By Rod Hill on 2017-01-16
Cold east winds, blowing out of the Gorge to set the stage for possible Tuesday morning freezing rain in Portland and Salem.
Precipitation is expected to return early Tuesday morning and may fall as freezing rain, depending on temperatures. Hours of freezing rain are possible into early afternoon and possibly longer near the gorge in places like Camas, Troutdale and Gresham. Ice will be possible at elevations near and lower than 2,000 feet. During the afternoon, south winds should bring warming temps, changing most of the valley to rain.
The Gorge will likely see a bad ice storm with 24 hours of possible ice accumualtion from freezing rain Tuesday into Wednesday afternoon. Significant ice accumulations of .75" are expected. Conditions could get bad enough for I-84 closures.
Flooding rains and rapid snow melt continue to be a concern. A FLOOD WATCH is posted for much of our region. Inches of metro valley rain will fall Tuesday through Thursday. The metro valley could see 2-3" of rainfall, while 3-5" fall at the coast and 4-7" hit the Coast Range. Rising snow levels to 8,000' will melt mountain snowpack while heavy rains fall.
Keep updated as weather will be a top story through mid-week.
-Rod / January 16, 2017
Warming temps, heavy rains next week to bring flooding concerns