Fog relents, Redmond flights resume

Dense fog — of the frozen variety in places — returned to the High Desert on Thursday, making for murky gray skies and prompting the scrubbing of several flights into and out of Redmond Airport.

But the situation eased overnight and some flights were arriving and departing again Friday.

The National Weather Service in Pendleton issued a dense fog advisory Thursday morning, through noon Friday, warning of visibility less than a quarter-mile at time. Travelers were warned of freezing fog, dense in some areas, that could make roads slick and surely will affect visibility.

Skies were sunny for much of Thursday in Bend — until the fog moved in from the north during the afternoon.

Roberts Field dropped to a quarter-mile visibility by 4 a.m. and it didn’t relent until 8 p.m., bringing the cancellation of numerous arrivals and departures, a situation similar to that which plagued RDM several times in December. It was back again a short time later; you can get flight status updates at: http://www.flyrdm.com/?Flight-Status .

Bend’s airport east of town was enveloped by fog in the early afternoon and also appeared to be lifting late Thursday night, before visibility worsened again.

Then came some light-night snow in parts of Redmond and Bend, just to make things more interesting. Areas reported a skiff to an inch (east of Sisters) by daybreak.

NewsChannel 21 meteorologist Travis Knudsen said “a very subtle northerly wind” Wednesday night sent the fog south from the Columbia River, but areas south of Bend stayed sunny with warmer highs, into the 40s.

On the other hand, the fog was keeping lows Thursday night a bit warmer than down in Sunriver and La Pine, where it was expected to drop to the upper teens and lower 20s.

Knudsen said Friday will be mostly sunny, with patchy fog in the morning that should lift in the early afternoon. Highs will remain chilly and in the mid to upper 30s. Saturday is expected to be a partly cloudy and comfortable day, with highs in the low 40s.

But not great news for skiers and boarders: The Cascades may see a few snow flurries late Saturday, but snow accumulations are still looking little to none, Knudsen said.