Your Personal Favorite Weather Events

[bainbridgekid]

There's been a lot of posts about people's favorite weather events in the main thread and I figured it deserves its own thread.

 

I don't have any significant weather memories before 2004, so mine are all after that.

 

My favorite single events are:

 

1. December 20-21st, 2008 on Bainbridge. I got 12" of snow on top of the 4" from the 18th. 15" max depth which is the deepest I've ever experienced at my house.

 

2. January 6th, 2004 in Seattle. I was 12 and this was definitely the storm that really kicked my weather obsession into high gear. We got 8" of snow from the early morning through the afternoon. Totally rocked my world after the pathetic 1999-2003 period.

 

3. February 23rd, 2014 in Bellingham. 12" of snow in about 12 hours during the day and an incredible amount of tree damage.

 

4. January 16th, 2012 in Bellingham. 9" of snow in about 10 hours and a high in the teens the next day. Some of the heaviest snow I've ever seen during the peak of it and it was only forecasted to snow 2-4" if I remember correctly which made it that much sweeter.

 

5. December 18th, 2008 on Bainbridge. After a very disappointing day watching in the rain shadow during a Winter Storm Warning the day before, things came together and it ended up snowing almost all day with 4" of perfect powder and temperatures in the mid-upper 20's.

 

Honerable mentions:

1/12/11 in Bellingham: 5" of new snow on top of 4" that had fallen 2 days earlier. This would be higher but it is tarnished by the disappointment of the epic model collapse.

11/22/10 on Bainbridge: 4" of snow and a flash freeze on Bainbridge with 50 mph North winds that wreaked total havoc.

1/4/09: 6" of heavy snow in about 6 hours on Bainbridge. This might have been higher if it hadn't been right on the heals of the December epicness.

12/1/05: I was in 8th grade and got 5" on Bainbridge, most of which fell during the school day. Still the only time we ever got accumulating snow while I was at school and I'll never forget making a giant snowman during math class when the teacher gave up on trying to teach since everyone was so enthralled by the snow.

 

For favorite periods of weather it'd probably be:

 

1. Dec. 13th-23rd, 2008 on Bainbridge. I left for Chicago on the 23rd, but was here for 19" of snow, 6 highs below freezing and 10 straight days of solid snowcover. So awesome.

 

2. January 10th-16th, 2007 on Bainbridge. No single big event, but 7" of snow from 3 separate snowfalls, 6 straight days of solid snowcover with basically no melting.

 

3. November 19th-24th, 2010. I got 4" of snow on the 19th in Bellingham with no melting and then drove down to Bainbridge during the snowstorm on the 22nd. Ended up with 4" on Bainbridge and 50 mph North winds which wreaked absolute havoc on the island. The perfectly sunny and frigid day on the 24th really helped put the icing on the cake.

 

4. November 26th-29th, 2006 on Bainbridge. 8" of snow from 3 separate snowfalls and a cold sunny day in the 20's thrown in there.

 

5. January 16th-19th, 2012 in Bellingham. 9" of snow in about 10 hours on the 16th and then extremely cold with a high in the upper teens on the 18th and low 20's on the 19th. Watching the huge snow/ice storm in Seattle on the 18th/19th was bittersweet, but I was able to enjoy it since we had so much snow on the ground in Bellingham already.

 

So what are yours??????????

[BLI snowman]

All of these except #5 were in Clark County.

 

1. December 18-25, 2008: Cathartic for a weather weenie after the epic suckitude of 2007-08. Ended up with about 24" for the month along with 1/2" of ice. Capped off with an inch of wet snow on Christmas morning.

2. December 30, 2003 to January 8, 2004: A number of different events culminating in a massive snow/ice transition event. The storm on New Year's Day was my favorite, 7" of unforecasted snow just to show that favorable model busts were still possible.

3. January 10-12, 1998: About 15" of snow through a 24 hour period, then 1/3" of ice. Ended up being only about 20 miles north of the rain/snow line, so it was a bit nerve-racking for a weather nerd.

4. January 27, 1996 to February 8, 1996: Had about 7" of wet snow on the 27th, a dusting on the 29th, then a week of subfreezing weather with snow on the ground. Columbia River had decent ice flows for the first time in a couple decades. Had a brief sleet transition event before a massive pineapple express and flood event. Ended up being fairly close to a landslide that destroyed some homes, and the nearby creek went totally apeshit. Still the only significant flooding event that I've experienced.

5. February 22-23, 2014: 24 hours straight of snow, ended up with 11" and a ton of tree damage in Bellingham. Fascinating natural balancing act from the early February 2014 snow event, which completely missed us in Bellingham.

 

Honorable mentions:

 

July 2009 heat wave: Probably the most historically significant temperature event that I've witnessed to date in the PNW. 10 straight days of 90+ weather and an all time record max temp of 107 at my location. 

 

February 19, 1993 snowstorm: Another unforecasted event, this one dropped 8-9" on my area in Clark County. 

 

August 1999 thunderstorms: That was truly a crapload of lightning for our region. Tucson lite.

[wx_statman]

Nice post bainbridgekid. I love the details you provided. I'll just copy and paste what I had posted in the main thread -

 

Shooting from the hip, for me it would be -

 

1) December 2008

2) February 2014

3) January 2004

4) Jan-Feb 1996

5) February 1995/December 1998 tie

 

This is since 1994, which is when I started caring about these things. I would have included February 1993 but I was a bit too young.

[richard mann]

.. Strong downpour, no threat of fire.

 

And, not too terribly hot. No smog.

[wx_statman]

.. Strong downpour, no threat of fire.

 

And, not too terribly hot. No smog.

 

That's some California pragmatism right there. Can't blame you.

[richard mann]

-

.. Low-level snow's nice too of course. 

 

— I'm sitting at 1750 ft. or so, Northern Central Sierra foothills; plenty of orographic challenge both West and South and so "rain". But we do get the occasional round maybe every 3rd of 4th year. ..... All the more unique. 

[wx_statman]

For favorite sequences, two stand out for me. Late January to early February 1996 and December 2008. The latter for obvious reasons - snow, snow and more snow. I received 20+ inches in Oregon City between the 14th and 25th, of which 16" fell between the 20th-22nd. My depth peaked at 14" which is something I honestly never thought I would see in this climate. Maybe I had been too pessimistic!

 

Looking back on 1996, its hard to believe that all of this happened within 18 days:

 

-A 3-7" snowstorm

-A 23F maximum at PDX (tied for coldest since 1990)

-A streak of 6 consecutive sub-freezing maximums at PDX (longest since 1990)

-A 14F reading in February at PDX (coldest since 1989)

-Major sleet storm in Oregon City, biggest accumulation of sleet I've seen in my life

-Strongest and coldest gorge outflow since 1989 on the transition out - 90-100 mph gusts in Corbett with temperatures in the upper single digits, with sleet and freezing rain falling!

-One of the greatest pineapple express events in modern times, leading to the wettest February on record at PDX

-The greatest flood in the last 50 years

-And finally, a strong ridge with record breaking compressional heating. Oregon City capped off the madness by posting its earliest 70F maximum on record on 2/14.

[BLI snowman]

For favorite sequences, two stand out for me. Late January to early February 1996 and December 2008. The latter for obvious reasons - snow, snow and more snow. I received 20+ inches in Oregon City between the 14th and 25th, of which 16" fell between the 20th-22nd. My depth peaked at 14" which is something I honestly never thought I would see in this climate. Maybe I had been too pessimistic!

 

Looking back on 1996, its hard to believe that all of this happened within 18 days:

 

-A 3-7" snowstorm

-A 23F maximum at PDX (tied for coldest since 1990)

-A streak of 6 consecutive sub-freezing maximums at PDX (longest since 1990)

-A 14F reading in February at PDX (coldest since 1989)

-Major sleet storm in Oregon City, biggest accumulation of sleet I've seen in my life

-Strongest and coldest gorge outflow since 1989 on the transition out - 90-100 mph gusts in Corbett with temperatures in the upper single digits, with sleet and freezing rain falling!

-One of the greatest pineapple express events in modern times, leading to the wettest February on record at PDX

-The greatest flood in the last 50 years

-And finally, a strong ridge with record breaking compressional heating. Oregon City capped off the madness by posting its earliest 70F maximum on record on 2/14.

 

1995-96 had more interesting weather events in the Portland area than many 5 year periods do.

[IbrChris]

Probably the Tax Day Storm in SE Idaho in April 2002 (It also affected N Utah with record low SLP at Salt Lake City to that date but surpassed now). We went from severe thunderstorms to 12-18" of snow in less than 24 hours (I was living in Rexburg, Idaho at the time). Stalled front across extreme S Idaho led to some huge temp contrasts...I recall it being 32 and snow at Pocatello at the same time it was in the low 80s at Salt Lake City about 150 miles south and roughly same elevation. Blackfoot scored the best with 18" of snow but Rexburg/Idaho Falls received 8-12", heaviest the further S. Pocatello was a bit less, closer to 6-10". Amazing event.

 

http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/2010MWR3274.1

[wx_statman]

1995-96 had more interesting weather events in the Portland area than many 5 year periods do.

 

Quoted for truth, baby.

 

I was really spoiled to get that winter as my 2nd winter following the weather...

[wx_statman]

Probably the Tax Day Storm in SE Idaho in April 2002 (It also affected N Utah with record low SLP at Salt Lake City to that date but surpassed now). We went from severe thunderstorms to 12-18" of snow in less than 24 hours (I was living in Rexburg, Idaho at the time). Stalled front across extreme S Idaho led to some huge temp contrasts...I recall it being 32 and snow at Pocatello at the same time it was in the low 80s at Salt Lake City about 150 miles south and roughly same elevation. Blackfoot scored the best with 18" of snow but Rexburg/Idaho Falls received 8-12", heaviest the further S. Pocatello was a bit less, closer to 6-10". Amazing event.

 

http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/2010MWR3274.1

 

That was a pretty extreme spring overall in North America. Something went haywire.

[IbrChris]

In my old stomping grounds (as a kid) in Thurston County, WA I'd say Jan 2012 would have been my #1 had I lived there. 30"+ on the level in Grand Mound to Littlerock area...perhaps the largest storm total in the lowlands since the early 20th century. Unfortunately I was stuck here in the Portland area.

[ShawniganLake]

1. Dec 2008.  We all know what happened.  An incredible period of cold and snow, didn't fully moderate here until after the big dump of wet snow on January 4th.  Max snow depth was approx. 30-32".  A majority of snow cover remained into February. 
2. Dec. 1996.  Another incredible period of heavy snow.  Max snow depth was 38".  The 22" that fell in less than 12 hours on the 29th was truly astonishing. 
3. Nov 2006.  An epic snowstorm at the end of the month.  Max snow depth 27-28".  A high temp of only 23F on the 28th.
4. Jan 2005.  The first half of the month saw 6 sub freezing highs.  Massive snowstorm from the 6-8th.  Max snow depth approx. 27".
5. Dec '90.  The snow wasn't impressive here, never reached more than 12" in depth.  But the low of 1F is the coldest I have ever experienced. 
6. Honorable mentions to: Late dec' 92-Jan '93.  Late Jan `96.  Dec.19-24th, 1998.  Early Jan `04.

[MossMan]

 

My top 5 events of my lifetime would be...

#5 December 1990 (about 14" of snow, single digit temps, snow Christmas morning)

#4 November 1985 (about 12" of snow, Lake Goodwin froze over)

#3 December 1996 (about 24" of snow, insane snowfall rates in a short period)

#2 November 2006 (about 17" of heavy wet snow that caused major tree damage, no power for 4 days)

#1 December 2008 (about 36" of snow, the duration that the event lasted, and heavy snow Christmas morning)

 

For January's I would say 1996 would be my favorite. About a foot of snow and very cold temps.

[Skagit Weather]

I am pretty young so I don't have a lot of weather history, but my top 6 events.  received my weather station in January 2008.

 

1. December 2008: 8 days in a row with subfreezing highs and something like 10 total (almost more than in all the years combined since). Some amount of snow total over 30" that at one point led to a snow depth of 20" on the ground (twice as much as with any storm I can remember). Low of 2F with the heavy snow cover (only event I have had the temperature drop below 10F on my weather station). One of only two times I can remember freezing rain falling up here. Occurred in December and is only the second white Christmas I can remember. Snow stayed around for more than 17 days.
2. February 2011: The heaviest snow I have witnessed with rates of 3" per hour in the morning giving me 8" by 7 a.m. Another 3" that night and 1" before it warmed up for a total of 12". I was in Mount Vernon later that night and it was snowing even harder with rates of 6" per hour which buried cars on I-5 and shut down the county. Second coldest low of 11F and four days below 33F (two subfreezing).
3. December 2006 (Hanukkah Eve Storm): Definitely strongest windstorm I have experienced. Didn't have my weather station, but the weather station at Padilla Bay (2 miles away) gusted to 85mph. House shook the entire night and when I woke up power was out (it stayed out for 5 days). Couldn't leave my house that day because power poles were snapped in two on most of the nearby roads and trees were down everywhere.
4. November 2006: Returned from Eastern Washington to find 8" on the ground. Another 6" fell on top of that and temperatures dropped into the teens.
5. October 2003: 6th highest historical crest on the Skagit River at 8 ft above flood stage. Witnessed the sandbagging and the news crews standing near the flood wall as water was leaking through. Widespread flooding throughout the county.
6. July 2009: Highest temperature I have recorded on my weather station by almost 10 degrees at 96F. Most of that week I got to spend up at Lake Samish water skiing and it was amazing.

[Sometimesdylan]

Winter of 06-07 and 11-12. Over 100 inches at sea level. Never really rained. Lots of snow.

[Deweydog]

February 1989 was without a doubt the most exciting event of my lifetime.  I was pretty much a child junkie at that point and had just recently done a project on how they put together a forecast and such after a trip to the Astoria NWS forecast office.  It was almost like going to Hollywood because I actually got to watch the met do the NOAA weather radio recording for the 11am update.  Updates at that time came out at 5am, 11am, 5pm and 10pm.  Back then they typically would do the "extended" five-day forecast for the area in 10 degree increments.  

 

I remember in the days leading to February 1989 they'd scaled back from what was a winter full of "highs 45-55, lows 35-45" to "highs upper 30's to near 50, lows upper 20's and 30's."  I was intrigued but didn't care much.  Then on the morning of January 30th, the Vietnamese met (Wong) who you could barely understand on the weather radio issued the first SWS about the impending outbreak and they went balls to the wall about it.  In my short life to that point I didn't understand the magnitude of having a freezing spray warning issued for the Washington coastal waters.  

 

On the 31st, we were at school and the cold advection had begun.  We were standing at the school bus stop and the first sloppy flakes flew in the showery pattern.  That particular pattern has to have been maybe one of if not the most majestic cold onshore flow patterns of all time at least by coastal standards.  At school that day, it was on and off snow showers which had everybody all geeked, then came a note from the office to pass out to everyone.  It highlighted the fact there MAY be impending school closures (it was Tuesday) due to the weather.  That certainly didn't help the situation, geek-wise. Anyway, that afternoon the first of the sticking snow began, then by about 6pm a squall line came through which pretty much led to a flash freeze and an inch or two.  

 

On the morning of the 1st we had about three inches on the ground and it was KAST FM 92.9 on the radio to listen for school closure information.  Of all the luck though, after listening to the fact Astoria, Warrenton, Seaside, Naselle, Knappa, Star of the ******* Sea Christian School, etc. were all closed, Ocean Beach School District was only two hours late.  Nazi bastards!  So it was out to the bus stop at about 9am for us.  As we were standing there, a truck emerged from one of the side streets in the bustling town of Chinook.  The 40,000 pound truck fishtailed in front of us, nearly sideswiping an oncoming car and then almost took us out.  It was freaking awesome!  A moment later, my dad pulled up in his pick up truck and in an annoyed tone said "go home, they just cancelled school."  An eruption of joy on par with a seventh game, walk off, WS winning home run took place.  The rest of the day was more on an off intense showers.  When the sun came out, things would break up, then if an intense line came through it would flash freeze again.  Totally bizarre for a CAA unstable pattern.  At about 4pm, things flash froze for good after an intense graupel storm (I had no idea what graupel was at the time).  

 

On the morning of the 2nd the real shock set in.  It was snowing and blowing.  40-50 mph gusts with occasional white out conditions.  I looked at the ol' scale thermometer and found it to read 17 degrees.  I had to look several times to make sure I was reading it right.  I couldn't fathom a reading of such a ridiculous nature.   Were we going to survive?  Were we all going to flash freeze Day After Tomorrow style and turn into Jake Gyllenhaal?  All day it was on and off blizzard conditions with probably six inches of snow when all was said and done with varying drifts.  We lost power briefly a couple of times throughout the day and tree damage was pretty widespread, likely more pronounced by the quick freeze in an area that doesn't really do that kind of thing.  My friends and I were in awe and soaking it up for all it was worth.  It was absolutely surreal.  Up to that point, the best analog was November 1985, which produced a fair amount of snow but nothing near as intense as far as wind and cold.  Temps hovered/dropped slowly throughout the day and we were down around 12 or 13 by nightfall as the winds persisted.  

 

On the morning of the 3rd, the skies were just beginning to clear as the surface low slid south along the coast.  Winds were at their strongest at this point and my dad and I went down to the river near the north end of the Megler Bridge where ice formations were beginning to take bizarre shapes due to the freezing spray along the jetty-protected highway.  Ice moguls had developed along the east facing portions of the highway, forcing one-way traffic.  The rest of the day was clear and bright, solid snow cover and highs in the teens with gusts probably exceeding 50 mph at times.  The steeple from the town's church, recently reconstructed after burning during the Thanksgiving 1985 ice storm, was blown off.  The pipes at my dad's shop froze and burst everywhere.  The town's people rioted/looted and cries of "hands up, don't shoot!" were shouted in unison.  Some of the most interesting ice formations I have or will ever see were the cranberry bogs, which the farmers flooded prior to the event to prevent catastrophic crop damage.  The water pumps froze and created these bubbling mounds of ice 4-5 feet thick.  

 

On the morning of the 4th, the entire marina froze as the wind shut off and we dropped to 5 degrees.  I have a photo of my black lab Ozzy standing on the ice about 20 feet from shore.  

 

Anyway, it was by far the most definitive event of my lifetime.  Oddly enough, I became rather complacent about such events when something similar, although not nearly as viscerally ferocious happened less than two years later.  It was like "wow, this is going to happen ALL the time!"  Well, yeah...

[SilverFallsAndrew]

February 1989 was without a doubt the most exciting event of my lifetime.  I was pretty much a child junkie at that point and had just recently done a project on how they put together a forecast and such after a trip to the Astoria NWS forecast office.  It was almost like going to Hollywood because I actually got to watch the met do the NOAA weather radio recording for the 11am update.  Updates at that time came out at 5am, 11am, 5pm and 10pm.  Back then they typically would do the "extended" five-day forecast for the area in 10 degree increments.  

 

I remember in the days leading to February 1989 they'd scaled back from what was a winter full of "highs 45-55, lows 35-45" to "highs upper 30's to near 50, lows upper 20's and 30's."  I was intrigued but didn't care much.  Then on the morning of January 30th, the Vietnamese met (Wong) who you could barely understand on the weather radio issued the first SWS about the impending outbreak and they went balls to the wall about it.  In my short life to that point I didn't understand the magnitude of having a freezing spray warning issued for the Washington coastal waters.  

 

On the 31st, we were at school and the cold advection had begun.  We were standing at the school bus stop and the first sloppy flakes flew in the showery pattern.  That particular pattern has to have been maybe one of if not the most majestic cold onshore flow patterns of all time at least by coastal standards.  At school that day, it was on and off snow showers which had everybody all geeked, then came a note from the office to pass out to everyone.  It highlighted the fact there MAY be impending school closures (it was Tuesday) due to the weather.  That certainly didn't help the situation, geek-wise. Anyway, that afternoon the first of the sticking snow began, then by about 6pm a squall line came through which pretty much led to a flash freeze and an inch or two.  

 

On the morning of the 1st we had about three inches on the ground and it was KAST FM 92.9 on the radio to listen for school closure information.  Of all the s**t luck though, after listening to the fact Astoria, Warrenton, Seaside, Naselle, Knappa, Star of the ******* Sea Christian School, etc. were all closed, Ocean Beach School District was only two hours late.  Nazi bastards!  So it was out to the bus stop at about 9am for us.  As we were standing there, a truck emerged from one of the side streets in the bustling town of Chinook.  The 40,000 pound truck fishtailed in front of us, nearly sideswiping an oncoming car and then almost took us out.  It was freaking awesome!  A moment later, my dad pulled up in his pick up truck and in an annoyed tone said "go home, they just cancelled school."  An eruption of joy on par with a seventh game, walk off, WS winning home run took place.  The rest of the day was more on an off intense showers.  When the sun came out, things would break up, then if an intense line came through it would flash freeze again.  Totally bizarre for a CAA unstable pattern.  At about 4pm, things flash froze for good after an intense graupel storm (I had no idea what graupel was at the time).  

 

On the morning of the 2nd the real shock set in.  It was snowing and blowing.  40-50 mph gusts with occasional white out conditions.  I looked at the ol' scale thermometer and found it to read 17 degrees.  I had to look several times to make sure I was reading it right.  I couldn't fathom a reading of such a ridiculous nature.   Were we going to survive?  Were we all going to flash freeze Day After Tomorrow style and turn into Jake Gyllenhaal?  All day it was on and off blizzard conditions with probably six inches of snow when all was said and done with varying drifts.  We lost power briefly a couple of times throughout the day and tree damage was pretty widespread, likely more pronounced by the quick freeze in an area that doesn't really do that kind of thing.  My friends and I were in awe and soaking it up for all it was worth.  It was absolutely surreal.  Up to that point, the best analog was November 1985, which produced a fair amount of snow but nothing near as intense as far as wind and cold.  Temps hovered/dropped slowly throughout the day and we were down around 12 or 13 by nightfall as the winds persisted.  

 

On the morning of the 3rd, the skies were just beginning to clear as the surface low slid south along the coast.  Winds were at their strongest at this point and my dad and I went down to the river near the north end of the Megler Bridge where ice formations were beginning to take bizarre shapes due to the freezing spray along the jetty-protected highway.  Ice moguls had developed along the east facing portions of the highway, forcing one-way traffic.  The rest of the day was clear and bright, solid snow cover and highs in the teens with gusts probably exceeding 50 mph at times.  The steeple from the town's church, recently reconstructed after burning during the Thanksgiving 1985 ice storm, was blown off.  The pipes at my dad's shop froze and burst everywhere.  The town's people rioted/looted and cries of "hands up, don't shoot!" were shouted in unison.  Some of the most interesting ice formations I have or will ever see were the cranberry bogs, which the farmers flooded prior to the event to prevent catastrophic crop damage.  The water pumps froze and created these bubbling mounds of ice 4-5 feet thick.  

 

On the morning of the 4th, the entire marina froze as the wind shut off and we dropped to 5 degrees.  I have a photo of my black lab Ozzy standing on the ice about 20 feet from shore.  

 

Anyway, it was by far the most definitive event of my lifetime.  Oddly enough, I became rather complacent about such events when something similar, although not nearly as viscerally ferocious happened less than two years later.  It was like "wow, this is going to happen ALL the time!"  Well, yeah...

 

Amazing memory. Thank you for sharing. My family would not move to Oregon until August 1989, so I was not around for this blast, I probably would not have very vivid memories of it. I do have surprisingly clear memories of December 1990 however, and that was what really got me into weather. I do remember February 1990 fairly well to as it was the first time I had ever seen snow. We've had some nice arctic outbreaks the past 5-6 years, but nothing on the level regionally of Feb 89' or Dec 90'. Can't wait until we do again.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

Here are my top weather memories.

 

1) December 1990. I was only 5 1/2 years old but this was the event that started my lifelong fascination with the weather. In retrospect I realize that I got a bit lucky with this event. Silverton for whatever reason had probably the highest snow total of any location in the Willamette Valley/NW Oregon with the onset of this event. Most W. Oregon locations had 1-2" with the arctic front, but somehow we squeezed out 4". 

 

It was also the Christmas we got our dogs who my brother and I would grow up with and live well into the early 2000s. The marsh down in the low spot on our farm froze and my parents let us go slide around on the ice. The fresh dusting of snow on Christmas was the icing on the cake. I faintly remember the 2nd arctic blast a couple of days later, but the frontal passage was only accompanied by a grapuel shower so memories of that are not as lasting. 

 

2) Winter of 92-93/February 19, 1993.

 

Probably one of the most complete winters on record in the Central Willamette Valley. Pretty amazing considering it featured no notable arctic blasts. It started off with a decent cold snap and overrunning snow/ice event in early December. Later in the month there were several days with non-sticking wet snow showers before a significant 5" snow event to close out the month. January started off with a 5" snowfall on the 5th or 6th and snow showers throughout the week. This event was almost exclusively focused on the mid-valley. I remember being shocked driving to visit family friends in Newberg. There was about 6" of snow on the ground at our house near Silverton and once we got north of Woodburn there was no snow on the ground. The snow stayed on the ground for about two weeks. Temps were not exceptionally cold. Highs mostly in the 30s, lows in the 20s or upper teens. Whenever the snow started melting off it seemed we would get another 1-3" to replenish what had melted. Around the 20th it melted and the pattern was milder until around Valentine's day when it got cold and clear. Then on the 19th the biggest snow storm of the winter hit with an overrunning event which dumped widespread 10-14" amount on the Central Valley. In Silverton we ended up with about 13". It remains the biggest snowstorm at my Dad's farm since 1989. On the winter we measured 37" on the farm and Salem measured 32" one of their snowiest winters of all time.

 

3) November 30, 2006 Bartlesville, Oklahoma

 

In August of 2006 I moved out to Oklahoma to go to college and play baseball. The day I moved there Bartlesville had a high of 110, 2006 was an exceptionally hot summer in Oklahoma (As it was in Oregon). It was followed by a mild fall. I recall hiking at Osage Hills State Park the day after Thanksgiving under sunny skies and highs in the upper 70s. Meanwhile cold air was dropping into the lower 48 (Arctic outbreak in W. Washington), as an upper level low was ejecting from the 4 corners region and tracking across the southern plains. Massive temp drops followed across NE Oklahoma as rain developed, turned to freezing rain, sleet, and then snow. Winds raged from the N as arctic air poured into the southern plains and winds gusted in excess of 40 mph as extremely heavy snow fell across NE Oklahoma. The canceled classes that day and me and bunch of other guys from the baseball team and general student population had a pretty epic snow football game. In the end Bartlesville received 14" of snow, some places in Osage county had nearly 20", Tulsa had a November single day record of 10" of snow, which also broke their all-time November total snowfall record. Out in Branson, Mo where my future wife was going to college (We had just started talking) they picked up about a foot of snow. After the snow storm it cleared out and we had a couple of sub-zero lows. Things eventually moderated, but there was still some snow on the ground about 10 days later when I flew back to Oregon for winter break.

 

4) January 2012

 

January 2012 featured an epic snowstorm at my 1600' elevation in the N. Oregon Cascade Foothills. From the 14-17th I received a total of 32" of snow. On the 17th I had a 24 hour total of 20.75" of snow. It was incredibly wet snow with those 20.75" melting down to nearly 3" of precip. Then early on the morning of the 18th the snow switched to rain and we had an incredible atmospheric river event. 5.39" of rain fell that day and nearly 2.5" the next. 

 

5) December 2008

 

What top 5 list can suffice without a 2008 mention. It snowed about 15.5" at my Dad's farm near Silverton during this period. The biggest snow event came on the 22nd when 8" fell as the shortwave tracked just south of PDX. A great stretch of winter weather. If there was any disappointment in this event it was that it did underachieve with the cold anomalies.

 

 

Honorable mention...

 

February 1995, February 1996, December 1998, Dec 29-Jan. 8 03-04, July 2006, Dec 2007 ice storm NE Oklahoma, July 2009, Dec/Jan 2009/10 in NE Oklahoma, March 2012, December 2013, February 2014. 

[wx_statman]

February 1989...

 

That's a great story. You've told it before but never in that much detail.

 

February 12-14, 1995 was the defining event of my childhood. It probably left the same emotional footprint on me as February 1989 did on you!

[bainbridgekid]

That was a great read Dewey. Exactly the kind of thing I hoped would be posted.

 

Amazing how much of an imprint a weather event can leave on you even 25 years later.

[wx_statman]

2) Winter of 92-93/February 19, 1993.

 

Probably one of the most complete winters on record in the Central Willamette Valley. Pretty amazing considering it featured no notable arctic blasts. It started off with a decent cold snap and overrunning snow/ice event in early December. Later in the month there were several days with non-sticking wet snow showers before a significant 5" snow event to close out the month. January started off with a 5" snowfall on the 5th or 6th and snow showers throughout the week. This event was almost exclusively focused on the mid-valley. I remember being shocked driving to visit family friends in Newberg. There was about 6" of snow on the ground at our house near Silverton and once we got north of Woodburn there was no snow on the ground. The snow stayed on the ground for about two weeks. Temps were not exceptionally cold. Highs mostly in the 30s, lows in the 20s or upper teens. Whenever the snow started melting off it seemed we would get another 1-3" to replenish what had melted. Around the 20th it melted and the pattern was milder until around Valentine's day when it got cold and clear. Then on the 19th the biggest snow storm of the winter hit with an overrunning event which dumped widespread 10-14" amount on the Central Valley. In Silverton we ended up with about 13". It remains the biggest snowstorm at my Dad's farm since 1989. On the winter we measured 37" on the farm and Salem measured 32" one of their snowiest winters of all time.

 

 

I have very clear memories of that winter even though I wasn't hooked on weather yet. I moved to Oregon on December 23, 1992, initially living on my relatives' farm in Aurora. I remember the snow around New Year's on the farm, and then many days with snow on the ground. My first day of school in the local area was January 11, 1993 in Canby. There was snow on the ground. I remember it really well because I was looking at it while trying to process my fear of going into a brand new classroom in the middle of the school year....in the 4th grade....and without speaking English.

 

At some point during the month, we went down to Salem. I think it was to get some sort of immigration documents from the state. The streets were covered in packed snow and ice. We tried to go down a side street, only to notice a station wagon sliding into the bushes at the bottom. My dad jammed the front right tire against the curb and we were able to stop. A real nice family let both the woman from the station wagon and ourselves into their house while we waited for tow trucks. My sister and I watched cartoons on their TV. That was a good memory. On January 15 we moved into our own apartment in Canby. Then came February. We got at least a foot on 2/19, and the entire neighborhood went wild. I'm pretty sure every kid on my street spent the whole day outside. Little did I know it at the time, but I wouldn't see that much snow on the ground again until December 2008.

[SilverFallsAndrew]

I have very clear memories of that winter even though I wasn't hooked on weather yet. I moved to Oregon on December 23, 1992, initially living on my relatives' farm in Aurora. I remember the snow around New Year's on the farm, and then many days with snow on the ground. My first day of school in the local area was January 11, 1993 in Canby. There was snow on the ground. I remember it really well because I was looking at it while trying to process my fear of going into a brand new classroom in the middle of the school year....in the 4th grade....and without speaking English.

 

At some point during the month, we went down to Salem. I think it was to get some sort of immigration documents from the state. The streets were covered in packed snow and ice. We tried to go down a side street, only to notice a station wagon sliding into the bushes at the bottom. My dad jammed the front right tire against the curb and we were able to stop. A real nice family let both the woman from the station wagon and ourselves into their house while we waited for tow trucks. My sister and I watched cartoons on their TV. That was a good memory. On January 15 we moved into our own apartment in Canby. Then came February. We got at least a foot on 2/19, and the entire neighborhood went wild. I'm pretty sure every kid on my street spent the whole day outside. Little did I know it at the time, but I wouldn't see that much snow on the ground again until December 2008.

 

Very nice memory. I would have never guessed that English was not your first language.

[snow_wizard]

 

1. Dec 2008.  We all know what happened.  An incredible period of cold and snow, didn't fully moderate here until after the big dump of wet snow on January 4th.  Max snow depth was approx. 30-32".  A majority of snow cover remained into February. 
2. Dec. 1996.  Another incredible period of heavy snow.  Max snow depth was 38".  The 22" that fell in less than 12 hours on the 29th was truly astonishing. 
3. Nov 2006.  An epic snowstorm at the end of the month.  Max snow depth 27-28".  A high temp of only 23F on the 28th.
4. Jan 2005.  The first half of the month saw 6 sub freezing highs.  Massive snowstorm from the 6-8th.  Max snow depth approx. 27".
5. Dec '90.  The snow wasn't impressive here, never reached more than 12" in depth.  But the low of 1F is the coldest I have ever experienced. 
6. Honorable mentions to: Late dec' 92-Jan '93.  Late Jan `96.  Dec.19-24th, 1998.  Early Jan `04.

 

 

No doubt the much hated Jan 2005 worked out well for you up there.  That came Soooo close to being an epic event region wide.

[wx_statman]

Very nice memory. I would have never guessed that English was not your first language.

 

I had to learn it pretty quick. I was fluent after about a year, if I remember right.

[snow_wizard]

Amazing memory. Thank you for sharing. My family would not move to Oregon until August 1989, so I was not around for this blast, I probably would not have very vivid memories of it. I do have surprisingly clear memories of December 1990 however, and that was what really got me into weather. I do remember February 1990 fairly well to as it was the first time I had ever seen snow. We've had some nice arctic outbreaks the past 5-6 years, but nothing on the level regionally of Feb 89' or Dec 90'. Can't wait until we do again.

 

1985 through 1990 was an amazing period for Arctic outbreaks to say the least!

 

Sounds like Dewey had an insane experience in Feb 1989.  It was very impressive in the Puget Sound region, but not that wild.  It was incredible to see it freeze up while we were still in the onshore part of the event as he said.  I remember in the late afternoon on Jan 31 there were already big icicles starting to form as the earlier wet snow had been melting some.  That was many hours before the actual Arctic front arrived.  The other amazing thing was seeing it snowing sideways with a temp of 14 degrees at 2pm on Feb, 1.  That day is burned into my mind quite clearly.  I also remember I had been watching the cold up in Alaska before the event and thinking what if...As it turns out the Seattle NWS caught on a bit sooner than what Dewey was talking about in Astoria.  I'll never forget the wording of the updated forecast one evening a few days before the event....turning much much colder...  They said it just like that.

[Deweydog]

I have very clear memories of that winter even though I wasn't hooked on weather yet. I moved to Oregon on December 23, 1992, initially living on my relatives' farm in Aurora. I remember the snow around New Year's on the farm, and then many days with snow on the ground. My first day of school in the local area was January 11, 1993 in Canby. There was snow on the ground. I remember it really well because I was looking at it while trying to process my fear of going into a brand new classroom in the middle of the school year....in the 4th grade....and without speaking English.

 

At some point during the month, we went down to Salem. I think it was to get some sort of immigration documents from the state. The streets were covered in packed snow and ice. We tried to go down a side street, only to notice a station wagon sliding into the bushes at the bottom. My dad jammed the front right tire against the curb and we were able to stop. A real nice family let both the woman from the station wagon and ourselves into their house while we waited for tow trucks. My sister and I watched cartoons on their TV. That was a good memory. On January 15 we moved into our own apartment in Canby. Then came February. We got at least a foot on 2/19, and the entire neighborhood went wild. I'm pretty sure every kid on my street spent the whole day outside. Little did I know it at the time, but I wouldn't see that much snow on the ground again until December 2008.

 

My most vivid memory of the 11-85 snowstorm at the coast was my dad sliding into an intersection and hitting a car stopped waiting to turn.  I was thinking "why did he just drive into the side of that car, he could have just turned and not hit it???"  It was my first lesson in Newton's first law.  

 

As for overall winters, 1992-93 was definitely the pinnacle for me.  It was my senior year in high school and all was right with the world.  We elected a puffy sex addict president that fall, the Toronto Blue Jays were the toast of baseball and a young Tom Cruise was amazing audiences with his portrayal of an arrogant Navy lawyer in A Few Good Men.  At the coast, we'd been teased all that winter with the possibilities of snow, culminating in a brief event on 12-30 where the north peninsula got a couple inches, but us southerners were pretty much high and dry.  After a cold maritime system moved through right after New Year's it was onto backdoor cold and clear skies.  You could feel it in the air.  At that point my weather knowledge was still pretty iffy and models access, at least for me, was non-existent.  A system was progged to drop in in the northerly flow on the 8th with the possibility of a brief start as snow, turning to rain by morning as the surface low associated with the trough was progged to turn inland over NW Oregon and turn low level flow onshore, at least for the coast, giving the Portland area ANOTHER snowstorm.  **** Portland, we said...  I awoke that Friday morning at about 6:30 a.m. to find heavy snow falling, 2-3 inches on the ground and apparently more to come as EVERYTHING had changed.  The low was now progged to slide southward along the coast and keep us in offshore flow, which it did and Portland ended up high and dry. Hahahahaha! We ended up with about six inches of snow and stayed below freezing for the next 48 hours.  It was magnificent, starting with my sister putting her 1983 Volvo four door in the ditch that morning because they waited until everyone arrived at school to cancel school, probably more associated with the fact a bus ended up in a ditch as well.  Like I said, Nazi bastards.  My friend and I then ripped a part of her bumper off trying to pull her out with his Scout.  It was hilarious.  Good times.  

[wx_statman]

My most vivid memory of the 11-85 snowstorm at the coast was my dad sliding into an intersection and hitting a car stopped waiting to turn.  I was thinking "why did he just drive into the side of that car, he could have just turned and not hit it???"  It was my first lesson in Newton's first law.  

 

As for overall winters, 1992-93 was definitely the pinnacle for me.  It was my senior year in high school and all was right with the world.  We elected a puffy sex addict president that fall, the Toronto Blue Jays were the toast of baseball and a young Tom Cruise was amazing audiences with his portrayal of an arrogant Navy lawyer in A Few Good Men.  At the coast, we'd been teased all that winter with the possibilities of snow, culminating in a brief event on 12-30 where the north peninsula got a couple inches, but us southerners were pretty much high and dry.  After a cold maritime system moved through right after New Year's it was onto backdoor cold and clear skies.  You could feel it in the air.  At that point my weather knowledge was still pretty iffy and models access, at least for me, was non-existent.  A system was progged to drop in in the northerly flow on the 8th with the possibility of a brief start as snow, turning to rain by morning as the surface low associated with the trough was progged to turn inland over NW Oregon and turn low level flow onshore, at least for the coast, giving the Portland area ANOTHER snowstorm.  **** Portland, we said...  I awoke that Friday morning at about 6:30 a.m. to find heavy snow falling, 2-3 inches on the ground and apparently more to come as EVERYTHING had changed.  The low was now progged to slide southward along the coast and keep us in offshore flow, which it did and Portland ended up high and dry. Hahahahaha! We ended up with about six inches of snow and stayed below freezing for the next 48 hours.  It was magnificent, starting with my sister putting her 1983 Volvo four door in the ditch that morning because they waited until everyone arrived at school to cancel school, probably more associated with the fact a bus ended up in a ditch as well.  Like I said, Nazi bastards.  My friend and I then ripped a part of her bumper off trying to pull her out with his Scout.  It was hilarious.  Good times.  

 

Something about snow memories when you're young. You can never replicate that experience as you get older. I ranked last February as my 2nd favorite winter event, but that's entirely from a meteorological point of view. Emotionally I didn't really care for it and mostly forgot about it by the following week. I was back to being busy in my routine at that point and the snow bonanza might as well have never happened. So any event after I graduated high school will never get a fair shake in terms of my emotional investment. They can't compete with the events from my school days.

[Deweydog]

Something about snow memories when you're young. You can never replicate that experience as you get older. I ranked last February as my 2nd favorite winter event, but that's entirely from a meteorological point of view. Emotionally I didn't really care for it and mostly forgot about it by the following week. I was back to being busy in my routine at that point and the snow bonanza might as well have never happened. So any event after I graduated high school will never get a fair shake in terms of my emotional investment. They can't compete with the events from my school days.

 

Definitely.  I like watching my kids go through the same evolution, but it's basically like Christmas now.  Vicariously experiencing it through your kids as you did when you were a kid.  The funny thing is, as defining as those childhood events were, I was never anywhere near as aware as I was later on or am now.  They basically just happened and I was along from the ride.  

[BLI snowman]

My most vivid memory of the 11-85 snowstorm at the coast was my dad sliding into an intersection and hitting a car stopped waiting to turn.  I was thinking "why did he just drive into the side of that car, he could have just turned and not hit it???"  It was my first lesson in Newton's first law.  

 

As for overall winters, 1992-93 was definitely the pinnacle for me.  It was my senior year in high school and all was right with the world.  We elected a puffy sex addict president that fall, the Toronto Blue Jays were the toast of baseball and a young Tom Cruise was amazing audiences with his portrayal of an arrogant Navy lawyer in A Few Good Men.  At the coast, we'd been teased all that winter with the possibilities of snow, culminating in a brief event on 12-30 where the north peninsula got a couple inches, but us southerners were pretty much high and dry.  After a cold maritime system moved through right after New Year's it was onto backdoor cold and clear skies.  You could feel it in the air.  At that point my weather knowledge was still pretty iffy and models access, at least for me, was non-existent.  A system was progged to drop in in the northerly flow on the 8th with the possibility of a brief start as snow, turning to rain by morning as the surface low associated with the trough was progged to turn inland over NW Oregon and turn low level flow onshore, at least for the coast, giving the Portland area ANOTHER snowstorm.  **** Portland, we said...  I awoke that Friday morning at about 6:30 a.m. to find heavy snow falling, 2-3 inches on the ground and apparently more to come as EVERYTHING had changed.  The low was now progged to slide southward along the coast and keep us in offshore flow, which it did and Portland ended up high and dry. Hahahahaha! We ended up with about six inches of snow and stayed below freezing for the next 48 hours.  It was magnificent, starting with my sister putting her 1983 Volvo four door in the ditch that morning because they waited until everyone arrived at school to cancel school, probably more associated with the fact a bus ended up in a ditch as well.  Like I said, Nazi bastards.  My friend and I then ripped a part of her bumper off trying to pull her out with his Scout.  It was hilarious.  Good times.  

 

That 1/8/1993 storm was extremely frustrating in the Portland area. It was very 12/14/08 like, lots of falling snow and nothing to show for it.

[wx_statman]

Definitely.  I like watching my kids go through the same evolution, but it's basically like Christmas now.  Vicariously experiencing it through your kids as you did when you were a kid.  The funny thing is, as defining as those childhood events were, I was never anywhere near as aware as I was later on or am now.  They basically just happened and I was along from the ride.

 

That was part of the magic. The mets didn't know what would happen half the time either, so it came down to waiting for the snowflakes to start falling.

[wx_statman]

That 1/8/1993 storm was extremely frustrating in the Portland area. It was very 12/14/08 like, lots of falling snow and nothing to show for it.

 

Ironically one of my favorite little events in Oregon City. 3.3" at the COOP station with temps falling into the low 20's. Then back to back sunny days with snow on the ground and highs below freezing.

[snow_wizard]

Something about snow memories when you're young. You can never replicate that experience as you get older. I ranked last February as my 2nd favorite winter event, but that's entirely from a meteorological point of view. Emotionally I didn't really care for it and mostly forgot about it by the following week. I was back to being busy in my routine at that point and the snow bonanza might as well have never happened. So any event after I graduated high school will never get a fair shake in terms of my emotional investment. They can't compete with the events from my school days.

 

I'll bet a Jan 1950, Jan / Feb 1893, or Jan / Feb 1916 event could remedy that.

 

As for me...I probably get too emotionally invested.  There is a price to pay for that.

[BLI snowman]

Ironically one of my favorite little events in Oregon City. 3.3" at the COOP station with temps falling into the low 20's. Then back to back sunny days with snow on the ground and highs below freezing.

 

Yeah, I should have specified around Vancouver in particular. That snow event was a rather inauspicious beginning to a nice month for us.

[wx_statman]

I'll bet a Jan 1950, Jan / Feb 1893, or Jan / Feb 1916 event could remedy that.

 

As for me...I probably get too emotionally invested.  There is a price to pay for that.

 

I dunno. I actually think a blockbuster like 1893 or 1950 would drive me up the wall. Life goes on, and people need to get out and about. Having everything either locked down or moving in slow motion gets old pretty fast if you stretch it out beyond 2-3 days. I remember getting really annoyed toward the end of the December 2008 sequence. I just wanted it to end! Our modern lives are built around motion and mobility. So when that flow gets interrupted for too long it becomes really hard to enjoy the scenery or the stats.

[Deweydog]

I dunno. I actually think a blockbuster like 1893 or 1950 would drive me up the wall. Life goes on, and people need to get out and about. Having everything either locked down or moving in slow motion gets old pretty fast if you stretch it out beyond 2-3 days. I remember getting really annoyed toward the end of the December 2008 sequence. I just wanted it to end! Our modern lives are built around motion and mobility. So when that flow gets interrupted for too long it becomes really hard to enjoy the scenery or the stats.

 

Don't feel bad.  The timing of that whole sequence, while magical and tingly in some respects, was really, really bad and by Christmas Eve it all proved very inconvenient for us to the point of systematic Christmas failure.  That coupled with the fact it exposed the Portland/Vancouver area's completely inadequate set up for snow removal made for some serious headaches.  A January 1950 would increase those issues by a factor of ten and while that's super sexy to the weenie community, most weenie's still have lives that need to be led beyond that of mortal weeniedom.  

[wx_statman]

Don't feel bad.  The timing of that whole sequence, while magical and tingly in some respects, was really, really bad and by Christmas Eve it all proved very inconvenient for us to the point of systematic Christmas failure.  That coupled with the fact it exposed the Portland/Vancouver area's completely inadequate set up for snow removal made for some serious headaches.  A January 1950 would increase those issues by a factor of ten and while that's super sexy to the weenie community, most weenie's still have lives that need to be led beyond that of mortal weeniedom.  

 

We're definitely set up for failure in that regard. We don't use salt because salt is bad...except that its good at melting ice off the roads. I was in New Jersey last December and we had about 4" fall one day. Happened during a high impact time, on a weekday around mid morning to early afternoon. But nothing was affected. Roads were nice and plowed - and salted. Everyone got around fine. Now, they were still living in New Jersey but that's a different problem... 

[Deweydog]

We're definitely set up for failure in that regard. We don't use salt because salt is bad...except that its good at melting ice off the roads. I was in New Jersey last December and we had about 4" fall one day. Happened during a high impact time, on a weekday around mid morning to early afternoon. But nothing was affected. Roads were nice and plowed - and salted. Everyone got around fine. Now, they were still living in New Jersey but that's a different problem... 

 

Who wouldn't want to live in the garden state?  Everyone loves a nice garden.  

[BLI snowman]

I think we`d adapt in a 1950 type winter. Two weeks of that and we`d be handling it like pros.

[wx_statman]

Who wouldn't want to live in the garden state?  Everyone loves a nice garden.  

 

The Garden State. That's sort of like California having a grizzly bear on their flag. Doesn't match reality!