Last night’s cold front was intense. Salem observed an official wind gust of 41mph, and several local stations reported gusts up to 45. Over half an inch of rain fell last night too. Many locations picked up a little bit of hail today, and NE Salem up through Silverton even had a brief thunderstorm. My students got pretty excited when they saw they lightning strike earlier today. :)  Meanwhile, the mountains have picked up feet of new snow and will continue to do so for basically the rest of the week.

The forecast for tonight

What’s going on tonight? There is a low pressure tracking right towards us. Typically this would be no big deal as it would usually just bring rain to people both north and south of the low pressure. However, since the atmosphere is cooler than normal, plus it’s the dead of winter still, the exact track has large implications on what happens here. Currently, this is what I’m expecting.

Heavy rain or a rain snow mix in Salem and Keizer with gusty winds at times. Maybe slush in the highest hills, but we should stay all clear as far as impact on our roads.

A brief period of heavy wet snow will fall from roughly Wilsonville northward. Bullseye seems to be right around Portland. All locations from Wilsonville north through Portland could see anywhere from 1 to 5 inches of heavy wet snow beginning around 9:30PM, and should be done by 1AM or so. Any valley locations that receive snow will actually warm back above freezing probably as soon as the storm ends. This is not a long lasting storm.

Even if the storm tracks further south, I still see Wednesday as being a regular cool and wet day with showers, downpours, and sunbreaks. Any snow that falls will melt away quickly. No big impact on your Wednesday is expected.

Thursday: More showers and sunbreaks. Brief downpours, maybe some hail, or wet snow mixed in, but nothing too wild.

Friday – Sunday: Plan on cold arctic air moving in Friday afternoon or early evening. This will set the stage for what could be a major snow or ice storm. Let’s get through tonight’s action first, but I’m telling you now, expect snow and ice to disrupt your plans Friday evening through Sunday. The snow and ice this weekend will likely cover all areas from at least Salem northward.

Time to see what happens. :)