Rodney is here today to talk about
this Christmas week forecast. What's
the matter? I'm here all week
I'm seeing a look at the radar.
We've got snow fall right now.
It's lit up in the gorgeous
self except for the Dow.
This is the blue area, but we are still
tracking wintry weather in the gorge.
Storm warnings up in the Cascades and I want
to point out as we will show you the big map.
You see the snow out in Pendleton.
Baker City could get a
few inches of snow today.
Here's all the rain.
Just rain temperatures held about
40 degrees last night.
Here in the valley,
but see these red orange colors Salem.
Can be Colton,
all this is moving up to the north,
so this is really going to turn
into a a driving rainstorm of sorts
in the coming hours over Portland.
We really get into the morning commute hours.
We are at 40 but the rain is gonna
be heavy for the next several hours.
44 at noon,
lighter rain but steady this
afternoon and 44
degrees. Alright rod,
let's get to our top news story.
This half hour we just talked about
the fact that we're less than a week
away from Christmas now and with US
health experts are talking about
that combination of the Omicron
variant and holiday travel plan.
There really is still a lot
we don't know about Omicron,
but compared to where we were
last year with the pandemic,
we've made some progress.
Here's Galen ettlin.
AAA estimates more than 109
million Americans will travel
for this Christmas and New Year.
That's a 34% increase
over this time last year,
twice as much as this Thanksgiving,
and even with the Omicron
variance urging people here
at PDX are not that concerned.
Ascending into PDX departures
Sunday, you can feel the energy
really excited because we haven't
seen our cousins in a bit
Opal Browning, her sister Lila
and Mom Diana are heading to Utah
to visit family this holiday.
We spent a year and a half away
from my dad who had cancer.
COVID kept them apart but now
we just got our boosters and
these kiddos were lucky enough
to get their vaccinations.
Travel feels safer to this
nurse and others here agree.
You just realize all the time that's
been lost my life. Yes, exactly.
Precautions are front and center
masks keeping distance vaccinations.
But as the contagious Omicron variant
appears in nearly every state,
experts are worried about a new
spike from the holidays. The
extraordinary capability
of spreading. It's gonna
find those amongst our community
who are still vulnerable.
You know about 40% that
are not fully vaccinated.
Early research does not prove yet
if the variant makes people sicker,
but since it appears to spread more quickly,
vulnerable populations and
people with other conditions.
Are at risk the hospitals are already
strained compared to last year.
We have so many people in this country
who are eligible to be vaccinated
who have not yet been vaccinated.
But Doctor Anthony Fauci says those who are,
and especially those who are boosted,
should feel safe to travel this season.
And for these groups at
PDX reuniting with family
first time, you know being together
since, like you know, COVID
vaccines and advances in COVID prevention
make a world of difference over last year.
Taking the right precautions.
And still being able to have that time
with family and friends is important.
We have to live our lives,
but carefully now,
because of rising case numbers,
the Biden administration has
extended its federal mask mandate
to mid March and that applies to
people traveling by bus, plane,
train and any other public transportation.
Galen Ettlin KGW news
with the new variant and the holidays.
A lot of people want to
buy at home COVID tests.
Few weeks ago you could find them
just about anywhere now stores.
Can't keep them in stock.
The demand is also leading to
shortages online so companies
like Walgreens are limiting how
many kits customers can buy.
It's all about distribution.
Once those tests are manufactured.
Even if we have theoretically
enough capacity, we've got to
get them out to the stores,
to the homes and to the businesses
for people to actually use. That.
And each part of that chain is at
huge amount of stress right now.
The Today show digs into how distribution
is contributing to the shortage.
You can see that report right
after sunrise at 7:00 o'clock.
Well, the Omicron variant is raising
concerns for local business owners.
We talked to the owners of Wedgehead
in Northeast Portland this weekend.
They say they've seen a slump
in businesses since the Omicron
variant was first discovered,
and now they're joining a coalition of
3000 restaurants across the country,
signing a letter to Congress.
That letter says many restaurants are
in danger of closing without extra
support from the federal government.
If we were to get that funding,
I would give us a nine out of 10 success
rate for the future for the rest of
COVID would say without it I would give
our survival rates and maybe three out
of 10 or 30% chance.
Congress passed $28.6 million
in funding for the Restaurant
revitalization fund earlier this year,
but those funds quickly ran out,
leaving nearly 200,000
applicants without grants.
Governor Jay Inslee announced the
Washington Cares Levy won't go
into effect, at least not yet.
So lawmakers can tweak it a little bit.
The controversial payroll tax
was set to begin January 1st.
The money raised would create a savings
fund for individuals who could use
it for long term care expenses in.
Old age or if they get sick,
the payroll tax would cost someone
making $75,000 about $435 a year.
There are a number of concerns about the tax.
For instance,
people who pay into the system but
move out of Washington to retire
wouldn't receive any of the benefits.
Well, fireworks are coming
back to Clark County.
The county voted Friday to temporarily
allow fireworks sales next week.
Over the summer.
We know Clark County adopted.
An emergency ban on fireworks
because of wildfire danger.
So the five day window to buy fireworks
will start at noon next Monday,
December 27th and will end at
11:00 PM on New Year's Eve.
And you'll only have a few
hours to actually use fireworks.
Clark County fire Marshall Dan
Young said in a statement,
while the say that while the sale part
of the fireworks will temporarily be
permitted over the course of several days,
this charge is only allowed on New Year's
Eve from 6:00 PM to 1:00 AM the next morning,
New Year's Day.
Shooting fireworks outside of those
hours can land you a $500 fine.
OK, let's turn to weather for a moment.
It is a rainy Monday and it was a
rainy weekend causing issues all
across the Portland metro area.
Our crews shot this video in Tygard
yesterday at the intersection of
Southwest Shoals Ferry Road and Nimbus.
Lots of flooding heavy rain also
caused the water to rise in
Fanno Creek in Greenway Park.
The Creek eventually spilled over its banks.
Flooding part of the area.
The rain also caused a sewage
overflow into the Willamette River.
The big pipe sewer system reached capacity
yesterday morning and the sewage flowed
into the river for about four hours.
As a result of that,
officials are asking folks to
avoid going into the water for
at least the next two days.
If you'd like to monitor the situation,
this is the website where you can do it.
It's called the Bigpipe tracker.
It updates every 15 minutes.
As you can see, right now,
the pipe.
Is 55% full and rod you were
talking about rain heavy rain
over the next several hours
we were so matter disgusting,
water, sewage flowed well.
Not many people need to know.
Alright, boy, I tell you why this
all started Saturday afternoon.
We've had over 2 inches of rain so
far out at the airport and the rain
rates have been fairly uniform.
Today's rain will push us over 3 inches for
the event and the soaking rain episode.
If you will finally breaks
up and ends this evening.
So that's good news, right?
Temperatures real quick.
37 degrees, 1400 feet on Hwy.
26 over the coast range that is rain
for your travel snow levels above 2000.
Right now it actually could get a
little bit above 4000 this afternoon.
Right now it's 28 degrees at government camp.
Well plowed by ODOT Hwy.
26, but obviously you're driving
on a snowpack.
We have winter storms for the gorge
where the precipitation has been light,
but there's snow has been heavy in the
Cascades where the storm warning is also up.
So all this blue white that's no the
Dow's reporting Snow Hood River,
just some very light precipitation
being reported.
And then here comes the rain and Brenda.
Before I kind of jumped in,
mentioned soaking rains coming this morning.
And this is what she's talking about.
Will zoom you in a little bit see
the yellow and orange colors.
These are now moving north of Salem.
There's can be Colton.
All this continues to push up,
so during the heart of the morning
commute hour 678 o'clock this morning,
we expect the rain to be coming
down at a pretty good clip,
enough that you should expect slowing and and
give yourself some extra time this morning.
Here's futurecast 830.
Look at the yellow pockets and
this may be under doing it,
but that was really steady.
Rain up through 10:30 and then
this afternoon could be kind of
like yesterday where it's raining,
but it's mostly pretty light stuff.
Potentially it will be steady
in the afternoon.
And then finally, that's it, we're done.
We're out of here 8:30 tonight.
That's it.
Tomorrow is a mainly dry Tuesday,
just a few scattered showers
around upper 30s to 40s.
So temps aren't a concern.
They've been steady for about 12 hours now.
42 in Salem.
Actually, they've been pretty
steady for about 24 hours.
Here are the other numbers.
20s out East Baker City Snow right now.
Could be a few inches. Accumulate for you.
Portland goes 45 dryer tomorrow.
Rain picks up Wednesday showers Thursday,
Friday, sticking Snow, Christmas Day.
It's a real possibility.
Snow showers on Sunday.
It's a real possibility and all
that snow storm next Monday.
No boy. It's a real possibility.
I like the waving Santa Claus
there on the Saturday rod.
I think he's saying hey what's
coming up next on sunrise will
tell you Santa right here.
Next up on the show,
a collaboration that is helping both
students at Portland State University
and local downtown Portland businesses.
Details in just a few minutes,
but first we have a verify
report about the COVID booster.
The question is.
Do you need to avoid alcohol
to make sure it works?
Our verify team will find out.