Near-record snow falls in Joseph

Published 7:00 am Wednesday, December 22, 2021

JOSEPH — One of the snowiest days on record in Joseph occurred last week, according to data from the National Weather Service’s Pendleton office.

While totals of up to 2 feet of snow were reported in some areas around the town on Tuesday, Dec. 14, the NWS officially recorded 14 inches of snow. It marks not only the most snow ever recorded on Dec. 14, but the most anytime in December and ties for the second-highest one-day snowfall amount recorded in Joseph in at least 128 years, per data from the NWS.

Only one other day, according to NWS data, has seen more snowfall in Joseph. That was on Jan. 21, 1894, when a whopping 16 inches of snow was recorded.

Fourteen inches of snow also fell on March 12, 1906.

It also is the wettest December day on record in Joseph, with the 14 inches of snow translating to 1.04 inches of precipitation.

The previous snowfall record on Dec. 14 was more than 100 years ago, when 8 inches of snow fell on Dec. 14, 1915, according to NWS data. Only one other December day in Joseph has seen at least 10 inches of snowfall, when 10 inches came down on Dec. 22, 2002.

The last time at least 10 inches of snow fell in Joseph was more than a decade ago, when 12 inches came down on Jan. 28, 2008.

While it would likely take another large dumping of snow, December 2021 is also within striking distance of being the snowiest on record in Joseph. NWS data as of Monday, Dec. 20, had 20.3 inches of snow recorded in the town this month. The record for December is 32 inches more than a century ago in December 1916. The month is already well above the 30-year snowfall average of 8.2 inches.

Joseph snowfall records kept by the NWS date back to 1893, though the website does not have snowfall data for the town from about 1955 to 1995.

While near-record snow fell in Joseph, other areas of the county, even if heavily impacted, did not reach the snowfall level Joseph did. Readings taken just south of Flora showed 5 inches there on Dec. 14, while 4 inches fell just south of Lostine and 2.7 inches fell in Wallowa. Over two days, from Dec. 13-14, a total of 15.5 fell in Joseph, 11.5 in Flora, 5.5 in Lostine and 4.9 in Wallowa, according to maps.cocorahs.org.