Nature took aim at humanity in 2017. Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods and wildfires all took huge tolls on countries around the globe and here in the United States. Oregon had its share, too.

Here are the natural events, disastrous and otherwise, that shaped the Beaver State in 2017.

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January: A snowstorm for the ages

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Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian

It didn’t take long for the first bit of inclement weather to wallop the Pacific Northwest. Less than two weeks into January, Oregon got hit with a snow storm the likes of which residents hadn’t seen since the mid-'90s.

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Dave Killen/The Oregonian

Over the course of two days, a foot of snow piled up in the metro area and even more fell across the state.

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Dave Killen/The Oregonian

The cold snap claimed the lives of four people in the Portland area, all of whom died of hypothermia or exposure, according to police.

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Pete Christopher/The Oregonian

More than 40,000 households and businesses lost power in and around Portland. School was canceled for days on end. So much school was canceled — Portland Public Schools lost at least nine days over the winter — that some districts were forced to extend the school year.

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Pete Christopher/The Oregonian

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Dave Killen/The Oregonian

Compounding the massive snowfall, temperatures in the northern Willamette Valley stayed below freezing for more than a week after the initial dump. The once-idyllic blanket of snow compressed and hardened into an unnavigable sheet of off-brown ice. Side streets turned into ice rinks. Arterial roadways developed ruts deep enough that even 4-wheel-drive vehicles drove like they were being guided on rails.

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Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian

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Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian

Many businesses were closed for days at a time, and hourly workers lost wages. Mayor Ted Wheeler asked landlords to waive late-rent fees in the wake of the storm.

The city called in help from our neighbors to the north and Washington sent a squad of snowplows to help clear the streets.

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Mike Zacchino/The Oregonian

Outside of the Willamette Valley, some rural communities in Crook County, left isolated by snowbound roads, had to deal with medical emergencies using snowmobiles to evacuate patients. Malheur County also sought state help after snow and ice collapsed barns and posed a flooding threat on the banks of the Snake River. Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency.

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Mike Zacchino/The Oregonian

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Betsy Hammond/The Oregonian

"I think we're much better prepared," said Commissioner Dan Saltzman, who oversees the transportation bureau. "We've learned a lot of lessons from the last winter."

Only time will tell.

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July and August: Record-breaking heat

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Sarah Silbiger/The Oregonian

In late July and early August, Oregon cooked. An extended heat spell sat on the state for much of the first half of the month.

Here’s a sampling of the records that fell, or almost fell, around the state:

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Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian

— On July 30, Hillsboro hit 103 degrees, breaking the daily record of 99 set in 1992. Eugene got up to 103 and Salem to 104, breaking daily records in both of those locations. McMinnville topped out at a sizzling 106 degrees, breaking the record of 104 set there in 1965.

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Sarah Silbiger/The Oregonian

— A high of 105 degrees at the Portland International Airport landed Aug. 3 in the top 10 hottest days on record for the city, just 2 degrees shy of the city's all-time high of 107. The last time Portland hit 105 was in 2009.

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Kelly House/The Oregonian

—That 105 degree reading blew through the previous daily record for Aug. 3 of 99 degrees, set in 1952. The day before was a record setter, too, with its 103-degree heat, shattering the previous Aug. 2 record high of 96, set in 1986.

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Dave Killen/The Oregonian

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Summer: long dry stretch

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Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian

If you know Oregon as the land of unending drizzle, the summer of 2017 likely felt very foreign to you. Between mid-June and mid-August, Portland saw the third longest dry spell the state has seen in recorded history.

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240 AM : 0.01" rain fell @ PDX ending the 57 day dry streak. This is the 3rd longest period without measurable rain. #ORwx — NWS Portland (@NWSPortland) August 13, 2017

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

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August 21: A celestial happening decades in the making

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Mark Graves/The Oregonian

Not every natural happening of note in Oregon was calamitous, of course. In fact, some were downright miraculous.

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It would have taken an otherworldly miracle to live in the Beaver State and not have heard about the total solar eclipse, scheduled by the Earth’s orbit as an astronomical summer finale. The fracas began way before the moon began to slip in front of the sun, with hotels and campsites sold out well ahead of the event.

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Courtesy/Oregon State Police

In the months leading up to the eclipse, doomsday predictions from state agencies and emergency managers made it sound like Oregon was going to be overrun by people looking to get a glimpse of the rare celestial occurrence. A million visitors were projected to invade the state’s deserts and forests, coastlines and cities and everything in between.

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Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian

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Beth Nakamura/The Oregonian

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

When it came time for those crowds to arrive — predicted to clog highways and lay waste to small eastern Oregon towns — most of them didn’t show up. There were a lot of people gazing skyward on Aug. 21, to be sure, but the apocalyptic masses failed to materialize.

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Those who showed up, however, were treated to a sight many described as mystical and euphoric.

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Chetco Bar fire

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On July 12, lightning struck 16 miles west of the town of Selma in southwest Oregon, igniting a blaze that would grow to nearly 200,000 acres and, at one point, be the highest priority wildfire in the nation.

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The blaze was in an extremely remote region of the state and, for days, firefighters couldn’t get in to battle the fire. It smoldered, but didn’t grow much until strong winds, funneled into the Chetco River gorge, fanned the flames. On Aug. 20, the fire advanced six miles and blew up to near 100,000 acres.

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Numerous homes and other structures were destroyed before the fire was fully contained in late October. In the aftermath, those affected by the blaze were critical of the response by fire officials, who acknowledged that they faced a complex situation in fighting the conflagration.

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Eagle Creek fire

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Tristan Fortsch/KATU-TV via AP

The state’s most high-profile disaster began in early September when a teenager allegedly threw a firework off a cliff in the Columbia River Gorge. The ensuing inferno scarred some of the state’s most pristine and beloved natural real estate.

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Mark Graves/The Oregonian

About 140 hikers were trapped by flames soon after the fire broke out and forced to spend the night on a trail in the gorge, but all were safely rescued the following day.

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Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian

Still, over the following weeks and months, the Eagle Creek fire sent thick plumes of smoke over the region and clouds of ash fell like snowflakes in the Portland metro area. The blaze threatened hundreds of homes and businesses in Cascade Locks and other gorge communities, and it shut down Interstate 84, the main east-west connector in the state, for weeks.

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Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian

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Mark Graves/The Oregonian

Fire in Eagle Creek area of Columbia River Gorge, Sept. 2, 2017 Mark Graves/Staff

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Mark Graves/The Oregonian

Like the Chetco Bar fire, the Eagle Creek fire was, at one point, considered the highest firefighting priority in the nation.

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Mark Graves/The Oregonian

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Mark Graves/The Oregonian

The lodge at Multnomah Falls, one of Oregon’s most recognizable landmarks, was closed for months and only reopened in early December.

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Mark Graves/The Oregonian

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Mark Graves/The Oregonian

The Multnomah Falls and lodge look to be in OK condition on Sept. 6, 2017, after the Eagle Creek fire threatened it the day before. Mark Graves/Staff

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Mark Graves/The Oregonian

Many of the most popular hiking trails in the gorge are still closed, likely until summer 2018.

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Mark Graves/The Oregonian

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Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

The economic impact may last even longer. Small gorge towns rely heavily on tourism and, even with the fire out and I-84 open, many business owners fear that visitors will stay away.

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Mark Graves/The Oregonian

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Mark Graves/The Oregonian

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Stephanie Yao Long/The Oregonian

The teen who allegedly started the fire was charged with reckless burning, depositing burning materials on forest lands, unlawful fireworks possession, criminal mischief and recklessly endangering other people.

In an interview with the The Oregonian/OregonLive, the teen's mom said she was mortified by what she called a "mistake."

"This is a trauma for him," she said.