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Portland, [OR.] metro area braces for deep freeze [Willamette Valley also]
KGW.com ^
| 12-29-03
| ABE ESTIMADA and JIM PARKER
Posted on 12/29/2003 5:19:18 PM PST by Salvation
Portland metro area braces for deep freeze 03:19 PM PST on Monday, December 29, 2003
By ABE ESTIMADA and JIM PARKER, kgw.com Staff
The Willamette Valley could jump from the snowy depths into treacherous ice as overnight temperatures drop into the mid-20s.
Melting snow left over from Monday mornings storm could quickly turn into frozen slush as day passes into night, said KGW meteorologist Bruce Sussman.
Already, Oregon Department of Transportation crews are preparing for the worst. Between 50 and 75 ODOT personnel are ready to move out and target potential problem areas, said spokesman Shawn Uhlman.
Those problem spots could be Highway 26 at the top of the Sylvan Hills, the hardest hit area in Portland. ODOT plans on laying down sand on heavily-traveled roads that are frozen.
If the pavement is dry, ODOT will deploy de-icing agent first on bridges, on-ramps and off-ramps that could freeze overnight before moving to other areas, Uhlman said. De-icing chemicals wont work on wet roads.
Were going to continue to have all our forces out on the roads and do everything we can, Uhlman said.
Much of the snow fell on the west side of the Willamette River in Portland, turning the morning commute into a slippery sledding track along the Sunset Highway at the top of Sylvan Hills.
Cars spun into roadsides at the top of the heavily-traveled freeway during the pre-dawn hours, while other commuters traversed slushy side streets.
A Pacific storm system trudging in a southeast direction dragged frigid air from the Columbia River, causing snow to fall throughout the Willamette Valley, Sussman said.
But before it passed to the east side of the Cascades on Monday morning, the storm dropped up to four inches of snow fell on the West Hills and other hilltops around the Portland-Vancouver area, Sussman said.
The hardest hit metro area in the Willamette Valley was Salem, which saw between four and six inches of snow on the ground. In Dallas west of Salem, residents there reported snow depths of up to 10 inches.
Salem got a more direct blow from the storm than we did, Sussman said.
Much of the snow ended by 9:30 a.m. in the Portland-Vancouver area and a snow advisory that was issued Sunday night by the National Weather Service was lifted by late Monday morning.
Tri-Met bus service was disrupted throughout the Portland area.
Some buses serving the SW hills and surrounding areas are on snow routes this morning, said Tri-Mets Bruce Solberg. Bus riders in the area should expect minor delays because buses have chains on their tires. Riders heading to Marquam Hill and the Oregon City hill areas will transfer to buses with chains.
A few routes, like 157- Happy Valley, were cancelled due to the snow.
MAX train service, though, was unaffected. Solberg said it remained on a regular schedule.
In Clackamas County, all ten plows and three sanders were on the roads Monday morning. When snow levels dipped to 300 feet in Clackamas County, lower elevations there saw about one inch of snow and up to 8 inches of snow in the Molalla foothills, county officials said.
The snow was expected to taper off later Monday, with highs reaching into the 40s. But temperatures are forecast to fall to the 20s overnight, making for freezing driving conditions on Tuesday morning.
Firefighter and paramedic Tom Henke outside Albany Fire Station 11 on Monday morning. (Photo courtesy of Tom Henke) |
The snow storm was peculiar in that certain areas of the Portland metro area, such as the West Hills, got plenty of snow while east of the Willamette River, such as Gresham, barely any snow fell, Sussman said. Cold pockets settled over certain areas, creating "micro-climates" in the Portland area ripe for snow, he said.
Several inches of snow fell during the weekend in the Coast Range, the Columbia Gorge and the foothills of the Cascades. Above 2,500 feet, mountain areas received at least six inches.
"Some places made the cut. Some places didn't," Sussman said.
A driver attempts to push his car out of a jam in the Sylvan Hills area of Portland. (KGW Photo) |
So much snow had fallen at the Siskiyou Summit as of Monday morning that Oregon State Patrol troopers said they had to shut down I-5 from the summit to Shasta, Calif. The troopers reported blizzard conditions and multiple accidents.
TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous; US: California; US: Oregon
KEYWORDS: oregon; portland; snow; storm; valley; willamette
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To: Salvation
Bright and sunny on the Oregon north coast. Went swimming in the morning, hunting in the afternoon. Cool enough for a sweater but didn't put on a jacket all day.
41
posted on
12/29/2003 10:15:16 PM PST
by
rogator
To: Salvation; garden variety
Snow started coming down in earnest and sticking real good here in Eugene at about 8:30 this morning. Did have to make a drive to Valley River Center about that time because one of the girls worked out there and was chicken to drive in it.
And yeah it was pretty slick in spots, but it was pretty much melted by early afternoon. From here the only snow I see is on the girl's unused car right outside the window. All the snow on the ground (and roads) has pretty much melted, and has now re-frozen as plain old ice.
We almost always have to deal with that for the day or two after a snow. Just ice and frozen slush. All the treachery of snow with the fun ripped out of it.
Damn.
42
posted on
12/29/2003 11:40:40 PM PST
by
Clinging Bitterly
(President Bush sends his regards.)
To: Dave in Eugene of all places
"All the treachery of snow with the fun ripped out of it." Huh. That about says it all, Dave!
43
posted on
12/30/2003 1:16:35 AM PST
by
FBD
(Where is Global Warming when we really need it?)
To: Salvation
It took me over 4 hours to get over Hwy 26 Mt Hood, on Sunday. Absolute bumper to bumper lunacy.
TX for the ping.
44
posted on
12/30/2003 1:20:24 AM PST
by
FBD
(Where is Global Warming when we really need it?)
To: Salvation
I have a 7:15AM appointment this morning with the COPD (6 hour session ~ part of a 10 week clinical study) coordinator this morning ~ the snow is still on the ground here in Eugene ~ it's 27° F, icy and the trip is 8 miles each way.
But you know me ~ I love a challenge.
Wheeeeeee! :):)
45
posted on
12/30/2003 6:12:50 AM PST
by
blackie
To: uglybiker
The pickup looks the same this morning ~ I'll be firing it up in a few minutes. :):)
46
posted on
12/30/2003 6:14:44 AM PST
by
blackie
To: blackie
What? You ain't takin' the bike? ;-)
47
posted on
12/30/2003 6:40:47 AM PST
by
uglybiker
(If it ain't broke, you ain't tryin'!)
To: CyberCowboy777
East or west of Hoodriver? West. I'm not too far from Bridal Veil.
What version of Linux do you use?
Debian. Installing it is not for the uninitiated, but I like it because it's easy to keep up to date. Even version upgrades are as simple as apt-get update;apt-get dist-upgrade.
I use KDE 3.1.4 at home, but at work I'm using 3.2 Beta 2, which is really nice (and much more usable/stable than Beta 1).
48
posted on
12/30/2003 6:44:12 AM PST
by
B Knotts
(Go 'Nucks!)
To: B Knotts
I downloaded a copy of Fedora to play with..been talking with a couple of guy here about Linux for the past few weeks.
Been in the industry for 8 years and still have not installed a copy of Linux... other than a FreeBSD box. lol
Thanks for the link.
49
posted on
12/30/2003 9:30:18 AM PST
by
CyberCowboy777
(This Quiet Diplomacy was brought to you by BIG STICK foreign policy.)
To: FBD
>> That about says it all...
Yup.
I don't know how long you've been around here, but I think it was early in 1989 that we had the "arctic express" here.
It is the only time I remember the temperature dipping below zero here in the valley.
It all started with a snowfall, maybe just a couple inches, it started to melt, then the weather cleared up and it froze real hard, and it stayed that way for a couple of weeks. Where I worked, we had guys working in a warehouse that was partially finished, it had insulation but no heat, and in the mid day sun it was actually colder inside than outside, those guys were miserable.
All the highways stayed icy for days, no thawing at all, and the route to the coast from here was especially treacherous.
One day late in the event, when the high temperatures were getting up into the 20s, a small group of us headed to Florence because it was a bit warmer there, and we wanted to see snow on the beach. We hadn't seen snow on the beach since we had the big snow when I lived there in 1969.
All went well there, do driving mishaps (really, still very little traffic), but unbeknown to me, things were going bad at home. A came home to discover my folks had come to visit, and my mom seemed to be in a bit of a panic.
The panic was because a pipe running through one of the outside walls had burst, and the water spray had pierced the drywall and was spraying full blast right into the middle of the front room. The place was flooded, the whole place, water everywhere, water running out the front door.
I tried to shut off the water at the meter, but I had two problems with that. First, the meter was buried under a couple of inches of solid ice, and second, I wasn't altogether sure where the meter was. So I went back to the house and took an axe to the outside wall and busted out a section of siding, then grabbed the busted copper pipe and bent it around so it was spraying outside instead of inside, then went back to search for the meter. After some ice chipping I found a meter and shut it off, but it was the neighbor's. Went back and found the one next to it and shut it off and it was mine. Went back and pinched off the busted pipe so I could turn the water back on, then grabbed the yellow pages looking for someone to come out and help fix the huge mess.
Took a while, but I found a rug cleaning outfit that had a high powered extractor and the guy came out right away and rigged things up and sucked about a ton of water out of the carpeting, while a few of us spent the night with him jockeying around the furniture. Next day I found a contractor who came out and fixed the pipe, replaced the soaked insulation, and put new drywall & texture inside and new siding outside, all while I was at work for the day. Next day I came home from work and all had been painted to match and I couldn't tell anything had happened.
Never saw a bill for any of it. My friend Jim Walsh (since retired, and deservedly comfortable and healthy) was a good insurance agent. Helped me find those people to get all of that done - I know I could never expect that kind of service from the outfit that bought him out when he retired, they cater more to the corporate world these days, and my measly few hundred a year means nothing to them.
50
posted on
12/30/2003 2:28:58 PM PST
by
Clinging Bitterly
(President Bush sends his regards.)
To: uglybiker
Hahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! :):):)
51
posted on
12/30/2003 3:06:53 PM PST
by
blackie
To: Salvation
There cannot be a freeze.
The great sage al gore and the environmentalists tell us that we have global warming.
There must be a mistake.
52
posted on
12/30/2003 3:17:58 PM PST
by
sport
To: Salvation
My brother, rontorr, lives about 1/2 mile west of I-5. He can see part of McNary Field from his back yard, so I guess that makes it pretty far south, in Salem. He said that there were only 5 inches of snow, and he never had a power outage.
We grew up in Eugene, and I never did get to Salem much. We went to Turner every summer, but even then never went on into Salem.
Rontorr went to Camp Adair, south of Salem, around noon, and a stretch of Hwy 99 was blocked by ODOT and PGE just north of there, so I suppose some trees took down power lines.
53
posted on
12/30/2003 3:25:05 PM PST
by
jimtorr
To: Dave in Eugene of all places
And more snow!
Winter furious in southern Ore.
08:31 AM PST on Wednesday, December 31, 2003
By kgw.com and AP Staff A 150-mile stretch of Interstate-5 closed by a snowstorm is open again, but more snow is on the way.
Hundreds of drivers were trapped there Monday between Ashland and Northern California.
The National Weather Service on Wednesday issued a winter storm warning for the area and warned of more hazardous driving conditions on Interstate-5 across the Siskiyous.
The weather service forecast calls for between 20 and 30 inches to pile up on the Siskiyous in the next 48 hours.
Trucks stranded on I-5 on the Siskiyou Summit begin to move again. (KGW Photo)
Snow is expected to increase significantly in intensity New Years Eve through New Years Day as a strong jet stream approaches, the weather service said.
The weather service also recommended that travelers crossing through the passes fill up their tanks and pack a storm kit that includes tire chains, booster cables, a flashlight, shovel, a bag of sand, blankets and extra clothing, water and a first aid kit.
The northbound lanes on Interstate 5 in the Siskiyous opened Monday afternoon to vehicles with chains; southbound lanes were reopened later that night. At that time, only commercial truck drivers were still stuck on the road, said Jared Castle, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Transportation.
"Some wanted to wait it out and we gave them the option," he said Tuesday. He did not know how many trucks were on the road when it reopened Monday night.
An estimated 250 to 500 vehicles were stranded when Siskiyou Pass was closed Sunday night, said John Vial, district manager for the Oregon Department of Transportation. Cars began to leave the area late Monday after spending a long, frigid night in their cars with little food or water.
Crews spent the day clearing roads, pulling cars out of snowbanks and shuttling supplies to the stuck drivers before leading them down the mountain pass Monday afternoon.
"We also gave motorists the option of abandoning vehicles and going to shelters. Some did that," Castle said. "Then we deployed pusher trucks to touch the vehicles and get cars going. Some of the snow drifts were 5 to 6 feet and it was slow going."
Volunteers used snowmobiles to bring food, gas and water to the drivers, most of whom carried no tire chains. Officials also delivered portable toilets to motorists.
Tow truck driver Kevin Wyatt spent the night digging out cars and trucks. "It's just been miserable," said Wyatt, his face smeared with soot. "They thought it was a light storm and it just came down super, super fast. After they got stuck we couldn't get up here fast enough. When it snows four inches in two minutes, you can't do nothing."
Snowdrifts between Ashland and Redding, Calif., reached 7 feet in some areas.
State Police on Tuesday identified the man who died of a heart attack near the summit while helping other drivers as George Englehardt, 72, of Florence.
"He was pushing cars out of snow banks." Castle said.
On the California side, stranded motorists were able to leave shortly after noon Monday, and there were no injuries or accidents to report, said Sgt. Don Jordan of the California Highway Patrol.
54
posted on
01/01/2004 10:32:08 AM PST
by
Salvation
(†With God all things are possible.†)
To: Salvation
Global Warming Anti-Bump
Snow? Bah humbug!!
55
posted on
01/01/2004 11:23:24 AM PST
by
DeSoto
To: DeSoto
No longer snowing here in northern Salem, but we got a couple inches this morning (maybe 3)??
56
posted on
01/01/2004 2:28:51 PM PST
by
Salvation
(†With God all things are possible.†)
To: Salvation
Still snowing in Vancouver, retired now, but remember all the idiots that will not slow down, especially the 4WD's-they think their rigs give them liscence to go normal speed and brake as usual.
Worse than the snow is the inversion-the weather changes back to normal wet, rainy, that's when it can ice up 3 or 4 inches,for a day or so, really TREACHEROUS DRIVING ON ICE!!!
57
posted on
01/01/2004 2:37:57 PM PST
by
oreolady
(Have you reviewed your living will lately?)
To: Salvation
We live in SE Salem. Not too far from the Joseph ST exit on Hwy 22. We have about 8 inches and it is still snowing. I am starting to worry about roof loads, I have a barn that is not constucted too well. I hope that it stops soon.
58
posted on
01/01/2004 2:46:45 PM PST
by
DeSoto
To: Salvation; jimtorr
Got a bit more than we expected in Eugene too.
Don't know when it started, but we got up at 7:00 AM and it was coming down pretty good.
On the above ground surfaces we got a total a little better than 6 inches, then it started raining. Toppled a few trees around the neighborhood, but the power has stayed on at least. Not finding any local news on radio, sounds like everybody stayed home & put the stations on autopilot. While my favorite station was about halfway through Rush, it faded to silence. They've been broadcasting dead air at full power for about four hours now, and the only thing I can get with a weather report is KEX. Sounds like Portland is having fun.
59
posted on
01/01/2004 2:54:59 PM PST
by
Clinging Bitterly
(President Bush sends his regards.)
To: DeSoto
Hope your barn stands strong.
I will never forget the days of owning a flat topped child care center in Salem and getting up there to clean out the ice jams. Ugghhh!
60
posted on
01/01/2004 4:05:36 PM PST
by
Salvation
(†With God all things are possible.†)
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