Winter Weather Advisory Tonight, snow in the mountains and slushy in the High Desert

Central Oregon will be dealing with a widespread rainy pattern overnight. High Desert rain is likely to be mixed with some snow, but no accumulation. The Winter Weather Advisory will be in effect until 11am Thursday. I expect to see mostly slushy roads along 97. Travel through the passes will be a concern.

Overall, the Cascades are likely to see a few more inches of snow added to the ground tonight as yet another round of wintry weather returns.  The roads will once again be too warm to accept most of the snow but they will be slushy as the snow will melt on contact. This will be likely for the first hour or so, then some accumulation is possible on the mountain passes as the surface gets cooled by the snow. Pockets of ice are likely to develop near sunrise.

The High Desert rain and mountain snow will end by noon Thursday and there will be plenty of sunshine to melt the snow on the passes.  This will be a relatively long period of dry weather before the next round of rain arrives late Friday into Saturday. Timing is always a challenge, but the rain looks to begin late in the afternoon of Friday then transition to a wintry mix before the sun comes up Saturday morning. Slushy roads again will be the concern, and the passes will be slick and icy in spots above 5000 feet.

Sunday will be another forecasting challenge as there may be some early morning snow and slick roads.  This is being conflicted by the computer models, but for now my forecast will be for early morning rain and snow, followed by some clearing.

Rainy and chilly weather returns Monday then we are going to see some clearing for the middle of next week.

Stay Safe

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