Snowdown 2019

Heavy snow fell across the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest on the night of February 24, 2019. The snow, dense and wet, fell fast and accumulated quickly in the crowns of the trees. The weight of the snow toppled trees or snapped out their crowns. The entire region, including the research forest, experienced a massive tree fall event, knocking out power and communications for days. While long-time staff and researchers of the Andrews Forest program have witnessed this type of "snowdown" event in earlier decades, the scale of this snowdown was more massive than previously seen.  On roads within the Andrews Forest, fifty to sixty trees were laid down across every mile of road in lower elevations. Even after two weeks of intense effort to remove trees, many miles of road were still impassable and higher elevation research facilities were inaccessible. In an illustration of the partnership between OSU, the PNW Research Station, and the Willamette National Forest, staff, researchers, and students from across the three institutions came together and worked tirelessly, shoulder-to-shoulder, to cut and remove trees from the roads and to gain access to research sites which are key to maintaining long-term records of climate, snow, and stream and precipitation chemistry. Research efforts began right away to determine the scale of the disturbance, and it's long-term implications.