Since You Asked: how much snow does Crater Lake get each winter?

Mail Tribune
Medford, Oregon
December 14, 2006

How much snow does Crater Lake get each winter? A friend of mine had read somewhere that it was the snowiest place in Oregon, at least in terms of where people live. Is that true?

-- James B., Medford

Your friend is not snowing you, James.

The record annual snowfall for Crater Lake was an incredible 879 inches — a stunning 73 feet, 3 inches — during the winter of 1932-33, according to National Park Service records. That includes 35 inches falling on Feb. 15, 1933.

Moreover, its average annual snowfall of 540 inches — 45 feet — is the most in Oregon. The measurement is taken at the park headquarters below the rim at 6,475 feet above sea level, where folks do live year round.

In comparison, Mount Hood at Timberline Lodge at roughly 6,000 feet elevation averages only 465 inches — 39 feet.

But the most snow recorded in one day in Oregon was the 39 inches that fell on Bonneville Dam on Jan. 9, 1980, according to "The Oregon Book: Information A to Z."

Send questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; by fax to 541-776-4376; or by e-mail to youasked@mailtribune.com.

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