Ahem... I actually drove back from the beach today on HWY 26 and you'd better hope what I went through in the coast range does not make it here. First it was sleet this morning. Then it was a near whiteout at times... three fresh wrecks on the side of the road.. none too serious but EMTs were at one scene.. (one of those morons passed me earlier)... temps were 31-32 most of the way. 41 when I left the town I was staying in. Temp did not break freezing on HWY 26 until a bit before Hillsboro. And I loved seeing the two ODOT plows sitting idle with drivers chatting off the side of the road while a line of cars climbed through snow, slush and ice up a pass.

I grew up driving in that but I used to have steel studs and a lot of practice. Now I just have 4WD and common sense and some old experience to rely on. Heavens help us all if that mess makes it here.. the lunatics will be having one accident after another.

Have no fear, the TSA ran the storm through the x-ray machines and gave it a pat down. We're all safe.

hope what I went through in the coast range does not make it here.

It will be noteworthy if the reporters who usually stand on the Sylvan overpass now have to go all the way to the Coast Range for the scare shot.

There is a lot to be said for having grown up in New York and then lived in Mass and NH for many years one learns.

The best thing I learned was that 4 studded snow tires and 4 sets of chains make things a lot easier. I can pull right up to the back end of the idiot out there with 4 bald tires who can't go anywhere in a half inch of snow.

I gotta' buy me a surplus city plow to clear cars off the roadf.

Jack: Please let us know when it's safe to go outside again. And thanks for your service.

News Flash, There is ice, ice I tell you, in NE Portland! OK, it’s in my cocktail. What can I say? I’m next to last in the underdog pool. Stay home and enjoy the game I say!

OMG! Is it safe for me to creep out to a Tri-Met bus and go home tonight? Or, should I consider staying here at work until the all-clear, perhaps on Thursday?

PS: Nonny, I grew up in north Jersey and used to practice my skid control steering in empty parking lots with my 63 Impala, carving figure eights in the snow. Didn't even have posi-traction back then. Lots of people today don't understand that their 4 wheel drive vehicles are not any different than any other car when you have to hit the brakes. Two years ago during the Christmas mess, my parked and fully studded and chained 85 BMW was broadsided by a 4 wheel drive Suburban, while I was inside a deli/wine store buying cheese for Christmas dinner. I had 225,000 miles on it and the guys insurance co. wanted to total it. Now I just try to keep my car off the City streets when it gets icey/dicey out there.

Oh the humanity!!

Real actual white thick snow drove against the windshield as we drove over the Cascades yesterday -- a sortie we grew up calling "a run over the hill;" that is, Cascade pass = a hill, and we still call it that -- no chains, no studs, no problem, no notice.

Also from the Oregon winter lexicon: 'hooky-bobbing.' Needs no explanation ... does it?

Help!

I'm stuck at the office! The temperature outside is ONLY 41 DEGREES and I still have to drive home! Will I make it home before sunrise? If I do, will there be power? Should I even chance it?

I have plenty of quarters, so I should be alright eating out of the vending machine for one night. But what about tomorrow? Will there be an office for me to return to? Or should I just go sit in my car and await the inevitable while listening to Mark Levin?

I have horrible news, the first flakes on Barbur have fallen, snowplows are running rampant and the traffic has come to a stop.

Pray for Us...

Jack - Now really you don't expect the yokel media to brave the wilds of the coast range for some snow shots.... that could be dangerous.... not to mention time consuming in terms of over time pay for off camera employees.... and besides there are places to keep warm and get food and hot beverages not far from the Sylvan overpass or the Troutdale exit... you don't want the poor dears to rough it do you?

Drew G. - My new CR-V (4WD) does a hell of a lot better in the snow than my 72 Dodge Challenger (318 with positraction) ever did when I was young (and I never got stuck or had a wreck but I can judge how a car is doing) ... the car is part of the equation but so is the driver.... I still remember a storm some years ago, driving up Canyon (headed East)... the BMWs, and car, cars, were spun out and blocking the 2 through lanes. The AWDS (had a Subaru then) and the 4WDs were using the center turn out lane to get up and around the cars. I also used witness SUVs tipped over on the sides of roads during storms when I lived in DeForested Heights and commuted to Beaverton. It's a union between car and driver and driver driving within his/her and the vehicle's limits. I drive the CR-V far differently in snow than I did the '72 VW 411 (with bald tires) I owned when I first moved here back when.

Nonny - I grew up W NY (lake effects anyone) then 5 years of MA with lots driving to ski races and slopes in VT and NH. Passed my road test in a blizzard (it was that or wait another 2-3 months for a space on their monthly visit to my town). Today was no fun in the coast range... I never felt fear but I was feeling cautious.

Worst part of the coming snow-mageddon: Sam Adams news conference. That stoned-robot voice and emotionless, nihilistic visage give me the creeps.

What I want to know, last night when SammyBoy was wearing the PDOT yellow insulated coat does he get that coat free, paid by taxpayers?

He's standing in the TriMet Bus Shed with radiant heat lamps while everyone is standing around with light coats on with no headgear. But Sam is giving a lecture on not abandoning your cars, or they'll be towed.

The knit cap with ear flaps that SammyBoy was wearing, I don't think is a PBOT issued outfit. Talk about a real dork. Maybe that's his calling when he's asked not to run again by the Neil,Ted,John Cabel

Been boning up on my survival DVD collection---Jeremiah Johnson, Last Place on Earth, Survival, and the Donner Party, not to mention scoping out the BMI of the neighbors in case it becomes necessary. Tastes like chicken?

Let's see:

Dawson YT 8F
Vancouver BC 23F
Seattle WA 25
Olympia WA 22.5
Wasilla AK 40F

Just gotta give credit where credit is due!

It's the waiting, and the not knowing. That's the worse thing about this. No, make that the fear, plus the not knowing, and the waiting. But there's also the guilt that I should have prepared more. That's really bothering me too. So, let's see, I think it's mainly the fear, plus the not knowing, and the waiting but it's also the guilt that I should have prepared more. There, I think I got it. That's the worse thing about this.

Snowstorm from hell. Not sure that computes.

Using "worse" instead of "worst"? Clearly the pressure's making me snap.

Right! A snowball does have a chance in hell, and come back to dump on us. Big time. Just look what it's doing to poor Bill!

Finally. It's here.

In spades. Well, Portland spades.

Temp 33.1 up the street from me, but 29F in my back yard. Ice frozen on the thermometer, so the air temp is probably a bit warmer than 29.

KGW-8 WeatherStormWatchCrew standing by up at the Sylvan Overpass!!

Meh....you guys in PDX have all the luck. It's 72F outside here at 1:25 AM in Houston.