(For those of you who are accustomed to winter weather worse than ours, you have to understand how incredibly unusual this is for our area.)
This really is bad, folks. I'm not exaggerating. It's been snowing all day, but it's impossible to say how much we have now, because of the G70 mph winds. Looking out my window it's drifted to about 3 feet in places. This definitely takes the cake from 2004, primarily because of the high winds here at the west end of the gorge. It's important to note that they don't plow the roads here except on the interstates and highways; we just don't have the equipment or capability. This much snow makes getting around extremely difficult (well, impossible for all but the most experienced or stupidest drivers).
Visibility is down to about 25-50 feet, I'd guess. It's a fog of frozen water hovering in the air. Wind chill is below zero out here (-10) with the strongest gusts. A long stretch of I-84 (the main east-west interstate in Oregon) is closed. The Portland airport is canceling flights right and left. I think they are technically still open and operational, but they haven't had a flight leave in some time now.
We have been almost entirely below freezing for over a week, and local lakes and rivers have formed a crust of ice. Yesterday a couple of idiots were trying to ride motorcycles on the ice of a nearby lake and were arrested after one of their bikes fell in and they were caught trying to retrieve it. On the up side, we have the wonderful beauty of the frozen gorge waterfalls, photos of which can be seen HERE.
It's not just us, either. I heard earlier today that Burlington Northern has closed the entire Amtrak Empire Builders (Chicago - Seattle) route due to high winds and accumulating snow the extent of the route.
So to all of you in the Northern US who are hanging in there through these wild winter storms, I wish you warmth and peace wherever you are.
If you aren't affected by awful weather, be thankful.
We are bracing for freezing rain tonight or tomorrow...I'm really hoping it stays all snow and then changes to rain, but they are not hopeful. This clearly could mean power outages here over the next few days, so if I don't turn up around here, that would be why. Otherwise I'll be online ,as there is nothing else to do. I'm not going out in this, are you crazy?
Oh, and if my weather report isn't sufficiently entertaining, read THIS post by Jim, where he equates bathroom habits with prayer.
Have a good night.
This really is bad, folks. I'm not exaggerating. It's been snowing all day, but it's impossible to say how much we have now, because of the G70 mph winds. Looking out my window it's drifted to about 3 feet in places. This definitely takes the cake from 2004, primarily because of the high winds here at the west end of the gorge. It's important to note that they don't plow the roads here except on the interstates and highways; we just don't have the equipment or capability. This much snow makes getting around extremely difficult (well, impossible for all but the most experienced or stupidest drivers).
Visibility is down to about 25-50 feet, I'd guess. It's a fog of frozen water hovering in the air. Wind chill is below zero out here (-10) with the strongest gusts. A long stretch of I-84 (the main east-west interstate in Oregon) is closed. The Portland airport is canceling flights right and left. I think they are technically still open and operational, but they haven't had a flight leave in some time now.
We have been almost entirely below freezing for over a week, and local lakes and rivers have formed a crust of ice. Yesterday a couple of idiots were trying to ride motorcycles on the ice of a nearby lake and were arrested after one of their bikes fell in and they were caught trying to retrieve it. On the up side, we have the wonderful beauty of the frozen gorge waterfalls, photos of which can be seen HERE.
It's not just us, either. I heard earlier today that Burlington Northern has closed the entire Amtrak Empire Builders (Chicago - Seattle) route due to high winds and accumulating snow the extent of the route.
So to all of you in the Northern US who are hanging in there through these wild winter storms, I wish you warmth and peace wherever you are.
If you aren't affected by awful weather, be thankful.
We are bracing for freezing rain tonight or tomorrow...I'm really hoping it stays all snow and then changes to rain, but they are not hopeful. This clearly could mean power outages here over the next few days, so if I don't turn up around here, that would be why. Otherwise I'll be online ,as there is nothing else to do. I'm not going out in this, are you crazy?
Oh, and if my weather report isn't sufficiently entertaining, read THIS post by Jim, where he equates bathroom habits with prayer.
Have a good night.
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