Freezing rain hits hard: then long-awaited thaw begins

Freezing rain hit the High Desert with a vengeance early Wednesday, icing roads and causing numerous crashes, slide-offs and road closures while classes were canceled or delayed at several school districts and the Redmond Airport was closed for several hours. But much-welcomed warming arrived by mid-morning, starting a long-awaited thaw.

Jefferson County, Sisters, Sisters Christian Academy and Culver canceled schools, as did Cascades Academy and Central Christian — and Redmond schools also decided to close due to icy roads, having earlier announced a two-hour delay. Crook County schools and St. Thomas Academy were on two-hour delays.

COCC and OSU-Cascades canceled all classes before 10 a.m.,; OSU-CC also said its campus was closed until 9:30 a.m.

Also, NeighborImpact Head Start in Prineville and Redmond were closed, while the Madras TLC (the Children’s Learning Center) canceled all Head Start/preschool classes. Child care was open regular hours. Oregon Child Development Coalition Head Start in Madras also was closed.

The Redmond Boys & Girls Club was closed, while Redmond Area Park and Rec District programs at Redmond schools were canceled. The Jefferson County Circuit Court first said it would be closed until 10 a.m., later revising that to 1 p.m.

Cascades East Transit was operating on snow schedules. The Redmond Senior Center, including Congregate Meals and Meals on Wheels, also was closed due to road conditions.

We’ll have school/other closure/delay updates here as we get them. Email stories@ktvz.com with any other announcements.

The National Weather Service canceled its winter weather advisory for Central Oregon and other areas around 5:30 a.m., 90 minutes earlier than initially set, as forecasters said “snow and freezing rain has tapered off across this area.”

But the very slick driving conditions continued for some time, with two road closures well into the morning commute due to jackknifed semi-trucks and other problems — Highway 97 2 miles north of Terrebonne, and Highway 126 at Cline Falls, about 3 miles west of Redmond, due to jackknifed semis on the bridge over the Deschutes River.

Drivers reported Highway 97 south of Bend to La Pine was bad, with new snow and freezing rain atop the week-old storm’s ice.

Track the latest traffic updates at our TripCheck page.

Just after 8 a.m., ODOT reported that all Central Oregon highway closures had been resolved as temperatures warmed above freezing.

But Jefferson County Sheriff Jim Adkins said the hard-hit area still had “really bad” roads later in the morning. “People moving slowly, and we have had several slide-offs, but nothing serious.”

At 6 a.m., Madras Airport finally reported an end to the freezing rain, joining other airports around the region with cloudy skies — but its temperature was still the clodest, at 25 degrees, while other areas climbed above freezing. Warm Springs also was still below freezing, at 28 degrees.

Shortly before 6 a.m., ODOT warned of an “extended closure” of Highway 26 at milepost 100 on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation due to jackknifed semi-trucks.

At around 4:30 a.m., ODOT reported Highway 126 blocked four miles west of Redmond by jackknifed semis, with crews en route.

In Bend, the Bend Parkway northbound at Empire Avenue was open again by 4:30 a.m. after being shut earlier due to cashes, but ODOT said motorists still were “urged to avoid the area or delay travel if possible.”

TripCheck indicated crashes as of 3:30 a.m. in several locations, including Highway 97 at Cooley Road, and several slide-offs on Highway 26 between Madras and Prineville and semis sliding off 26 at milepost 7 west of Madras.

“Extreme weather conditions” were reported as of 3:30 a.m. across the central part of the state, with Highway 97 blocked near Terrebonne, Highway 26 at milepost 100 on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation and the slide-offs on Highway 26 between Madras and Prineville.

At 3:35 a.m. came word from Roberts Field Operations Supervisor Ben Wolfe that Redmond Airport was closed and canceling flights until 9 a.m. due to icy conditions, both arrivals and departures.

However, he noted some airlines may instead be delaying flights, and to check with your airline to be sure. He also said he was “optimistic” about improving conditions, as the freezing rain had stopped falling and temperatures crept above freezing at RDM. The airport’s flight status list can be found here.

The Bend Parkway also had extreme conditions due to freezing rain, and was stopped in both directions at around 3:15 a.m. An hour earlier, it was closed northbound at milepost 135 due to a jackknifed semi, with no detour available.

Freezing rain was reported from Bend north to The Dalles.

Freezing rain began falling over much of the High Desert late Tuesday night.

At 11 p.m., Bend Airport reported light rain and 27 degrees, while there was mixed precipitation and 21 degrees at both the Redmond and Madras Airports. Prineville Airport was cloudy at 36 degrees, the same temperature reported on Bend’s Awbrey Butte. By midnight, there was light freezing rain and 24 degrees at Redmond Airport.

One resident told of “everything covered in ice” in Madras and warned motorists to be careful.

The NWS also issued an ice storm warning until 9 a.m. Wednesday in areas east of Portland, Salem and Sweet Home in Oregon and areas east of Kelso and Vancouver in Washington.

The warning also was in effect for areas below 2,500 feet for the northern Oregon and southern Washington Cascades and the western Columbia River Gorge.

The heaviest precipitation was predicted to fall through 3 a.m. with ice accumulations of up to a half-inch possible.

Officials said travel could become treacherous or impossible on Interstate 84 in Oregon, and on other roads in the warning area.

Earlier, the first temperatures above freezing in a week for some spots began to clear some Bend-area roads, but still-icy streets led to more crashes and traffic delays Tuesday, including a four-vehicle crash involving a semi-truck at the Bend Parkway (Highway 97) and Powers Road on the south end of Bend Tuesday afternoon.

The Bend-La Pine School District warned parents that driving conditions were leading to school bus delays and that some students at the end of routes might arrive home as much as an hour late.

The new front is moving in a week after a major snowstorm dumped more than a foot of snow around the region — much of which is still on the ground due to a week of sub-freezing temperatures.

Areas that do get freezing rain will see up to a tenth of an inch of ice accumulate, forecasters had warned.

“We are setting up to see wave after wave of new storms moving into the Pacific Northwest, but initially they will be much warmer than the last winter blast that moved through the region,” NewsChannel 21 Chief Meteorologist Bob Shaw said on KTVZ.COM’s weather page.

ODOT was advising motorists to anticipate hazardous driving conditions in the following locations:

Interstate 84 including The Dalles, Arlington and Boardman;

OR19 including the cities of Condon and Fossil;

US197 including the cities of Dufur and Maupin;

US97 including the cities of Madras, Redmond and Bend;

US26 near the city of Prineville.

For the latest driving conditions, visit our www.tripcheck.com , page or call 511 for highway information.

Stay tuned to KTVZ.COM, as well as our Facebook page and Twitter feed, and NewsChannel 21 for the latest developments in this new storm.