Things eased up for a day, and then the current storm came in. It was forecast as the 'storm of the century'. Yes, I know we are only in the 4th year of this century, but its been decades since one like this hit Portland.
There is 3-12 inches of snow in the valleys and low hills. The temperatures dropped below freezing. My town of McMinnville seemed to be in a 'warm' pocket and only went down to 19 degrees F. We set a new record of the lowest 'high' temperature. It snowed for 2 days, then turned to ice pellets and freezing rain.
A warm front is trying to push the cold weather to the east. This warm air caused the freezing rain. There was 1/2 inch of ice on top of my car this morning and it is still coming down. This ice is on everything. Walking -- driving is treacherous. Portland had twice as much ice in some areas. It is in a direct line of the very cold winds blowing down the Columbia River Gorge. My town is 50 miles away and protected by some hills.
The temp has warmed up to 30 degrees right now, so we are only a couple degrees from starting to thaw. Portland is 5-10 degrees colder with wind chill down to about 5 degrees.
Schools have been closed for three days. Local rail service has closed. Buses are still running but with tires chained, thus are running slow. Trees are coming down from the weight of the ice and causing power outages. Business in Portland is at a standstill. The freeway east has been closed for 18 hours. There are 160 semi-trucks parked at one truck stop waiting to get on their way. The latest forecast is that the cold over Portland is not moving. The highest temp predicted today is 28 degrees F so they will not start melting yet. Winds are still at 30 miles per hour. Freezing rain is expected to continue another 24 hours. They predict that the schools will be closed again tomorrow and maybe Friday.
Since Portland is not thawing, the lace meeting tomorrow will be cancelled. Maybe we can reschedule it. We were supposed to have a reporter and photographer from the biggest newspaper coming to write a story on lace hearts for Valentine's Day. The president is starting the process of rescheduling, and when I hear from her, I'll start calling members to tell them what's happening.
We don't want any lacemakers out in this mess.
So far, I'm weathering this okay. No power outage so the heaters are still heating. My furnace can't cope with below freezing temps so I add some space heaters. I've had no frozen pipes. I've made two lace hearts during this storm. My food was stocked but the fresh veggies are running low by now. There's lots of food in the house, however. We won't go hungry.
The TV just showed a city bus that was stuck. It was chained to a jeep that was chained to a large pickup. The two little vehicles pulled it free to cheers from the people around there.
I will we could share some of this weather with Australia. Mix the two, and it might be rather pleasant.
In the cold, Alice
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