Portland Streets Are Likely to Freeze Over Again Tonight, and Homeless Shelter Providers Have Put Out an Urgent Call For Winter Gear Donations

Expect icy roads again tomorrow.

(Sam Gehrke)
By Elise Herron

Portland's roads were ice rinks this morning, and a lot of drivers struggled.

Gerald Macke, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service of Portland, says the city got an average of about an inch and a half of snow last night.

He warns that below freezing temperatures—near 20 degrees Fahrenheit in Portland and in the teens in Hillsboro—could make for another hairy commute tomorrow morning.

"There won't be any new precipitation today or tomorrow," Macke says. "But any snow, puddles or patches of ice that the sun didn't hit today are going to freeze overnight."

Due to severe winter weather in the Portland-area, the county opened up emergency homeless shelters last night. Those shelters, which will remain open tonight, housed over 175 Portlanders on Monday night.

Shelter providers today put out an urgent call for winter gear donations. Thick socks, gloves, hats, sleeping bags, warm blankets and rain gear are the items that are most-needed. Portlanders can donate spare winter items 1435 NE 81st Ave., Suite 100.

Since Monday night, Portland Transportation Bureau crews have been out on city streets spreading salt and de-icer.

Throughout the night, the Portland Police Bureau East Precinct also live-tweeted about nearly 20 snow-related crashes that officers responded to around the city, many of them non-injury calls.

In other parts of Oregon, Macke says residents woke up to substantially more snow. Hood River, 60 miles east of Portland, got around 7 inches of snow, while regions in the Cascades got 3-4 inches.

Some towns along the coast, such as Cannon Beach, also got a rare ocean-side dusting of snow.

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