Highlights

Here’s the plan. Tonight we will continue to see rain showers with snow mixing in at times.
Christmas Day: A mix of rain and snow showers – more snow than rain and turning to all snow through the day. The chances for accumulating snow will also increase as the day goes on. Anyone could see a white Christmas if you get lucky.

Christmas night through Monday morning: Snow showers for everyone. Pretty decent chance everyone sees at least 1 or 2 inches, and many of you could see closer to 3 to 6 inches! All depends on where the lines of heavy snow showers set up. This picture shows what the radar might look like early Sunday morning. Basically lots of snow showers which means not everyone is going to see the same amount of snow, but everyone should get at least an inch or 2 at a minimum.

Temperatures stay right around freezing Sunday.

Monday – Wednesday will see a hard freeze with highs struggling to get out of the 20s, and lows in the teens or even single digits. Extremely cold weather and colder than anything we have seen in several years. Watching the potential for another snowstorm Tuesday. More details another day.

Plan on snowy and icy roads beginning at some point on Christmas everywhere west of the Cascades and lasting through Wednesday at least.

Merry Christmas!! Be safe and have a lot of fun!!!

If you have followed my site for any length of time then you know this is one of my favorite sayings, and it is extremely appropriate considering the weather we will soon be seeing.

First off, a short recap of the wild weather we saw over the weekend. The heavy rain and localized flooding showed up as expected. Salem received over 3 inches of rain between Saturday evening and Minday night!! That much rain in such a short time is bound to create flooding, and sure enough that’s exactly what happened on a number of our smaller and medium sized creeks and rivers. No fancy images to go with this post, but when I do my December recap I’ll definitely revisit this particular storm.

As far as the snow forecast went Saturday night, I have to say I’m happy with how it turned out. We had a very marginal setup and everything came together just right in the Portland metro area to drop a slushy 1 to 2 inches of snow even near the center of town. Extremely impressive considering the temps just 6 hours prior were in the mid 50s! Salem dropped down to 37, but never managed to go any lower. I knew it was possible we could miss out on the snow knowing that it was extremely marginal to begin with, and sure enough we got nothing.

Now, looking ahead I see a much much colder (possibly arctic) airmass moving in this weekend and even more so next week.

A mix of rain and snow showers the 24th and 25th. Plan on no widespread snow on the valley floor through the daylight hours on Christmas, but both the Coast Range and the Cascades will have snowy roads. Please keep in mind that when we are in a showery pattern like the one we will see on Christmas Eve and Christmas day, anyone could see a brief coating of snow with the heavier showers.

Sunday and Monday we continue to turn colder and colder with moisture still around. At this time it appears we have a decent chance at seeing accumulating snow here in Salem both these days. Subject to lots of changes. I’ll definitely have more updates in the coming days, but those days are looking like they could be quite wintry.

Next Tuesday and beyond it is looking to stay very cold with more opportunities for more snow likely. No sign whatsoever of any mild winter weather.

Stay safe out there!

We have a wild three days of weather ahead with a lot going on. First we have gusty winds (as you have probably noticed) with gusts up to 30mph. Gusts could turn even stronger as a powerful cold front slides south.

Heavy rain will turn to a heavy wet snow tonight for many locations between Salem and Portland. The snow may not stick all that much, but it will make for extremely hazardous travel conditions. This is a situation where the precip will be falling heavy enough behind the cold front to literary drag the snow level to the valley floor. This radar image shows what conditions should look like around 6pm. Lots of heavy rain with the front moving through…

But then the front stalls out and the snow level plummets. Here is what the radar might look like by the time we reach midnight.

Heavy snow could last for several hours before switching back to rain Sunday morning as the atmosphere overhead warms back up thanks to a warm front moving in.

Steady rain continues all day Sunday and Monday dropping over 3 inches of rain across the region between this evening and Monday night. Flooding is a concern I have as snow melt is coupled with heavy rain. This will lead to sharp rises on the area’s creeks, and rivers. Keep a close eye if you live in a flood prone area. Check out these rainfall totals through Monday night.

But that is not all folks lol. Cold air will surge south from Canada and strong east winds will transport it westerward through the Columbia River Gorge. This will result in freezing rain and heavy snow along l-84 in the Gorge specifically on Sunday. So if you are traveling through the Gorge Sunday all I will say is the odds are not in your favor.

Cold and potentially snowy weather is still on track to move in around the 23rd or 24th and could potentially last through the rest of the month. More on that later. Let’s just make it through the next 3 days safely first. Have a great weekend and stay safe!!!

First off I hope everyone knows just how close we were to snow this past Wednesday. I greatly dislike these close call scenarios. Last January Salem saw a surprise snow event in a fairly similar setup. I was not expecting snow here in Salem Wednesday, but I 100% mentioned it as being a possibility if everything had come together just right. Turns out we ended up with a very cold rain. Some of you saw snow mixing during the morning and the Coast Range saw a fair amount of snow, but right here in Salem we avoided the snow, this time… 😉 🙂

Friday should stay mostly, if not completely dry. Lots of clouds, maybe some sunbreaks too.

Showers and increasing periods of rain on Saturday. Fairly mild too.

Sunday will be rainy. In fact I have concerns we may see flooding on some of our rivers. Check out how much snow has fallen over the past 7 days.

Many of the higher elevations in the Coast Range have over a foot of heavy wet snow on the ground, and there are several feet up in the Cascades. Now look at how much rain is expected between now and Monday night. Keep in mind most of this is forecast to fall in just two days – Sunday and Monday.

I will likely have an update Saturday concerning the potential for flooding. Keep this on your radar.

Showers stick around for both Tuesday and Wednesday of next week with snow levels lowering back down below pass levels which means the Cascades should still have excellent Christmas break skiing conditions!!!!

Even colder weather is still on track to move in around Christmas. Not sure yet how cold or if we will see snow, but I will be keeping an eye on this over the coming days. Definitely looking cool/colder in the long term.

Have a fantastic evening and a great Friday!!

First some “old news.” The storm we had Saturday did not disappoint. Salem had over 12 hours of 30+mph gusts with a top speed of 47mph making it our windiest storm this season! The rainfall was also quite impressive with Salem receiving just over 2 inches of rain between Sat & Sun.

A much cooler airmass also rolled in with this storm allowing for copious amounts of snow to pile up in the Cascades. This image shows 2 to 3 feet of snow have fallen widespread across the Cascades with closer to 4 feet on the highest peaks! 6 to 12 inches of snow fell in the Coast Range. Take note this does not take into account all the snow that fell this afternoon/evening.

Hoodoo went from no snow at all last Tuesday to a base of 36″. Amazing to see how quickly things have turned around! Very low snow levels will be the theme for at least 2 more days.

FORECAST DETAILS

TUESDAY: A few isolated showers, but more dry weather than wet with some sunbreaks too. Anyone could see some snow in the air during the morning hours, but extremely low chance anyone sees anything more than just that – no accumulation is expected.

WEDNESDAY

There are a few things that pop out at me, but we could flirt with a little bit of snow early Wednesday morning.

1.) This scenario will favor the western Willamette Valley in a similar way to the January snowstorm we saw last winter – only this time we SHOULD be a few degrees warmer. Look for a quick final update Tuesday evening.

2.) Whether it snows or not, we will be very close to freezing, so plan on a cold day with snow at least in both the Coast Range and the Cascades with snow levels between 500 and 1500′.

3.) For now plan on snow as being a possibility Wednesday here in the valley – specifically the western valley locations like Corvallis, south and west Salem MAYBE, as well as in Independence, Dallas, Newberg, and McMinnville. This map shows this well with snow coming very close to the valley floor on the western side of the Willamette Valley while locations generally east of l-5 see a mix or just plain ol’ rain.

Again, I’m not calling for sure snow at this point, but we will be awfully close Wednesday, so look for that update Tuesday evening.

THURSDAY: A few showers.

FRIDAY: Dry. This is your one and probably only totally dry day for awhile…

SATURDAY: Rainy. Mountain snow.

Christmas week

Taking a peak at next week (the week of Christmas), it’s looking like it could be even colder – maybe much colder (snowy too maybe…). I’m definitely going to be watching things closely, but it seems likely the cooler/colder pattern is here to stay.

Okay, take care and drive safely!