01:07 PM PST on Wednesday, January 7, 2004

By ABE ESTIMADA, TERESA BELL and JIM PARKER, kgw.com Staff

It's still coming down.

Freezing rain continues to pummel the Portland Metro area and Vancouver, Wash., making early morning driving conditions treacherous.

Oregon State Patrol and the Oregon Department of Transportation are urging drivers to stay off the roads Wednesday morning if at all possible.

KGW Meteorologist Dave Salesky said icy roads may not begin to thaw until about noon Wednesday. “We still have a good coating of freezing rain in all areas and I don't think that’s going to change in the next few hours,” he said.

As of 6 a.m., the temperature in Portland was 22 degrees and throughout the state, few cities were above freezing.

“The freezing rain will be transitioning into rain in most areas by noon, with the exception of the Gorge. We’re going to see high, gusty winds and freezing rain there for a longer period of time.”

Tri-Met experiencing major disruptions

The ice paralyzed Portland’s MAX service with buildup on the tracks and overhead wires. Tri-Met decided to park the trains and use buses, equipped with chains, to shuttle passengers along the MAX line instead.

As for the regular bus routes, 25 Tri-Met bus lines have been detoured to snow routes and five were canceled entirely.

“Buses will be running slowly and will not be on schedule. Riders should expect travel times to be at least double what they would be under normal conditions,” said Tri-Met Spokesman Bruce Solberg.

Tri-Met is urging people to use public transportation only if they absolutely can’t stay home today. But folks are advised to dress warm, because they may have extended waiting times at bus stops and be extra cautious around moving buses that could slide before coming to a complete stop.

ODOT says driving conditions are even more dangerous than Tuesday because of the rain freezing as soon as it hits the already snow-covered ground.

This has prompted all Portland and Vancouver schools to close, along with many businesses, including some of the areas largest employers. Nike told all of its Beaverton employees to stay home - it’s the first time the campus has closed due to snow. The Freightliner Headquarters and Freightliner Manufacturing Plant are also closed, along with the Cascade General Shipyard, and Pioneer Place.

Snow covered the NW Tuesday

After blanketing some areas of Portland and Vancouver with a foot of snow, the worst snowstorm in perhaps a decade turned into frozen rain late Tuesday morning, turning Oregon and SW Washington into a frozen wasteland.

A view of Broadway in downtown Portland during the snow storm. (kgw.com viewer photo/DRB Photo by Ty LaCroix)

The storm forced MAX train service to grind to a halt on Tuesday night throughout the entire metro area. Shuttle buses ferried passengers from one station to the next. The arctic blast also cancelled roughly 200 flights in and out of Portland International Airport; at least 20 more flights Wednesday morning were also cancelled.

Anticipating hazardous driving and walking conditions, Portland Public Schools and numerous other school districts in the region decided not to open for Wednesday. And thousands in the area were left without power.

"It was not going to be a safe situation for students or staff to get to school (on Wednesday morning)," said Portland Public Schools spokesman Lew Frederick about the closure decision made around 9 p.m. Tuesday.

By Tuesday night, the freezing rain had cleared much of Portland and Vancouver’s streets, which would usually be jammed with evening commuters. City of Portland officials asked residents to stay home.

“If you do not need to go anywhere (Tuesday night), if you don’t have to go to work, please, please leave your car in the driveway,” said Mary Volm, a spokesman for the city of Portland’s transportation department. “It is getting worse by the minute.”

The storm also forced the Blazers to cancel their home game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Never before had the Blazers postponed a game due to weather, team officials said.

Thick snow covers the steps of the city of Portland's "living room," Pioneer Courthouse Square. (kgw.com viewer photo/DRB Photo by Ty LaCroix)

Schools shut their doors

Clark County school districts, including the Evergreen, Vancouver and Battle Ground school districts, were closed for Wednesday. Other southwest Washington school districts in Cowlitz County, such as the Castle Rock and Longview districts, followed suit. Skamania and Klickitat schools were out for Wednesday.

Most schools in east Multnomah County, which was under a blizzard watch for much of the day, went ahead and cancelled classes for Wednesday.

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The Gresham-Barlow, Centennial and Corbett school districts gave students another day off. Mt. Hood Community College cancelled classes for a second straight day.

In Clackamas County, the West Linn-Wilsonville and Oregon Trail/Oregon City school districts were among the districts who decided to shut their doors for Wednesday.

Oregon state offices were to decide early Wednesday morning if they would reopen. On Tuesday, state government struggled to stay open through the day.

State offices in Portland, Salem and Eugene opened late at 10 a.m., said Cindy Becker, spokeswoman for the Department of Administrative Services. She said employees not able to get to work because of hazardous conditions would need to use a day of leave.

But later in the day state managers surrendered to the weather, sending employees home early at 1 p.m. in Portland and 3 p.m. in Salem and Eugene, to beat freezing rain predicted to slicken roads in the Willamette Valley.

Flights cancelled

Alaska airlines on Tuesday night cancelled inbound flights into Portland International Airport after seeing weather conditions worsen, said Greg Witter, a spokesman for the airlines.

Earlier in the day, United Airlines cancelled their departures from PDX. Delta also cancelled some flights. In all, about 200 flights were cancelled on Tuesday at PDX.

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Many stranded passengers who couldn’t book hotels in Portland huddled in PDX’s concourses for the night to wait out the storm.

De-icing agent was also becoming harder to come by as the airlines from Vancouver, British Columbia to Seattle to Portland struggled to keep their planes clear, Witter said.

“We had our fingers crossed that things might improve, but it’s not just happening,” he said. “Deteriorating weather conditions associated with the winter storm have truly slammed Portland International (Airport).”

Airport officials said late Tuesday that at least 20 flights on Wednesday morning were also being cancelled. Travelers were advised to check with their airline before heading to the airport.

Salem, Gorge frozen

By Tuesday evening, a sheen of ice covered parts of Salem, which was one of the first cities in the Willamette Valley to be bombarded by freezing rain. Salem also got about 3 inches of snow.

Interstate 84 is closed from Troutdale, pictured here, to Hood River. (kgw.com viewer photo/DRB Photo by Ty LaCroix)

“I haven’t found any prediction about how long the highway may be shut down, if they just need to plow and get ahead of the snow and ice, or if they plan to keep it down until the conditions improve,” said chief deputy Duane Troxel of the Hood River County Sheriff’s Office.

In downtown Hood River, up to a foot and a half of snow was on the ground, Troxel said.

Weather forecast

Much of the snow had stopped falling by Tuesday afternoon. But Mother Nature had another wicked trick up her sleeve, turning the snow into dangerous freezing rain as temperatures warmed up.

Not that temperatures went up that high, anyway.

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Portland’s temperature dropped down to 16 degrees Tuesday, beating a record low of 28 degrees for the date set in 1974.

It was about 10 degrees in the Dalles, 6 degrees in Pendleton and 19 degrees in La Grande on Tuesday.

Temperatures reached 27 degrees in Salem and 28 degrees in Eugene on Tuesday, but rose to 48 degrees at North Bend on the Oregon coast and 42 degrees in Medford.

The warmer temperatures to the south were an indication of things to come, said KGW chief meteorologist Matt Zaffino. As the snow storm moves southwest, it will drag warmer temperatures behind it and eventually scour out the Portland-Vancouver area of the bitter cold.

A MAX train tries to run through downtown Portland. (kgw.com viewer photo/DRB Photo by Ty LaCroix)

“It will ebb and flow because the cold air that’s giving us the snow is sloshing around a little bit, and as it does that, we go snow, sleet, back to snow, sleet, but the sleet will win out and then the freezing rain will win out, and eventually, the rain will win out,” Zaffino said.

The freezing threatens to snap tree branches around the region into power lines, Zaffino said.

PGE outages

Indeed, about 15,000 weather-related power outages were reported to Portland General Electric on Tuesday night. Primary areas affected include Estacada, Mulino, Sandy, Canby, Salem, Molalla and the Glendoveer area of Portland.

Overall, “our system has been holding up very well,” said Kregg Arntson, a PGE spokesman.

There were no major power outages reported in Clark County, Wash. as of late Tuesday night. Clark Public Utilities' crews were on standby in case they would be needed.

The cold weather also continued to bring with it ruptured water mains. The latest in a series of ruptures occured Tuesday night on Syracuse St. in north Portland, near the University of Portland. Crews were working in the below-freezing temps to try and fix this latest main break, at least the third since Monday night.

Tuesday’s storm

The storm Tuesday closed Portland State University, Oregon State University, Western Oregon University, as well as dozens of school districts in Oregon and western Washington for the day, and brought motor travel to a virtual standstill from Seattle to the southern Willamette Valley.

Many businesses shuttered or sent their workers home, Oregon state and city of Portland offices closed early, and most Willamette Valley and southwest Washington residents stayed in their homes to wait out Mother Nature’s latest winter assault.

The cold weather may have been to blame for one person's death early Tuesday morning, said Portland police.

Officers found the body of what they believe to be a transient on an overpass near NE 12th Avenue and NE Lloyd Boulevard, according to Cheryl Robinson, a spokesperson for the Portland Police Bureau. Police do not believe the 29-year-old white male died of foul play, and an autopsy is scheduled for Wednesday.

Southwest Washington highways buried

Transportation officials were recommending that motorists stay off the roads in southwest Washington. But only minor fender benders were reported as motorists heeded the advice, said Jilayne Jordan, a spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Transportation.

Washington state route 14 from Evergreen Boulevard in Washougal to the Bridge of the Gods near Stevenson in Skamania County was closed Tuesday night to all traffic due to blizzard conditions. It will re-open when severe winter conditions subside, officials said.

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Chains were required for vehicles on U.S. Highway 97 in Washington.

Treacherous Portland, Oregon roads

Earlier Tuesday, Interstate 5 between Roseburg and Cottage Grove in southern Oregon was closed for several hours.

Around the Portland-Vancouver area and across Oregon, road closures and traffic alerts included:

-- The Astoria Bridge was closed due to an accident and icy conditions.

-- Johnson Creek Boulevard is closed east of SE 92nd Avenue in southeast Portland.

-- Icy roads around Newport prompted ODOT to issue a warning for U.S. 101, where up to an inch of ice settled on the highway between Seal Rock and Depoe Bay. Conditions became so treacherous that the department pulled all its own vehicles off the stretch of road. The highway remained open, however, for anyone who wanted to brave the ice, the department said in a statement.

-- 110th and 112th avenues were closed between Foster Road and Mt. Scott Boulevard.

-- 238th Drive in Wood Village was closed near Arata Road, where ice made driving extremely difficult on the steep hill.

Flooding concerns

The region's troubles may not end with the snow.

Temperatures were forecast to rise quickly after the storm, bringing the threat of flooding as the heavy mountain snowpack melts, according to the National Weather Service.

"Flooding is our major concern at the moment," said Linn County Sheriff Dave Burright. "It appears we have the recipe for problems: We have frozen ground in places where water doesn't seep in but runs off rapidly."

Current conditions remind Burright of what it was like before the flood of 1996.

Floods throughout Western Oregon that year resulted from heavy snows followed by rain and warmer temperatures. Floodwaters came within inches of breaching the Willamette River harbor wall in downtown Portland.

"It's a good time for people to get ready for a possible flood," he said.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)