Winter Weather – What To Expect The Rest Of Tuesday

For starters, we are wasting some perfectly good cold air right now. If we had moisture falling at this point it would be all snow. Kind of like the weather on my blog right now! But instead, the moisture is mainly going to be this evening and I think more than anything else, we’re still on track for areas of freezing rain for the PDX/Vancouver metro area and points north and east. That’s because the air above us warms up but the air at the ground does not.

Where We Stand As of Tuesday Morning

• We could see some snow flurries during the afternoon to early evening hours but I don’t expect any accumulation on the valley floor.
• Light freezing rain starts in a window of 5pm-8pm. So we MIGHT make it through the entire commute bfore any trouble starts.
• Remember the definition of freezing rain: it’s liquid rain that falls onto a frozen surface and turns to ice. So that’s what to watch for.
• Wednesday morning, I’m hopeful most of  us will be above freezing with roads just wet. But a few spots could still be 32 or colder and ‘on ice’.
• I’m pretty sure I-84 in The Gorge will shut down at some point tonight or early Wednesday. You are still on track for 3-6″ of snow, then freezing rain.

Two other things: this looks like mainly a rain event for the central & southern Willamette Valley. I’ll still keep an eye on your temperatures though, just to be safe. And if you want snow, head north on I-5. Even downtown Seattle will probably get 2-3″ of snow overnight tonight. This is the second time this year they’ve stolen our snow!

Have a great day and I’ll be in the KOIN Local 6 Weather Center all night giving you updates anytime they’re needed!