The 1969 Eugene Snowstorm
Usually, even the prospect of snowflakes in Eugene creates quite a stir. Radios and newspapers send out the warning, "chance of snow flurries tonight". Though conditioned for any type of rain, Eugene is generally unprepared for any large accumulations of snow.

It was early January, 1969. After a bout of relatively cold weather (13 degrees F. in the previous month), Eugene basked in consecutive days (January 4 - 5) of 60-degrees plus temperatures. However, as the month progressed, weathermen eyed an advancing Arctic air mass. On January 22, the heaviest snowfall of the season to that date, two to six inches, covered the Willamette Valley and the coastal areas, restricted traffic, caused school closures, and disrupted air travel at Eugene's Mahlon Sweet Airport. Nonetheless, the official forecast was for "Improved conditions - decreasing chance of precipitation by evening and tomorrow" (Thursday, January 23).

Snow lovers had a field day. Ten sledding hills were set up in Eugene and every night sledding took place at the Laurelwood Golf Course with the city providing the lights (and wood for warming bonfires). By Sunday, different people reacted in their own way to the continued snowfall. Chamber of Commerce Manager Fred Brenne stated, "It just proves that Eugene has something for everybody!" Other residents felt that they had had enough of that part (snow) of the "Everything". Meetings were cancelled. People bundled up either close to the warm glow of the fireplace or to the TV set, or both. Old-timers were ranking the winter of 1969 in the "Among-the-Worst" category, along with those of 1919, 1924, the "mid-30s" and 1957.

Some residents took to the streets of Eugene on skis. Hardy joggers did their utmost to get in their daily ritual. South of town, 30th Avenue became the City's version of the Willamette Pass, with sledding, skiing and tubing common. The manager of a downtown department store pondered the reasons for a run on swim suits - buyers were either planning a trip to a warmer climate or were simply morale-building. State police were logging 130 calls an hour for requests for current road conditions. A Register-Guard photographer spotted a snowman shouldering a sign saying "snow makes me sick!" All high school athletic events scheduled for the Saturday were cancelled except that a "snow-is-nothing-new" Gilchrist team journeyed to Creswell for a basketball game. Taxi companies in Eugene were swamped with calls.

Later Saturday night, winds picked up to 15 - 18 mph and drifting of the snow occurred. By Sunday the streets of Eugene and Springfield were clogged, since neither city owned snowplows. Eugene pressed two graders into service. Still the snow kept coming. Nearly 14 additional inches were added by Sunday morning. Sunday church services were sparsely attended. People with flat roofs worried...and shoveled. The almost continuous 70-hour snowfall ended at 3:30 a.m. Monday morning with 29 inches on the ground at the Eugene Airport. However, more intermittent snow was yet to fall. By now, weathermen were put to the test of explaining "What happened?"

In a nutshell, it was over-running moisture (warm wet air moving at the upper levels over cold surface air in the Valley) from a low-pressure system thought to have been destined for California, that brought such prodigious snowfalls. As the moisture from the "warm" damp air mass descended through the cold air, it turned to snow. Then another low off the coast of Washington pumped in more moisture.

Police discouraged all except emergency traffic. Public schools were closed throughout most of Western Lane County. Lane Community College and, for the first time in memory, the University of Oregon, cancelled classes. Few businesses in Eugene were open -- employees could not report to work. In brief, Eugene became a ghost town.

Logging in Lane County came to a halt, and mills were silent. Hotel and motel managers reported a brisk business as registered guests could not leave and those stranded in Eugene sought refuge from the prolonged storm. Virtually all Eugene area meetings were cancelled Monday and Tuesday. The Eugene Police noted that the most serious reported "crime" was snowball throwing.

Creativity and adaptability have always been part of the American people. Eugeneans were no exceptions. People made available four-wheel drive vehicles for police patrols. Children used not only conventional sleds but ironing boards, metal and plastic discs. Residents, unable to buy snow shovels (one firm sold more snow shovels in two days that it normally sold all winter), attempted to clear snow using pieces of plywood, dustpans and buckets, and garden spades. Snowmen popped up everywhere including one inside a phone booth on Alder Street. Residents of a house in North Eugene plugged in their left-up Christmas lights as the snow fell. Horses were put to work at deliveries. KEZI technician, Merl Smith, marooned at the station's transmitter in the Coburg Hills, kept the station on the air despite the raging storm. KVAL weatherman Michael Hartfield, snowbound at home, phoned in the weather reports for television viewers.

North Eugene ski team met at Skinner's Butte (just south of town) for practice. A hospital x-ray technician was driven to work in a snowmobile. For a time, the National Guard provided transportation for nurses. Four-wheelers chauffeured telephone operators to their jobs.

By midnight Monday, another ten inches of snow had fallen and by that time the January total of 43.6 inches far exceeded the previous January record of 36.2 inches set in 1960. Weather bureau employees checked past data to compare snowfalls in Eugene. The verdict? Never before had it snowed so much in Eugene. In the 38 years prior to 1969, when weather data was first taken at the Eugene Airport, Eugene winters had averaged 5.4 inches of snow. Total snowfall for all of the Januarys 1951-68 was 42.0 inches, still under the January 1969 amount. Other winters with substantial snows included 1964-65 (15.1 inches in December - January): 1942-43 (14 inches including 12 inches in two days); 1948-49 (13.1 inches); 1956-57 (13.1 inches). Historically, in December 1884, Eugene was blitzed by three feet of snow and recorded temperatures as low as 6 degrees F. That December chickens froze to their roosts. Store roofs collapsed or leaked. Travel was impaired and one train from Portland to Eugene took 51 hours. Hundreds of fruit trees were splintered by the weight of the snow and ice.

On Tuesday morning (January 28, 1969) with 34 inches of snow on the ground, the mercury plunged to one degree F. Weathermen warned of possible new snow. Wednesday, the Register Guard, in its editorial on the 28th praised telephone, power, and highway crews for keeping communications and power lines open and some major streets passable. The editor added, "If there is to be a lesson learned from the storm, it was the old Boy Scout motto, "Be Prepared". Reference was made to having some adequate winter clothing, minimum food supplies for a snowy day and...a snow shovel!

By Wednesday, Eugene was slowly returning to normal. The University of Oregon opened for classes, but Lane Community College and the public schools remained closed. Downtown stores reopened but most parking lots were still deep in snow. There were still no flights from Mahlon Sweet Airport. One Air West DC 9 was still stranded at the airport after six days. During the day (Wednesday) another three inches of snow fell but the mercury climbed to 38 degrees F. Several Eugene structures collapsed under the weight of the accumulated snow. People dug into snowdrifts checking to see if the white mound was indeed their car. Others, some on skis, ventured to the supermarket. The State Motor Vehicles Division requested that motorists with expired operator or auto licenses renew them by mail.

The heaviest snows of that 1969 storm were largely confined to the southern Willamette Valley and other parts of Lane County. Salem received 11 inches; Portland eight inches, Florence, normally snow-free most winters, was covered by 14 inches.

Meanwhile, an army of public employees was engaged in the gigantic and costly task of clearing the snow from city, county and state highway. By Thursday, if not well before, cabin fever had set in and even snow lovers began to grumble. Children were all played out. Motorists, often unavoidably, splashed slush on curbside pedestrians, who, in turn, shook their fists at horn-blaring motorists. Residents of the hilly residential areas of Eugene complained about the lack of snow removal in their areas.

By Thursday, downtown business picked up. However, that was not the case with garbage. There had been no curbside collection since the previous Saturday. The next morning (Friday), Eugene's minimum was a mild 36 degrees. The snow depth at the airport had shrunk to ten inches and the main runway had been cleared for flights. Rain, 1.62 inches of it, further reduced the soggy snowpack, but the added weight collapsed the roofs of buildings and barns in Junction City (American Can Planning Mill) and elsewhere. "Nuisance" flooding followed the snow. By Monday, February 2, most children were back in school but highway travel and off-street parking were still impeded by mounds of snow. Lumber operations in Lane County struggled back to production on the Tuesday. The State Employment Office in Eugene processed over 7,000 claims for unemployment compensation (maximum $49.00 week) for work lost due to the snowstorm. The storm had cost the City of Eugene over $50,000 in snow-removal expenses.

Wednesday, February 5, snow again appeared in the forecast for the Eugene area. However, the weathermen added, "...we have an entirely different (weather) situation. We're not going to have that type of system for another 100 years."