Winchester is an unincorporated community in Douglas County, Oregon, United States.[1] It is on the south bank of the North Umpqua River 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Roseburg on Interstate 5 and is included in the Roseburg North CDP for statistical purposes.[2]
Winchester sits on the south side of the North Umpqua River on Oregon Highway 99. The Winchester Bridge spans the North Umpqua River.[1] Winchester is also known for the Winchester Dam that was constructed in 1889 and is on the National Register of Historic Places.[3]
Winchester was laid out in 1850 by surveyor Addison R. Flint, who was part of an Umpqua exploring expedition from San Francisco.[4] The town was named for one of two brothers named Winchester who took part in the expedition, probably Heman Winchester, who was the expedition's captain.[4] Winchester was the largest settlement in the Umpqua Valley for many years and the county seat until 1854, when it was moved to Roseburg.[4] Winchester post office was established in 1851, and Flint served as the first postmaster.[4] The community was incorporated as a city by the Oregon Legislative Assembly on February 20, 1891.[5]
This region experiences warm (but not hot) and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F (22.0 °C). According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Winchester has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps.[6]
Climate data for Winchester, Oregon, 1991–2020 normals, extremes 1989–present | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
Record high °F (°C) | 71 (22) |
75 (24) |
80 (27) |
92 (33) |
101 (38) |
112 (44) |
109 (43) |
111 (44) |
103 (39) |
95 (35) |
78 (26) |
67 (19) |
112 (44) |
Mean maximum °F (°C) | 60.9 (16.1) |
64.1 (17.8) |
72.3 (22.4) |
80.6 (27.0) |
88.2 (31.2) |
92.2 (33.4) |
97.5 (36.4) |
98.6 (37.0) |
94.6 (34.8) |
82.4 (28.0) |
68.4 (20.2) |
61.0 (16.1) |
101.0 (38.3) |
Mean daily maximum °F (°C) | 50.0 (10.0) |
54.2 (12.3) |
59.2 (15.1) |
64.0 (17.8) |
71.4 (21.9) |
77.2 (25.1) |
85.9 (29.9) |
86.4 (30.2) |
80.5 (26.9) |
68.0 (20.0) |
55.5 (13.1) |
48.9 (9.4) |
66.8 (19.3) |
Daily mean °F (°C) | 42.4 (5.8) |
44.7 (7.1) |
48.0 (8.9) |
51.9 (11.1) |
58.3 (14.6) |
63.7 (17.6) |
70.4 (21.3) |
70.2 (21.2) |
64.7 (18.2) |
55.3 (12.9) |
47.0 (8.3) |
41.9 (5.5) |
54.9 (12.7) |
Mean daily minimum °F (°C) | 34.7 (1.5) |
35.2 (1.8) |
36.8 (2.7) |
39.8 (4.3) |
45.2 (7.3) |
50.2 (10.1) |
54.9 (12.7) |
53.9 (12.2) |
48.8 (9.3) |
42.6 (5.9) |
38.4 (3.6) |
34.8 (1.6) |
42.9 (6.1) |
Mean minimum °F (°C) | 26.1 (−3.3) |
27.3 (−2.6) |
30.0 (−1.1) |
32.8 (0.4) |
37.4 (3.0) |
42.9 (6.1) |
49.5 (9.7) |
48.5 (9.2) |
41.4 (5.2) |
33.3 (0.7) |
29.1 (−1.6) |
25.9 (−3.4) |
21.7 (−5.7) |
Record low °F (°C) | 19 (−7) |
18 (−8) |
25 (−4) |
26 (−3) |
30 (−1) |
36 (2) |
44 (7) |
44 (7) |
35 (2) |
21 (−6) |
20 (−7) |
7 (−14) |
7 (−14) |
Average precipitation inches (mm) | 5.41 (137) |
4.09 (104) |
4.01 (102) |
3.24 (82) |
2.16 (55) |
1.11 (28) |
0.29 (7.4) |
0.30 (7.6) |
0.94 (24) |
2.55 (65) |
5.26 (134) |
6.81 (173) |
36.17 (919) |
Average snowfall inches (cm) | 0.0 (0.0) |
0.2 (0.51) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
0.0 (0.0) |
trace | 0.3 (0.76) |
0.5 (1.27) |
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) | 20.1 | 17.2 | 18.0 | 16.2 | 11.5 | 6.2 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 5.1 | 11.4 | 19.8 | 20.2 | 149.5 |
Average snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 |
Source 1: NOAA (snow/snow days 1981–2010)[7][8] | |||||||||||||
Source 2: National Weather Service[9] |
43°16′48″N 123°21′13″W / 43.28000°N 123.35361°W