Monday, December 22, 2008

The weather outside is frightful...

For Oregonians, this winter storm is kind of scary. Local news stations have been reporting mostly weather for the past 9 days. Here's an unusual headline:

Portland snowfall breaking 40-year record
KGW Chief Meteorologist Matt Zaffino said the metro area hadn't accumulated this much snow in the month of December since 1968. As of Monday morning, 14 inches had accumulated in Portland, a record for this month. The all-time record in December is 18 inches.

They are ever inching closer to breaking the all-time record. Here in the valley things have been a little more mild, but the lack of a local Salem forecasting team definitely keeps us in the dark at times. The many micro-climates of Oregon make it very difficult to give an accurate forecast, according to a KATU meteorologist. Personally, I'm getting rather tired of waking up to more snow and more ice. We had a 10ft+ branch fall on our patio fence. It didn't do any damage, but it was covered in ice, and I about froze my hands trying to get it chopped up and off of the sidewalk. I'm really tempted to check prices on chainsaws. :) Our power went out twice last night, and we suspect it burned out the filter in the fish tank along with with our router. Rather frustrating!

I've been scouring the web for a few great photos of what's really happening out here. Steve and I are desperately praying and hoping that our Saturday flight to Wisconsin won't be canceled, as the Portland airport has been canceling hundreds of flights every day. Hoping you stay warm and safe, and have a beautiful Christmas!!


Snowy beach by Melissa Eddy (KGW.com)


A MAX train in Downtown Portland


Many freeways & highways have been closed, including I-5 - a main highway through Oregon.

There are some links to road cameras in Salem on this webpage.