 70 10 0 0
DLS 49 28 48 30 / 0 0 0 0
&&
.PDT WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
OR...Winter Weather Advisory until 10 AM PST this morning for ORZ506-
509-511.
WA...None.
&&
MORNING UPDATE...87
SHORT TERM...91
LONG TERM....74
AVIATION...81Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Pendleton OR
835 AM PST Tue Mar 5 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0830 AM Snow 6 SW Three Rivers 43.75N 121.54W
03/05/2024 M8.0 inch Deschutes OR Trained Spotter
8 inches of new snow fell overnight.
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Pendleton OR
943 AM PST Tue Mar 5 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0800 AM Snow 1 SW Bend 44.06N 121.32W
03/05/2024 M5.0 inch Deschutes OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-DS-63 Bend 0.7 SW.
0700 AM Snow 9 NW Seneca 44.24N 119.09W
03/05/2024 M4.8 inch Grant OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-GR-4 Canyon City 12.6
SSW.
0700 AM Snow 29 SSW Dayville 44.12N 119.85W
03/05/2024 M4.7 inch Crook OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-CK-1 Paulina 6.0 ESE.
0800 AM Snow 6 N Bend 44.16N 121.32W
03/05/2024 M4.5 inch Deschutes OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-DS-45 Bend 6.3 N.
0800 AM Snow 3 NNE Bend 44.11N 121.29W
03/05/2024 M4.3 inch Deschutes OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-DS-49 Bend 3.0 NNE.
0700 AM Snow 9 SE Redmond 44.16N 121.06W
03/05/2024 M4.2 inch Crook OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-CK-13 Powell Butte 6.4
SSW.
0600 AM Snow 2 ESE Bend 44.06N 121.27W
03/05/2024 M4.1 inch Deschutes OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-DS-61 Bend 2.1 ESE.
0700 AM Snow 2 W Bend 44.07N 121.36W
03/05/2024 M4.1 inch Deschutes OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-DS-17 Bend 2.3 WNW.
0700 AM Snow 1 WSW Bend 44.06N 121.34W
03/05/2024 M4.0 inch Deschutes OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-DS-29 Bend 1.5 WSW.
0700 AM Snow 7 E Bend 44.07N 121.16W
03/05/2024 M3.9 inch Deschutes OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-DS-76 Bend 7.3 E.
0700 AM Snow 7 W Redmond 44.27N 121.30W
03/05/2024 M3.9 inch Deschutes OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-DS-69 Redmond 6.5 W.
0700 AM Snow 2 S Bend 44.04N 121.31W
03/05/2024 M3.5 inch Deschutes OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-DS-33 Bend 1.8 S.
0700 AM Snow 1 NW John Day 44.43N 118.96W
03/05/2024 M3.0 inch Grant OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-GR-8 John Day 0.6 NW.
0600 AM Snow 2 WNW Sisters 44.31N 121.58W
03/05/2024 M3.0 inch Deschutes OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-DS-35 Sisters 2.0 WNW.
0700 AM Snow 2 NW Redmond 44.28N 121.21W
03/05/2024 M3.0 inch Deschutes OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-DS-64 Redmond 2.2 WNW.
0700 AM Snow 3 N Redmond 44.30N 121.18W
03/05/2024 M3.0 inch Deschutes OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-DS-51 Redmond 2.9 NNW.
0700 AM Snow 6 SSE Prineville 44.23N 120.78W
03/05/2024 M2.8 inch Crook OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-CK-10 Prineville 6.2
SSE.
0600 AM Snow 1 ESE Bend 44.06N 121.28W
03/05/2024 M2.5 inch Deschutes OR CO-OP Observer
CO-OP Observer station BNDO3 Bend.
0700 AM Snow 1 WSW Terrebonne 44.34N 121.20W
03/05/2024 M2.5 inch Deschutes OR Cocorahs
Cocorahs station OR-DS-1 Redmond 5.4 NNW.
&&The Pendleton radar (KPDT), 39 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the first event began at 18:01 UTC.
1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.
At least one, possibly multiple landspouts were observed by a member of the public west of Highway 11 between Athena and Milton Freewater. Pictures taken show one well defined landspout and another much smaller landspout within it's vicinity.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Oregon in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyThe tornado archive for Oregon, 2024Warnings in Oregon, March 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: 1200045.