Icicles hang from a gutter in Gales Creek on Feb. 12, 2021. Photo: Chas Hundley
An Ice Storm Warning issued by the National Weather Service for the Greater Portland Metro area will begin Sunday at 1 p.m. and extend to 6 a.m. Monday, Feb. 15.
The warning begins when the current Winter Weather Advisory for the region ends, and according to the Portland branch of the NWS, the ice storm warning means that the “significant icing expected” could bring anywhere from one-third of an inch to two-thirds of an inch of ice, especially toward the eastern portion of the Portland region starting Sunday.
That’s on top of the already fallen snow and freezing rain, more of which could fall Sunday morning.
With the additional ice accumulation, regional power outages — the Willamette Valley saw about a quarter million homes and businesses without power over the weekend — are expected to continue. Damage to trees laden with ice is likely, and travel will become “difficult if not impossible” in some locations due to the icy conditions, the NWS said.
The NWS discouraged motorists from travel, as did many public safety agencies and highway departments across the region.
As of 7 p.m. Saturday evening, Portland General Electric said that around 200,000 of their customers remained without power, and the Willamette Valley and some areas beyond are part of a region covered by an emergency declaration issued by Governor Kate Brown due to the ongoing winter storm.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Gales Creek Journal and sister news publications the Banks Post and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
