9:30am Monday…
It seems like all 4 of the weather systems that have moved through our area the past week have been ahead of schedule. That happened this morning too. Rain arrived around 7-8am. Luckily, clouds had moved in and temperatures warmed a bit during the night. Portland was up to 32-33 once the rain arrived, keeping new ice accumulation to a minimum.
Now the best news:
Road temperatures have warmed enough that any ice accumulation is done…it’s back to normal rain
Air temperatures are mainly 32-33 degrees and heading uphill slowly
The last of the Gorge wind (our open freezer door) is dying down
Southerly pressure gradient in the valley is increasing, about 5 millibars from Eugene to Olympia. That means fresh (milder) air is moving in and out of the western valleys. I notice Kelso has seen a gusty SE wind all morning keeping those temps above freezing. Eventually south wind will develop between Salem and Portland too.
The freezing rain threat is pretty much finished now in the metro area, it’ll be confined to the Columbia River Gorge the rest of the day. And after a few more hours it’ll only be east of Multnomah Falls
Check out the latest road surface temps:
- I205/Division: 34
- Canemah/Oregon City: 37
- Hwy 26/Sunset Transit Center: 37
- RockyPt. US 30: 37
All of those were at or below freezing a few hours ago…the melt is finally on! And today it’ll be much faster than yesterday.
Chief Meteorologist Mark Nelsen