Disruptive Ice Storm Threatens Pacific Northwest With Significant Power Outages, Holiday Travel Headaches

New York Post ^ | December 22, 2022 | Scott Sistek

[nickcarraway]

An arctic blast that has sent the Pacific Northwest into the ice box is about to mix with a strong Pacific storm later Thursday and Friday, bringing a recipe for a significant ice storm across northwestern Oregon and western Washington, including Portland and the Willamette Valley, and Seattle and the Puget Sound region, threatening to grind holiday travel to a halt and knock out power to thousands.

Winter storm warnings are in effect across much of the coastal Pacific Northwest, including the greater Portland and Seattle areas for a myriad of winter woes.

For the Portland area, freezing rain accretions are expected to reach 0.2 to 0.4 inches, wind gusts to 55 mph near the Columbia River Gorge and wind chills dipping as low as zero. Around the Seattle and western Washington area, a few inches of snow may precede ice accretions up to a quarter inch.

[glennaro]

An icestorm is really, really dispruptive only when they're promoted as a "polar vortex' or, even better, as a "cyclone bomb".

[logi_cal869]

Yesterday morning local radio had on a meteorologist from a tv station who projected that the ‘ice storm warning’ began at about 4pm 12/22 through 7am this morning.

Yesterday about 1pm it began to rain.

I looked up the weather - having NOT gotten any alerts - and found that the NWS had posted a new ice storm warning on 11:34am yesterday...for 12pm 12/22 through 7am 12/23.

Many businesses shut down and sent employees home. I went home as well.

Long story short, we have power and, other than some ice on my porch steps/car, there is not a problem, even though it is 28 degrees outside (no wind, ground is too warm).

It will be interesting to see what fares elsewhere, but this storm was an overhyped dud for us.

[gundog]

Particularly when people are unaccustomed to them. Portland can do wet standing on its head. Frozen is something else entirely.

[hinckley buzzard]

Bonneville Power in Washington has pretty well given up on wind. No further investments in wind mills are planned.

[shotgun]

I was raised in Vancouver. We moved from Portland in 68 and then moved to the Tri Cities area in eastern Washington in 78. I too recall these same storms. They used to call them silver thaws. The freezing rain would coat the snow and make it look like silver.

The last big ice storm I recall was in 1996. My wife and I drove to Portland and flew to Palm Springs for Christmas. While we were down there , Portland got blasted. Flying in to PDX you could see all the downed trees. Thankfully it was thawed out by the time we got in.

[Mark17]

An icestorm is really, really dispruptive only when they're promoted as a "polar vortex' or, even better, as a "cyclone bomb"

I grew up in Grand Forks, so I know about weather. The first time I ever heard the term bomb cyclone, I didn’t have a clue what it meant. I think I first heard the term, maybe a few years ago. I thought it actually referred to a real cyclone. I don’t care much for the term.

[shotgun]

The one thing we don’t seem to get anymore are the warm Chinook winds. We would get a few inches of snow and within a week the Chinook would blow in and melt all the snow. When I first moved to the Tri Cities they never plowed snow because those Chinook winds would blow in like clock work for the most part.

You could go to bed with snow on the ground and temps in the 20’s and wake up in the middle of the night sweating like you turned the heater up to max. Those wind temps were in the 60’s and 70’s.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

I think I was visiting my parents near Hillsboro during the storm you mention, at least it was right around then. Their place had a steep driveway, so we all just stayed home for a few days. I had lost a filling the evening before the ice hit and couldn’t get to a dentist until the roads cleared enough.

My other brother lives in Camas these days. I should ask him about the frequency of ice storms next time I call.

[sten]

Now imagine all you have is an electric car whose battery dies in the cold.

You’d be stuck out there with the choice to freeze in the car or attempt getting to safety on foot.

Of course, by 2035 they’ll have banned wood stoves and gas heat leaving everyone with electric heat... which is fine... until the transformers start exploding in the ice storms.

Good luck.

[Vaduz]

Another flaw in Biden’s power grid system who knew.