The first real winter storm of the season dropped a couple of inches of snow in the passes and up to a half-foot at Mt. Bachelor. It also made for slick travel on Highway 97 in the Lava Butte area Tuesday morning, sending at least a couple of vehicles sliding off the road.

State Police and ODOT reported snow early Tuesday on all of the passes, including a couple of inches at Santiam Pass and a slushy snowpack breaking up on Highway 26 over Mount Hood. Motorists were advised to carry chains or traction tires (although studded tires technically aren’t legal to put on until Nov. 1, more than a week away).

While at least a couple of vehicles slid off Highway 97, a Deschutes County 911 dispatcher said no injuries were reported.

National Weather Service forecasters said very windy weather would continue in the Bend-Redmond area Tuesday evening, with west winds of 25-35 mph and gusts to 50 mph, dropping off after midnight. But there’s little chance of rain until the weekend, as partly to mostly cloudy skies continue over the next few days. Highs are forecast to slowly climb back to the upper 50s, with lows below freezing.

The snow advisory was canceled Tuesday afternoon, with only scattered showers forecast in the mountains, perhaps bringing another inch or two during the night. The snow level will rise to 6,000 feet by Thursday and 9,000 feet later in the week before dropping again as more moisture arrives over the weekend.

A high wind warning expired for north-central Oregon but was kept in place a few more hours in the lower Columbia Basin, where gusts were reaching 60 mph at times.

A tantalizing, ice-covered Webcam at http://www.mtbachelor.com made clear that things have turned temptingly white from the latest storm, the second shot of snow at the mountain in recent weeks. But it’ll take a lot more to even think about when the resort might open.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 22nd, 2001 at 4:02 pm and is filed under Top Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.