Historic Oregon Snowstorm; Sunshine on the Way

After losing by only a few points to the Huskies in the NIT quarterfinals Tuesday night, Oregon got buried on Wednesday.

By snow.

That’s right, Eugene—home of the University of Oregon and those despised Ducks—was blasted with 7.5 inches of snow yesterday as a historic snowstorm swept through the southern and central Willamette Valley. How historic was it? According to the National Weather Service in Portland, it was the greatest amount of snow ever recorded in Eugene this late in the snow season. You have to go all the way back to 1951 to find a bigger March snowfall at Duck Headquarters—and that one occurred in early March.

Even Salem and Portland got in on the action, with the Oregon capital recording 2.5” of the white stuff, while the City of Roses officially measured 0.5”. Like Eugene, both cities had never seen this much snow, this late.

Meanwhile, up here in Husky Nation, we only managed a dusting at best (early this morning), as the heaviest moisture remained well to our south. On the flip side, being north of the storm track meant partly sunny skies for much of the region—a well-deserved break from the torrential rains of the past week. We even hit 50 degrees…and guess what? We’ll do it again tomorrow, and then some—with highs forecast to close in on 55 degrees.

Saturday is looking like the best day Western Washington’s had in weeks, with more sunshine in the forecast, and high temperatures anywhere from 55 to 60 degrees. Later in the day, clouds will increase, but any rain should hold off until Sunday—which promises to be a notch cooler with just scattered showers.

Unfortunately, as we head into next week, forecast models show the rain returning, as the storm track takes aim at the Pacific Northwest yet again. On the plus side, temperatures will likely stay in the lower 50s around Seattle—and even down south into Oregon. Guess those Ducks are done getting buried for now.

That is, until they play the Huskies again.