Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Snow levels will range around 1,000 feet in the Sweet Home area through Christmas, according to the National Weather Service.
After Christmas, a warmer air mass will bring rain and temperatures in the 30s and low 40s for the Willamette Valley, including Portland, which has sustained the worst of last week’s winter storms.
Sweet Home finally had snow sticking Thursday with snow falling off and on into Friday. On Saturday, Sweet Home was on the warmer side of mid-valley weather, a border located between Salem and Albany.
Freezing rain encased much of the northern part of the Willamette Valley in ice, while rain fell in Sweet Home and the southern part of the valley.
Cold air pushed out of the north and east from the Columbia Gorge to bring the weather system, said Meteorologist Dave Elson of the National Weather Service in Portland.
To the south, warmer marine air brought rain and bordered the northern cold front in the mid-Valley.
To the north, freezing rain and ice turned to snow Monday morning, accumulating more than 6 inches in the Salem area, while snow fell in Sweet Home but did not stick.
The National Weather Service was predicting snow levels at about 1,000 feet around Sweet Home this week, Elson said. That could mean more snow this week through Wednesday, with Thursday transitioning the whole Willamette Valley to milder, more typical winter weather through Sunday.