Heavy Snow — Yakima Valley, Washington

1996-12-28 to 1996-12-30 · Yakima Valley, Washington

Wider weather episode

After almost a foot of new snow fell, Yakima had a new record for snow depth with 27" on the ground. There were millions of dollars in damage to several warehouse roofs and dozens of buildings had partially collapsed roofs. I-82 from Yakima to Ellensburg was closed. In Chelan they had 14" overnight with roof collapses of schools and packaging plants which caused losses from fruit damage. Cashmere, also in Chelan County, received a record setting 86 inches of snow so far this season. In Cle Elum they were running out of room to plow the snow. Leavenworth had 90" of snow for the month of December. Mail delivery was held up because some trucks couldn't get to or find buried mail boxes.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 5577227. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.