Ice Storm — Central Coast Range of W Oregon, Oregon

2021-02-12 to 2021-02-13 · Central Coast Range of W Oregon, Oregon

Event narrative

Mainly for the Van Duzer (Hwy 18) corridor near Grand Ronde. Highway 18 was closed for 24-48 hours, and ODOT pictures revealed 1.00 of ice. A trained spotter in Blodgett (further south) also reported 0.75 of ice before it started melting the morning of the 13th.

Wider weather episode

This was a major, widespread, multi-faceted winter storm that caused major problems across the northern 2/3 of our forecast area, even (and especially) in the lowlands. Impacts were felt as far south as Albany. WFO Portland measured 10.1 of snow, followed by roughly 0.75 of ice. Significant impacts to infrastructure occurred, with over 400,000 people losing power at some point during the storm. The area impacted the hardest appears to be the southern portions of the Portland metro, south through Oregon City and Silverton and as far south as Salem and Aumsville. Polk County was hit hard by ice as well, with 1.00 to 1.75 of ice reported. Some people in these areas hard-hit by ice lost power for over a week.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 946432. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.