Heavy Snow — Lower Columbia Basin, Oregon

2021-12-19 to 2021-12-20 · Lower Columbia Basin, Oregon

Event narrative

An NWS employee 2 miles ENE of Hermiston, OR measured 5 inches of new snow over a 24 hour period. A social media report 4 miles SSW of Hermiston, OR showed that 4 inches of new snow was measured in a 12 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 999766. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.