We begin here at 5:00 o'clock
with snow in the Cascades.
This is a live look from timberline
tonight and this is great news
for skiers and boarders with ski
season officially opening this week,
but it can also cause some
trouble for travelers.
Thank you for joining us on this Monday.
I'm Laurel Porter.
The mountains saw almost 20 inches
of snow over the holiday weekend.
Meteorologist Joe Raineri joins us
from government camp and Joe both
Timberline and Mount Hood Meadows.
Now they're opening this week.
Yeah, this is great news.
Laurel Timberline Lodge now has
two lifts open for the season.
Meadows has announced they're going
to be opening starting tomorrow and
everybody coming in this direction
be prepared for some heavy snow.
We got up here this morning and that's
exactly what we've been seeing,
starting to see the snow showers taper off,
but it is definitely looking like winter
up throughout the Oregon Cascades.
The official start of winter doesn't
arrive for another three weeks,
but heavy snow is already covering
the mountain passes and the Cascades.
Yeah,
we weren't really expecting all
that, but we were prepared.
So you just never know when you come
up to the mountains.
Many drivers were still a little surprised
by the snow that was forcing drivers to
pull over along Hwy 26 and chain up.
And they're tough. Yeah, they're real tough.
But you know what?
We got to get there somehow,
and we're going to get her done either way.
So if it takes us all day to
drive up the bend then. So be it.
Even with ODOT plowing the roads,
the snow quickly piled up behind them.
But the one thing you could be
seeing less of are these plows.
That's because there's a shortage of drivers.
This year, the
public is going to see a drop in what
we can do when we get hit by a storm.
We might not be able to plow
a road as quickly as we can.
We might not be able to
serve some of the roads.
We might not be able to
get salt and deicer out as
frequently as we'd like to do.
Don Hamilton with ODOT says they have more
openings this year compared to years. Passed,
and that is especially true for drivers.
If we don't get these jobs
filled as soon as we can,
we're going to see a decline in
the service on the roads when
we get hit by a winter storm.
One place that won't be
seeing a drop in people.
Absolutely stellar conditions right now.
Paul is just coming down and
we can't be any more excited.
The ski resorts.
We're on Monday Timberline Lodge
announced they opened up two
of their lifts for the season.
Today is an all time day man.
I'm gonna get this really
light almost Colorado powder.
It is so fun to ride on man.
And we got a lot of it and
I just dumped all night
and it's a start to what will
hopefully be a long season.
It's been an awesome day so far.
We started down at the summit.
Parking lot and happy to be here.
Now Laura, we talked about Timberline
Lodge opening for the season Meadows
tomorrow and we can't forget
our friends in Central Oregon,
Mount Bachelor has announced they plan on
opening for the season starting on Wednesday.
And again, if you be coming
in this direction at all,
make sure you have your chains
and your traction tires with you.
And again I before we go I want to
talk about Trevor's beard, Laurel,
he had ice Chris in his beard he
so he had been out here for hours
hitting the slopes and obviously had a
great time just like everybody else.
And a lot of people are excited
to finally see the season open
and hopefully the snow continues.
And you can tell a lot of fun
being had up there on the mountain.
Thank you, Joe. Let's bring in
chief meteorologist Matt Zaffino.
He joins us now in the Weather center,
tracking all of this snow in the
mountains of more to come. Right, Matt,
Government camp looking as it should.
Laurel. Yeah, just looks
fantastic up on the mountain.
Here's timberline.
Our other camera up there,
you can see the lives. This is
because we had some icing on the lens.
And I tell you what, though,
it's the perfect temperature
for powder at 17 degrees.
So really good cold, dry snow right now.
There's been 23 inches new snow
since the storm began on Sunday.
So yes, it's been a really prolific
24 to 36 hours up on the mountain
and there is more to come here.
It's the skier 4 for you timberline
now 36 inches with their base meadows
just behind them at 31 inches,
they've had about 16 inches new and
then the new snow drops off as you
had lower in elevation ski bowl and
then S towards Central Oregon for now,
they're going to get plenty of snow
over the next several days here.
So as Joe mentioned,
Bachelor opens on Wednesday,
Timberline and Meadows tomorrow.
I won't be surprised if we see
school ski ball open soon.
To perhaps this coming weekend because
the snow level will stay low enough.
Now here's our ski area Snow forecast
as we go. This is through Wednesday.
It's another 17 inches of snow up
on Mount Hood, 20 inches at Hoodoo,
20 inches Willamette Pass.
And if we go farther out in time
from Wednesday through Friday,
so basically we get about seven days here,
we're seeing 2 feet,
3 feet even across the Oregon Cascades
and several feet up on Mount Rainier.
So again,
it's a really,
really productive pattern that
we are in for mountain snowfall.
And to that effect,
you see there's still a few snow
showers headed towards government
camp and timberline right now,
but that's really the last of it.
I think it's going to clear off tonight,
but we've got a winter storm watch up.
Not for tonight,
but this is for the next storm.
This goes from Wednesday into Thursday
afternoon for up to 20 inches of new snow,
potentially more at the ski areas.
I won't be surprised if we end
up with another two feet here.
So that would be 4 feet just this week
and just through that time period.
Now what about valley Snow?
We'll talk about that right now.
I think it's going to be a lot of excitement.
Very little impact,
but there's one chance that
I'm watching closely, Laurel.
OK, definitely got our attention there.
Thank you, Matt.
Winter weather creating
some issues already, though.
Out in Eastern Oregon today,
parts of Interstate 84 have been closed
between Lagrande and Pendleton due to
crashes and severe weather conditions.
Odot advises travelers to carry
chains and be ready to use them.
You can visit tripcheck.com for
the latest on the roads in Oregon,
cold temperatures this time of
year mean a lot of people in
shelters and on the streets need.
A warm coat and several Portland
nonprofits are asking for the
communities help by donating.
Brian Clerkley is here with how
crucial it is this year in particular.
Bryant.
Yes Laurel nonprofits tell me
they're seeing more people needing
their services than ever before
with rising costs of everything.
At Blanche House downtown,
they're looking for adult sized
winter jackets in good condition.
They serve 14 to 1500 meals each day to
a few 100 people and a lot of the times.
Those people need coats.
A lot of their clients live on
the streets and they're real and
they really need adult sized
winter jackets in good condition.
The bigger the better.
People can drop the donations off at
their location on northwest Gleason St,
and people in need can pick
up coats there as well.
I'm hoping maybe people got out into
the community on Friday and Saturday
and bought a lot of winter gear for
their families over the holidays.
And so if you have jackets that are still
in good condition that you can donate,
we can certainly put them to good use
at rosehaven, a day shelter in
Community Center in Portland.
They're also in need of coach.
The 120 people they serve each day
rely on them for warm clothes,
so they'll take all coats,
but they prefer.
2 ones as well and if people do
have questions about services and
shelters they can call 211 and
I'll post a link on our website
on how and where people can
drop off code donations.
Laurel.
Well, I hope people will check it out.
A wonderful way to give this time of year.
Thank you Bryant. And now
to our homeless crisis.
Portland City Council is
expected to vote this week on how they
will pay for the mayor's homeless plan.
Back in early November council
approved the five part plan
but one of the big questions.
Is how the city will pay for it.
Mayor Wheeler's proposing
several changes to the budget,
including more than $4 million as down
payment to build the large camping sites,
$750,000 for private security in the
surrounding neighborhoods and more
than $12 million to run the sites.
These allocations are a
down payment on that work,
and they demonstrate the city's
commitment to clearing the path for
accelerated production of affordable
housing and better connecting
homeless individuals to services,
employment and diversion programs.
Another big unanswered question is
where these sites will be located.
Council agrees they have to be
dispersed throughout the city,
near public transit,
but somehow distanced from
residential areas and schools.
We don't have a date yet as to when
the city will announce the locations.
Multnomah County is considering
a ban on selling flavored tobacco
and nicotine products.
Tonight, the County Board is hosting
a hearing for public comments.
County officials say the goal is to
curb tobacco use among teenagers.
Tonight's public hearing starts
at 5:30 in the Multnomah Building
on southeast Hawthorne.
If you wanna speak,
you can also watch online on the
Multnomah County Board's YouTube channel.
The board is also scheduled to
hear a first reading of the
proposed ordinance this Thursday,
developing tonight.
Portland police are investigating
after firefighters found a man
dead inside a burning building.
It happened last night near the
Moda Center just north of the Steel
Bridge by the Willamette River.
Firefighters discovered the body
after putting out the flames.
Police called the death suspicious.
The homicide unit is investigating.
Police have identified the
suspect accused of trying to rob
a Portland sports bar,
only to be taken down by the people inside
and then pinned until officers got there.
Police say the suspect is 43
year old Daniel Mitchell.
This happened at the B Van Sports
Bar on NE 109th and Sandy Blvd just
after midnight Saturday morning.
Other businesses in the area
say it's shocking,
but not surprising.
Did what they had to do,
you know, good thing there
was people there to do that.
It's a little scary, you know,
because you never know what
could happen, but just
gotta deal with it.
Some business owners and managers
have started keeping weapons behind
the counter in case of thieves.
Mitchell has been booked on robbery charges.
The University of Oregon says it is,
quote, gathering information about
an incident from this weekend's
Oregon Oregon State football game.
In a video posted to social media,
Oregon ducks linebacker DJ.
Johnson is seen allegedly hitting
an Oregon State Beavers fan.
This was after the game when Beavers
fans had rushed onto the field in
Corvallis to celebrate their win,
the Oregon Athletic Department
said in a statement.
We are aware of a post game
exchange involving a member of our
football team and a fan and are
working to gather more information.
Oregon State says it does not know who
the fan is and and hopes they're OK.
No complaint has been filed at this point
with the university's Police Department.