Blizzard — Western Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

2024-01-13 · Western Columbia River Gorge, Oregon

Event narrative

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.

Wider weather episode

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.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1165451. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.