Spring storm: 3 feet of snow forecast for Oregon mountain passes, valley snow possible

Three feet of snow could fall on Oregon's mountain passes and low-elevation snow will remain possible over multiple days during a spring break cold snap hitting Oregon from Thursday evening into Saturday.

A winter storm warning for up to 3 feet of snow at Cascade Mountain pass levels — and around a foot of snow on Coast Range passes — has been issued through Saturday in northwest Oregon.

The snow could make travel across the mountains difficult to impossible even as spring break plans to hit the road ramp up.

In the Willamette Valley and Columbia Gorge, there will be multiple chances for low-elevation or valley snow during nights and mornings now to Sunday, National Weather Service meteorologist Shawn Weagle said. Weagle said the odds of getting more than an inch of snow on the valley floor were about 20% to 30%, although those odds increased in the higher elevations of the Willamette Valley.

"Snow will be most likely to accumulate during the late night and early morning hours, when ground temperatures are the coolest. Temperatures are expected to gradually moderate beginning Sunday, ending the potential for lowland snow," Weagle said. "Daytime high temperatures are warm enough that any snow that did fall would not last long," Weagle said.

Major mountain snow forecast

What’s clear is heavy snow is likely to impact anyone traveling between the Willamette Valley and Central Oregon. This particularly applies to travel over Santiam Pass (U.S. Highway 20), Willamette Pass (Highway 58) and the Mount Hood area (Highway 26).

Snowfall above 1,500 feet is projected at around 4 to 12 inches, while around 1 to 2 feet of snow is forecast above 2,000 feet and 3 feet is forecast above 3,500 feet, the winter warning said.