PORTLAND — Parts of the Pacific Northwest are bracing for freezing temperatures in the coming days, as potentially dangerous winter weather conditions continue to grip the region and other parts of the country.
The National Weather Service has warned that wind chills on Thursday could plunge to zero degrees in Portland and potentially plummet to 25 degrees below zero in parts of the Cascades in northern Oregon and southern Washington state.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler declared a state of emergency starting Wednesday because of the forecasted severe cold weather. Multnomah County, home to Portland, also has declared an emergency.
The city and the county said they will open four severe weather shelters Wednesday night for as long as conditions require.
Seattle has also opened additional shelter space, including at City Hall, according to King County’s regional homeless authority. Officials said some shelters could remain open until Saturday.
Snowfall blanketed areas north of Seattle and parts of the northern Cascades on Tuesday, disrupting air travel and halting traffic on mountain passes.
In Canada, the Vancouver Airport Authority said it will be temporarily limiting arriving international flights from Wednesday through Friday morning because of “congestion” in its airfield. Heavy snow Tuesday prevented “a significant number of aircraft” from departing the city’s YVR airport for several hours that day, resulting in mass cancellations.
Improving conditions on Wednesday facilitated some arrivals and departures. But delays and cancellations are still expected, airport officials said.
While air traffic improved slightly at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Wednesday, with 49 flights cancelled as of noon compared to hundreds the previous day, delays were still affecting about 234 flights, according to online tracker FlightAware.
Road conditions remain dangerous across parts of the region.
In eastern Idaho, nearly 50 miles of U.S. Highway 20, which leads to the western entrance of Yellowstone National Park, have been closed. The state’s department of transportation said the road closure between Ashton and the Montana state line is because of drifting snow, reduced visibility and “extremely hazardous driving conditions.”
In Portland, transportation officials said they covered roads with more than 4,000 gallons of de-icer on Tuesday night.
One person died in an accident on Interstate 84 in the Columbia River Gorge on Tuesday when a semi-truck collided with their SUV. The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said the thin layer of ice on the major highway may have been a contributing factor.
“Significant icing” could affect parts of northwestern Oregon and the Willamette Valley on Thursday and Friday, the National Weather Service said. The agency has issued a winter storm watch for those areas, urging residents to prepare for possible power outages, tree damage and difficult travel conditions because of ice.
