Just a few quick updates tonight to help highlight what I’m thinking in regards to our upcoming ice storm.

Main points to know

1.) Roads could freeze up overnight tonight, so be extra cautious traveling early Wednesday morning.

2.) Temps stay fairly steady through Wednesday hanging around the mid to upper 30s.

3.) Wednesday night temps really start to drop as winds from the north and east bring frigid arctic air into the region.

4.) At some point between noon and 4pm Thursday a wintry mix of ice pellets and freezing rain will start. This wintry mix will switch over to just freezing rain fairly quickly. Temps will be in the 20s so roads will almost certainly freeze over and ice up much more than they did during the February 2021 storm. Do not assume roads are fine to drive on just because they look wet.

5.) Plan on not traveling anywhere Thursday afternoon through Saturday morning unless you absolutely must. I am fairly convinced we stay frozen through Saturday morning now with a sudden and dramatic warmup into the 50s during the afternoon hours Saturday.

6.) The Portland metro and gorge stay frozen longer – either Saturday evening or even Sunday morning.

I will update again most likely tomorrow evening or Thursday morning with hopefully a few more details on expected ice accumulations and a better idea of when we will actually warm up.