Thawing begins today for much of the metro

Good morning!

A slow thawing is beginning on this Christmas Eve morning. Temperatures further south in the Willamette Valley have climbed to just above freezing around Salem and Eugene. A few spots of the metro have climbed to freezing, but no one is above that point yet. Winds indicate that some areas are beginning to switch to a southeasterly wind. As the south wind arrives later today, a warm up could happen dramatically. However, the east wind is going to keep many in the east metro still very cold today. Starting to the south and west, temperatures should begin to climb above freezing after sunrise today and eventually much warmer. That will start a nice thaw in these areas. The east metro though is likely to stay locked in the freezing until this evening. We also have another wet system arriving later this morning. That is likely to bring more ice to the eastern part of the metro that is still below freezing. Another 1/2″ of ice is possible and that ice continues into the gorge today as well. Temperatures should be warming for everyone after about 3pm or so and roads will likely be improving for all through tonight.

The gorge is going to remain locked in freezing air and the ice storm will continue today. We expect to see somewhere between 1/2″-1″ of glazing and temperatures remaining below freezing. Christmas Day will be mainly dry, but many are still in freezing temps. We could start to see some improvement to the freeways on Christmas, but side roads will remain icy. The thaw will more slowly begin for the gorge on Monday.

Christmas Day in the valleys will be much warmer for everyone, and we’ll see a few showers. By now, we’ll all be out of the ice and thawed out. Temperatures will remain warmer into next week and we’ll see plenty of wet systems.

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