The second day of Spring... really?

Fine, I guess all that optimism yesterday was for naught.

This morning we woke to yet another blanket of fallen snow, forcing me to take the car to work which makes for one grumpy boy. Schools are closed, power lines are down and police cars are in the ditch.

Spring snow causes schools closures, crashes

Welcome to spring in the mid-valley.
Snow early Wednesday morning led to the closure of most mid-valley schools, including those in Albany, Corvallis, Lebanon, Philomath and Sweet Home schools districts.
Jefferson schools were on a two-hour delay.
The University of Oregon has delayed its opening until 1 p.m. Oregon State University and Linn-Benton Community College opened as usual. The exception was the LBCC Sweet Home center, which was was closed because of a power outage.
ODOT reported at midmorning that Highway 20 was closed five miles east of Sweet Home after several trees downed power lines that were blocking the highway. 
The closure is expected to be a lengthy one. There are multiple reports of trees down on U.S. 20. Motorists should avoid this area, and are encouraged to postpone travel, if possible, or be prepared for extreme winter driving conditions.  Motorists should also reduce speed and be alert to changing road conditions and the possibility of falling trees and limbs.
In Benton County, a head-on crash about 8:30 a.m. involving two semi-trucks closed Highway 99W at Alpine Road north Monroe.
Southbound traffic was being detoured through the Alpine cutoff.
The driver of one of the semis, Timothy Tull of Springfield, had facial injuries and was transported to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis.
The other driver, whose name was not immediately available, was OK.
ODOT also reports multiple crashes along the I-5 corridor in the Eugene-Springfield area, but no complete highway closures. Motorists should expect snow accumulation on area highways, with especially slick conditions on any elevated roadway or ramps. 
There are also multiple crashes reported on Highway 36 and Highway 125, west of Eugene.  There are multiple reports of trees down on Highway 58. 

Highway 99W closed near Alpine Road after semis collide; deputy uninjured after car goes into ditch

A head-on crash about 8:30 a.m. involving two semi-trucks has closed Highway 99W at Alpine Road north Monroe.
Southbound traffic is being detoured through the Alpine cutoff.
The driver of one of the semis, Timothy Tull of Springfield, had facial injuries and was transported to Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Corvallis.
The other driver is OK.
The roadway was slick, and both drivers could not negotiate a curve when they collided, according to Oregon State Police Trooper Phil VanLeuven.
The highway was also temporarily closed but has been reopned at Finley Road, where a Benton County sheriff's car went off the road and into a ditch.
Deputy Brent Iverson was responding to the semi crash when his vehicle spun out and ended up in the ditch. Iverson is OK. The vehicle has some front-end damage and was towed back to Corvallis

Downed power lines close Highway 20 east of Sweet Home

Highway 20 is closed 5 miles east of Sweet Home (milepost 36) after several trees downed power lines that are blocking the highway. 
This could be a lengthy closure. There are multiple reports of trees down on U.S. 20. 
Motorists should avoid this area, and are encouraged to postpone travel, if possible, or be prepared for extreme winter driving conditions. 
Motorists should also reduce speed and be alert to changing road conditions and the possibility of falling trees and limbs.

Storm breaks snowfall records in Eugene, but spring will make swift comeback

  An early-spring storm dumped up to 7 inches of snow on Eugene, making it the biggest snowfall to hit the city this late in the season in 73 years of record-keeping, the National Weather Service said.

All that snow caused havoc on area roads early this morning in the Central to South Willamette Valley.

The Oregon Transportation Department reported crashes on Interstate 5 and crashes as well as downed trees on other highways. U.S. 20 east of Sweet Home was closed because trees fell on power lines. U.S. 20 at Santiam Pass was also closed due to a snow slide that may have trapped a vehicle, ODOT reports. Crews have reached those vehicles and everyone is OK.

Also, ODOT reports that Oregon 35 is closed by an avalanche six miles north of U.S. 26. By 1:30 p.m., ODOT reported that Oregon 35 is open again.

The National Weather Service forecast another 1 to 3 inches of snow today in the southern Willamette Valley, mostly from decreasing snow showers. ODOT webcams showed Interstate 5 to be mostly wet with little accumulation on the road surface.

Snowfall totals included 7 inches in both Eugene and Silverton, and 3.5 inches in Salem. Eugene averages about a half inch of snow in March, but most of that usually occurs during the first 10 days of the month, the weather service said. Measurable snow also fell in the Cascade foothills west of Portland, including in Corbett and Damascus at a higher elevations.

“This is the La Niña winter weather we’ve been waiting for,” said Kathie Dello, deputy director of the Oregon Climate Service at Oregon State University. “It’s pretty typical – an active storm track, wet and cool. It’s a bit later than we’ve expected, but low-elevation snow in March isn’t unprecedented.

“La Niña is officially waning,” Dello added, “but she’s still got some fight in her.”

At the University of Oregon officials plan to reopen the campus for classes at 1 p.m. today. 

A weather service hydrologist, Andy Bryant, says the storm will hang on through today and then move east as showers.
Bryant says it could leave up to 2 feet of snow in the Cascade Range, boosting a below-average snowpack.

"It could get a bit interesting again Thursday morning, but for the most part we will be back in the mid-40s,'' he said. 

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Our email is down at work, our network is out and our power keeps flickering off all morning and it is still snowing. It wasn't getting to work this morning that was the problem, it'll be trying to get home.