Oregon, we’re not out of the woods yet.
Crews from the Oregon Department of Transportation spent the weekend de-icing highways and trying to clear heavily trafficked arterials in Portland, but that’s a particularly tricky task in shady areas that refreeze quickly, including on ramps, tunnels, underpasses and bridges.
With low temps and snow forecasted through Monday, crews across NW Oregon continue to treat and clean roads, and respond to incidents. Crews were putting down deicer on dry roads last night. They’ll continue that work through the night as we prepare for another round of #orwx. pic.twitter.com/x2ziaRO6VS
— OregonDOT (@OregonDOT) February 25, 2023
The agency’s TripCheck cameras showed near white-out conditions on mountain passes on Sunday morning, including at Government Camp on U.S. 26 and at Santiam Pass on U.S. 20.
But weather forecasters said it is the northern Oregon Coast range that is expected to bear the brunt of the storm sweeping in late Sunday, with 6 to 7 inches of snow possible there.
Even as the potential for more snow loomed, the city and Multnomah County began winding down their emergency response operations, including the warming shelters that had opened for those who needed an indoor place to sleep. The city and county have a threshold for opening warming shelters, including temperatures that are 25 degrees or below, or 32 degrees overnight with driving rain, or widespread snow accumulation of at least an inch for at least a four-hour stretch overnight.
Tri-Met was offering free rides to anyone traveling from a warming shelter, even as some bus lines had reduced stops due to dangerous road conditions.
Gov. Tina Kotek on Saturday declared a one-week state of emergency in Multnomah County due to the weather. And temperatures aren’t going to warm up anytime soon. The National Weather Service is calling for colder than normal temperatures in the Portland area through March 11.
Another unpredictable late-winter storm could drop a few more inches of snow around the Portland metro area on Sunday night into Monday morning, just as the region was starting to dry out from the near-foot of snow that blanketed the area last week.
Rebecca Muessle, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Portland, said the bulk of that snow could come between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m. on Monday, just in time for the peak of the morning commute.
Higher elevation areas of Multnomah and Clark counties could see up to 2 more inches of snow, she said, while the valley floor could get half an inch or an inch of snow.
Whether or not that will stick to the roads — snarling traffic and potentially impacting school reopenings — might depend on whether roads were clear already or if they were still iced over from Wednesday’s storm, Muessle said.
“Areas with bare pavement may have warmed up enough,” that snow won’t stick, she said. Still, she suggested that drivers be prepared with blankets, extra food, water and a full tank of gas in their car, particular after Wednesday’s storm left the city’s highways littered with abandoned cars, and others drivers stuck for hours in barely-moving traffic.
— Julia Silverman, @jrlsilverman, jsilverman@oregonian.com
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