A winter weather advisory remains in effect for Salem, Eugene and the rest of the central and southern Willamette Valley into Thursday.
An additional 1 to 3 inches of snow is forecast overnight down to the valley floor, while amounts could be higher above 500 feet, according to the National Weather Service in Portland.
The advisory remains in place until 10 a.m. Thursday.
The additional accumulation — combined with temperatures well below freezing overnight — could lead to slick roads in the morning, NWS said. It appears possible, if not likely, that some schools could be delayed or canceled, some for a second straight day.
As with Wednesday, the snow will have the biggest impact in the foothills and mountain towns such as Mill City, Detroit, Oakridge and McKenzie Bridge. A warning for those areas forecasts another 2 to 5 inches.
In addition, the foothills and mountains also have a wind chill advisory in place for wind chills as low as 10 below zero, NWS said.
Some mountain highways, including U.S. Highway 20, were impacted by snow Tuesday. Highway 20 shut down multiple times Tuesday due to crashes but was open as of Wednesday morning. Conditions also deteriorated in the Portland metro area and Columbia River Gorge.
Snow is having a significant impact on the Interstate 5 corridor in southern Oregon, mainly around Roseburg.
Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 15 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. To support his work, subscribe to the Statesman Journal. Urness is the author of “Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon” and “Hiking Southern Oregon.” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors.
