Heavy Snow — North Oregon Cascades, Oregon

2017-03-05 to 2017-03-08 · North Oregon Cascades, Oregon

Event narrative

The most snow was recorded at the Mt Hood Meadows Ski Resort, which reported 41 inches of snow from this event. Timberline NWAC observation site also recorded 30.5 inches of snow, with 12 inches just over the 12 hour period from 3:00 am to 3:00 pm on the 7th. There was one fatality with this event, a man skiing in an area called Jacks Woods near Mt Hood Meadows. He hit a tree and ended up in a shallow tree well.

Wider weather episode

Two prominent shortwaves brought an early March low-elevation snow event to much of the area except the lowest elevations along the Coast and in the Willamette Valley. Snow levels dropped to 400 to 1000 ft and remained in this range through the end of this event. Higher elevations got the brunt of this event, with locations in the Oregon Cascades getting up to 2-3 feet of snow.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 689229. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.