Snow Event
Spring Break 2008

Late March seems much too late to get low-elevation snow, but it happened in 2008. A cold upper low moved over the Pacific Northwest, dropping measurable snow on many locations.

24-hour snowfall totals, March 27, 2008

Station
County
Snow (inches)
 Oakridge 4.6 NE
Lane
4.9
 Rhododendron 3.8 NW
Clackamas
4.0
 Stayton 6 ENE
Marion
2.3
 McKenzie Bridge 1 N
Lane
2.0
 Estacada 4.8 SW
Clackamas
1.5
 North Plains 7.5 NNE
Washington
1.3
 Sandy 6.6 NNE
Multnomah
1.0
 Philomath 7.0 NNW
Benton
1.0
 Lowell 1 SE
Lane
1.0
 Philomath 4.8 NNW
Benton
1.0
 Gaston 3.2 SW
Yamhill
1.0
 Forest Grove 9.8 NW
Washington
0.8
 Eugene 3 SW
Lane
0.6
 Sandy 0.9 SE
Clackamas
0.5
 Cottage Grove 7.7 S
Lane
0.5
 Leaburg 2 E
Lane
0.5
 Springfield 6.4 E
Lane
0.5
 Walton 4 SW
Lane
0.5
 North Plains 4.1 NNE
Washington
0.5
 Warrenton 0.5 SW
Clatsop
0.5
 Boring 1 E
Clackamas
0.5
 Nehalem 4.1 ESE
Tillamook
0.5

 

So how rare was this? In some cases, record-setting. Below is a table with dates of the latest recorded snowfall at several locations west of the Cascades.

Location
Date of last snow
Snow (inches)
 Portland Airport
3/25/1965
0.3
 Eugene Airport
3/25/1972
0.5
 Salem Airport
3/29/1936
2.0
 Corvallis
4/11/1911
1.0
 McMinnville
3/29/1938
0.3
 Astoria Airport
4/12/1972
0.2

Unfortunately, the “Airport” locations above no longer report snowfall, so determining whether new records would have been set is not possible.