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Facing a forecast of frigid overnight lows early this week, followed by an ice storm on Valentine’s Day, Multnomah County is opening three emergency warming shelters on Monday night.
The National Weather Service’s Portland office says temperatures will dip quickly after sundown tonight. “Portland is going be decently cold the next few nights,” meteorologist Hannah Chandler-Cooley tells WW. “We’ll be in the low 20s, right around 20 to 25 degrees.”
Just as temperatures start to rise on Thursday, a wet front will move in off the coast, hitting Portland with a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain that should make for a nasty commute on Friday—Valentine’s Day. The National Weather Service expects 1/20 to 1/10 of an inch of ice to land by Friday morning, summoning memories of the winter storm that paralyzed the city (and sent trees toppling onto homes) in January 2024.
“At this point, we don’t expect it to be like the ice storm we had last winter,” Chandler-Cooley says. “There could be some breezy winds that combine with the ice [that] could cause some larger branches or smaller trees to fall.”
It’s the second time this month cold weather has triggered the county to open emergency shelters. County officials announced that nonprofit partners would operate an additional 232 severe weather beds overnight on Monday and monitor whether they should remain open in the coming days. TriMet is providing free bus and train rides to anyone traveling to a shelter.
The three shelters opening at 8 pm tonight are:
- Cook Plaza (19421 SE Stark St., Gresham)
- Hollywood Shelter (1815 NE 43rd Ave., Portland)
- Northwest 14th Avenue Shelter (600 NW 14th Ave., Portland)
The county also posted an interactive map of where to get warm.