Frigid air: C.O. temps plunge well below zero
Clear skies after days of snowfall sent most of Central Oregon plunging well below zero early Saturday as the stormy week was followed by a bitter cold snap.
The region’s coldest temperature reading, as reported by the National Weather Service in Pendleton, was -28 at the ODOT reporting station at Horse Ridge, east of Bend.
Others among the coldest spots were -17 reported near Three Rivers in Deschutes County and at Cold Springs, as well as just east of Prineville in Crook County. The temperature plunged to -15 in areas around La Pine and -12 at Sisters.
Bend Airport fell to a low of -9 about 7 a.m., with a wind chill as low as -23 early Saturday morning. Just about everyone else in the region also recorded sub-zero readings. Prineville Airport dropped to -13, Redmond Airport dropped to -6 overnight while the Madras Airport low was zero around midnight, according to online NWS data.
The NWS had no immediate word of temperature records broken. However, it said in a special weather statement that after a very cold weekend, a new low pressure system moving through the Northwest Monday and Tuesday will bring mixed precipitation and windy conditions.