SALEM, Ore. (AP) - The Pacific Northwest started seeing more snow and some freezing rain Friday afternoon after snow fell in parts of Washington and Oregon on Thursday.
The National Weather Service issued an ice storm warning Friday for Oregon’s Central Willamette Valley including Salem and for the southern Portland metro and a winter storm warning for the Portland/Vancouver, Washington areas. After 5 p.m. freezing rain had started to fall in places around the Portland metro area, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said. Some roads were closed because of crashes and on southbound Interstate 205 a semi truck jackknifed, leading to a large traffic backup.
Interstate 84 in the Columbia River Gorge between Troutdale and Hood River will be closed by 9 p.m. Friday, state Department of Transportation officials said.
“Deteriorating weather is making driving too dangerous with high winds and heavy snow. We’ll reopen the interstate only when it is safe to do so,” the agency said on Twitter.
The National Weather Service said an additional 4 to 8 inches of snow could fall in the Portland area with another foot in the Cascades through Saturday.
Weather Service meteorologist Colby Newman told the Statesman Journal in Salem that ice accumulation expected there would make roads dangerous and weigh heavily on trees and power lines, potentially resulting in widespread power outages.
“We don’t get this much ice very often, and it’s a difficult situation because it can leave people without power, in the cold, for an extended period,” Newman said. “It’s probably a bigger deal than a snowstorm.”
Travel in the entire region could be impossible and is strongly discouraged, the National Weather Service and city officials in Portland and Salem said.
The weather also prompted school districts in the Portland/Vancouver area, Willamette Valley, and Columbia River Gorge to shut buildings and cancel in-person activities Friday.
Multiple COVID-19 vaccination sites, including those at the Oregon Convention Center and Portland International Airport and a site in southwest Washington’s Clark County are closed for the weekend.
A winter storm warning is also in effect for the greater Seattle area where 2 to 8 inches of snow was expected along with winds gusting to 40 mph. A winter storm warning for the region including Olympia, Washington predicted up to nearly a foot of snow into Saturday after that city received more than 6 inches in some places on Thursday.
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