Snow in the Portland

[carrie_dave_and_cody]

I have lived in Oregon my whole life, and yes I know when it snows the city shuts down. That being said, they have predicted sticking snow to start tomorrow between 10 and noon 1 to 4 inches depending on elevation and east wind influence with up to .25 inches of freezing rain on top. Watching the news tonight school districts have already canceled classes for tomorrow. Right now the roads are clear and dry. Does this seem crazy to anyone else? Because I am baffled right now.

 

[ken2v]

Wasn't it December 2008 when Portland was nailed? That was some pre-Xmas to arrive as we did!!! We have great pics of walking down Vista to Zupan's and Phil's, and packing it back up to Jackson as nothing was out on the roads. And on the way back one of our nephews went skiing on down.

Not really sure of the question. If you get black ice over a bit of snow, it will be a clusterfuck, for sure.

 

[carrie_dave_and_cody]

That was a big storm for us , it shut the city down for a week or more. At my house we had over a foot of snow on the ground for a week or more. I just can't believe that they have cancelled school when it's completely dry. Usually when they predict snow it doesn't actually happen. I don't know just seems like a rushed decision.

 

[Valgal]

In 1985 I was living in San Antonio and we got over a foot of snow-- I'm sure it set an all time record. The city shut down--we had no snow plows. They closed schools around noon and asked businesses to send people home. They could see it coming on the radar.

You should see South Texas drivers with just a little sleet and ice-

A couple of years ago we had a good/bad ice storm here. I now live in a large retirement age small town. We had something like 9 broken hips in just a few hours. The ice didn't keep granny inside.

 

[martinr]

My daughter lives in Portland and has a work event for 800 people scheduled for Thursday. They're waiting it out to decide what to do.h Supposedly, the decision rests on the City Schools opening/closing. She works downtown and is pulling for accumulation!

 

[Sonya]

Does this seem crazy to anyone else?

Seems normal for Seattle. We get the "snomageddon" panic a couple times a year here. You can't get into the grocery store because people are stocking up on canned goods and bottled water. I am out of salad dressing, but I'm not even going to try to go to the store today. People are freaking out about this one already. It will be dark when it starts here and is supposed to turn to rain by morning so I'll probably miss the whole thing.

Wasn't it December 2008 when Portland was nailed?

I know we had a really awful one in Nov 2010. I remember because we were going to put our dog to sleep, but Dan couldn't get home in time due to the snow/ice. His 45 minute commute was 3.5 hours that night. We ended up meeting the vet there the next morning and had to do the procedure by coleman lantern because the power was out on the whole island. Normally it takes us 10 minutes to get there, but it took 45 minutes due to accidents and hills we couldn't get up so we had to go around the long way, dodging crashed cars and fallen tree branches. It was a mess.

Even just an inch of snow can be a problem in the city here because it's on a big hill. Busses slide all over the place. In that 2010 storm one almost went over the retaining wall and onto I-5. I usually just hunker down at home and enjoy the view out the window and stay close to the fireplace. Unfortunately heavy snow here usually means falling trees, which means power outages. Living in the boonies, that means no heat, no light and no WATER!!! Our record is 5 days without power and I'm in no hurry to do that again. We were melting snow on the wood stove in the basement so we could flush the toilets.

 

[bluesdude]

My son is living in Portland and he is supposed to fly out today to Atlanta and connect to a flight to Hilton Head, SC for a job. So far, it looks like he will make his 1pm(ish) flight out. I am not so sure that some of this isnt more hype than anything else. I do believe they will have the weather, I am just not sure it will be as bad or wide spread as they are predicting.

 

[Peachiekeehn]

I'm in the burbs of Vancouver and we're getting it too. Forecast for higher elevations of about 5 to 8 inches starting late tonight and through tomorrow! Remember, we're the City that had to truck in snow when we hosted the 2010 Winter Olympics!

 

[bluesdude]

My son's flight took off about 30 minutes late, but it took off. Good luck to all of you NW leftcoasters!

 

[Sonya]

Radar says it's here, eyeballs say the radar lies.

 

[Richard Alpert]

I just can't believe that they have cancelled school when it's completely dry. Usually when they predict snow it doesn't actually happen.

A few years ago, our local district called off school for the next day for a predicted heavy snow. By 5:00 A.M. the snow had stopped. A total of 2 inches. The school cancelled their cancellation and decided to hold classes, but they forgot to notify the bus company. So, no school again. The kids had to make up the day on a Saturday...

Best wishes to the folks in the Portland area for whatever weather you ended up getting!

RICHARD

 

[carrie_dave_and_cody]

We had a couple of inches of snow. Lots of frigid east wind, and the freezing rain started about 3:30. Traffic was horrible, people abandoning cars on the side of the roads, etc. I was lucky and only live about 10 miles from work. It still took me about 45 minutes to get home. It is still below freezing at my house. I hope it warms up by the morning or I am not going to work. My son just walked to the store and said it was still pretty slick out there.

 

[flyguyfl]

That damn global cooling at work again!

 

[IM ALL IN]

We are getting hit with the same storm Portland is. Ours (Vancouver) was supposed to hit overnight,,well it's 5 am now and I can see just a couple tiny flakes coming down. We'll see what transpires. If we DO actually get sticking snow, it does turn wet, and then it freezes and then it's hell. And we have plenty of drivers who've never driven in snow, let alone even know what black ice is. I know other parts of BC, they get packed snow. (as in no rain) You can still drive on it. Black ice is a problem here....Addition many hours later...We did get about 6 inches, and it was hell driving home at 3 pmish. Inching along Hwy 7 to Coquitlam Center..usually takes me about 18 minutes to get home, but took 55, so not too bad, got home safe. First snow of the year, and hopefully the last.

 

[booker]

Wasn't it December 2008 when Portland was nailed?

Right you are. I fly out of Portland and was in Vegas when it hit. My return got canceled … I think it was Dec. 19th, and as airports all over the country shutting down, my next available flight was a few days after Christmas. Back home my wife had huge weather related issues … getting to/from work, keeping our pipes from freezing, taking care of our dogs and a friend's pets a few miles away.

My wife keeps reminding me that this storm is the reason that I WILL NOT travel in the winter again.

 

[Sonya]

Woke up to about 3" in the yard. Driveway hill doesn't look like fun, however the roads seem slushy, but passable. I'm thinking I may just stay inside today.

 

[ken2v]

Right you are. I fly out of Portland and was in Vegas when it hit. My return got canceled … I think it was Dec. 19th, and as airports all over the country shutting down, my next available flight was a few days after Christmas. Back home my wife had huge weather related issues … getting to/from work, keeping our pipes from freezing, taking care of our dogs and a friend's pets a few miles away.

My wife keeps reminding me that this storm is the reason that I WILL NOT travel in the winter again.

10-4. We were in Seattle and basically ignoring the warnings. We ended up renting a car and were one of the last through I-5, and if we'd taken Amtrak that was the one that was stuck in Kelso for something like 15 hours. Downtown Portland was so cool when we got there to drop off the rental, just no one out and about, for the most part. Family picked us up in the Rover and by that evening, it really hit.

 

[Multifarious5]

PDX here. We had 5 cars in a nearby ditch that we know of. (We are high on a very steep hill.)

The worst was the poor mail lady with chains on her truck, she still ran off the road despite excellent driving. (Ice is ice, especially on a hill.)

We kept checking on her since she was standing out in the cold, (she didn't want to stay in the truck and get hit), but she said she wasn't supposed to leave the truck.

We finally brought her cocoa and chatted with her, but she was there a good two hours that we know of. We did invite her in, but turns out she had a friend nearby if she decided to leave truck.

It's crazy, I've lived in new England, where they'd laugh at our snowmageddons, but you're blending ice with people who don't know how to drive in it, definitely not a good recipe!

 

[CaptCampion]

I'm in Eastmoreland (SE PDX) only about an inch here, but my son appreciated the 2 days off of school.Looks like it's gonna get cold again next week.

 

[booker]

10-4. We were in Seattle and basically ignoring the warnings. We ended up renting a car and were one of the last through I-5, and if we'd taken Amtrak that was the one that was stuck in Kelso for something like 15 hours. Downtown Portland was so cool when we got there to drop off the rental, just no one out and about, for the most part. Family picked us up in the Rover and by that evening, it really hit.

And when I eventually landed in Portland, snow had melted then refroze solidly to a depth of about 4" around my car's tires in the economy parking lot. Then more snow had covered the ice. I had to use a screwdriver to hack the ice from around my tires. That took the better part of an hour. THEN I had to chip a little "runway" in front of my tires to get out of the ruts and use my ice scraper as a shovel. I was frickin' freezing! I live 2.5 hours away from the airport. The drive home over HWY 26 took me about 6 hours, with frequent stops as crews had to remove trees that had fallen over the road and powerlines.