It’s been blamed for an unprecedented number of power outages in Oregon. Utility companies say the winter storm that recently toppled trees and power lines in the northwestern part of the state knocked out electricity to more than a half-million people, including over 420,000 Portland General Electric customers and more than 80,000 customers of Pacific Power. PGE said nearly a quarter of its customers experienced multiple outages, and tens of thousands of people remained without power after more than a week.
But how bad was the storm from a climatologist’s perspective? And how much of it may be attributed to climate change?
To help answer those questions and others, Discrepancy Report contacted Oregon State Climatologist Larry O’Neill, an associate professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University.
O’Neill explained when the storm started, what it brought, whether it broke any records, and more in the following statement, which was compiled from two emails:
“The major ice and snow accumulations occurred between Feb. 11-14 in and around the northern Willamette Valley. The Portland airport reported a total of 10 inches of snow over these four days but reported some freezing rain every day from Feb. 12-16th. There were widespread reports of up to an inch or more of ice accumulation around the north Willamette Valley, including throughout the Portland metro area, the western and central Gorge, and south of Salem. There was also a strong persistent east wind blowing cold air through the Gorge.
Unfortunately, there are no long-term records of ice accumulation and freezing rain to base statements of records on. Some of the power companies (such as Bonneville Power Administration) may have some records of estimated ice accumulation, but I believe that none measure these directly. I went through some historical archives of ice storms in and around Portland, and this storm appeared to rival the worst of the last century in terms of media-reported ice accumulations (1-2 inches), such as the Jan. 1912 and Jan. 1979 storms and appeared worse than the Jan. 1980 and 1996 storms. The ice accumulations were anecdotally a rare occurrence and historically significant, I would say probably a once in a 1-2 generation type of event (~40 years). I should also say that recently, in Jan. 2017, the south Willamette Valley (and Eugene in particular) experienced a similar ice storm, although it was more localized and had slightly lighter ice accumulations, although a lot of tree and property damage (myself included — we live in the south hills of Eugene and it was a mess, but not quite as bad as our 2021 event). Also, we do get ice storms every few years somewhere in the Willamette Valley, but with less accumulation and shorter duration.
In terms of snowfall, the Feb. 2021 event was less remarkable historically and did not approach any records. The Willamette Valley in general has seen a stark decline in snowfall over the 20th century, so the snowfall probably felt historically significant to many even though this amount of snow was a relatively common occurrence more than 30-40 years ago.
Finally, while it was cold, there was only one low-temperature record broken during the event — a 25 (degrees Fahrenheit) low in Troutdale on Feb. 12th, which tied a previous record. Most low temperatures during the event were at least several degrees Fahrenheit above any records. The winds were also strong but also not historic.
There isn’t any evidence that this event (or ones like it) can be directly attributed to climate change. There are of course some who argue that the large cold snap during the last two weeks over much of the U.S. (which was the source of our cold air) may be climate change-related, but there is no consensus whether that is the case.”
Following is a gallery of photos taken by people in the path of the storm:
