Heavy Snow — Northwest Blue Mountains, Washington

2021-12-18 to 2021-12-20 · Northwest Blue Mountains, Washington

Event narrative

At Ski Bluewood, WA, 12 inches of new snow was measured in a 36 hour period.

Wider weather episode

An upper level weather system pushed a cold front into the Pacific Northwest late Dec. 18th, where the frontal boundary had stalled across southeast Washington and northeast Oregon through Dec. 20th where the stationary frontal boundary had weakened in the afternoon. As a result, bands of rain, freezing rain, and snow were produced across portions of the forecast area during the 19th and 20th, with snow being reported across the lower elevations in the Columbia Basin and mountain locations across southeast Washington and northeast Oregon.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1004289. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.