Local Alert Weather, Tue. AM, 12.19.17

Good Tuesday Morning, Everyone…

After a fairly mild start to the day we are anticipating some rapid change as a strong winter storm system bears down on the Pacific NW. The cloud cover over Central Oregon will thicken through the day and deliver some late day showers. Highs will range from the mid 40’s to low 50’s. SW winds will ramp up to 15-20 mph, with gusts to 30 mph.

This storm will drop 10-20″ of fresh snow in the Cascades over the next 24-36 hours. This is great news for the resorts…especially those that have not had enough snow to open, yet. Driving through the mountain passes will be a challenge tonight and tomorrow morning. Please be fully prepared for severe winter driving conditions if you are heading over the Cascades.

The passage of the cold front associated with this system will take our temps down into the 20’s tonight. That will turn the precipitation to snow and we can expect 1-3″ to accumulate for some areas by morning. Those strong SW winds will turn westerly and pull back to 5-10 mph.

Snow showers will taper off through Wednesday. Despite some partial clearing we will see very cold temps stay with us for the next several days.

HAVE A SPARKLING DAY IN CENTRAL OREGON!