Snow Predicted for the Valley. 3 to 6 inches Possible

Snow has been predicted in Oregon's mid valley region, which is very rare, and we may get accumulations from 3 to 6 inches. A storm watch has been issued. I had reservations to take 8 cats to Wilsonville on Thursday but have notified the caregivers this may not be possible. I do not have chains or snow tires. I will get more cat litter today, just in case I am not able to get to the store later in the week. We take these predictions around here with a grain of salt because they usually do not pan out. Everyone gets excited about seeing snow in the mid valley because we never get snow here. The Coast Range, between the valley and the coast, and Cascade Mountain areas, to the east, between the valley and high desert region of Oregon, get snow, but not the valley, where I live.

The Willamette Valley runs from Portland down to Eugene. Eugene is often called "the dirty sock toe" because of the valley and mountain effects, with the valley ending in Eugene, contributing to air stagnation/polution at the end of the sock, which is Eugene.

There was great complaining, from athletes in Olympic track and field trials, when in Eugene due to air pollution, caused mainly by extreme pollen count. This is hard to believe when the Olympics were held in China, the capital of air pollution.

The high pollen counts and particulates in the air is primarily the result of farming and grass seed production in the valley. Many people are unable to survive in the valley because of the grass seed production and other seed production, with resulting extreme pollen counts, which can be horrible. But, when you're breathing hard, sucking in polluted or pollen laden air, makes a difference on the lungs--hence the athletic whining.

My brother could not survive here. He suffers from what some people call "hay fever" or severe sensitivity to pollen and dust in the air. He has it bad. I was diagnosed as a child with allergies to dust, also. I did ok in Corvallis, and the first year in Albany, but last summer, I was miserable constantly.

During times when the dust is kicked up when the grass tops are cut off, with winrowing, then when the columbines come through and blast the grass tops into a chamber seperates off the seed, this is when I suffer most. And also later, when they plow up the fields, to add lime or fertilizer then the seed for next years' harvest. Lots of dust thrown into the air, clouds of it, and sometimes the air reeks of chemicals.

I would like to move out of the heart of grass seed production to have clean air to breath but I probably never will find a way out. It's something people have to be healthy enough to put up with, while living here. I thought I would adjust ok, at least to that component of living here, but instead of adjusting, I seem to be having more problems each summer with it instead.

I suppose I could take to wearing a mask outside in the summer. That would so suck! Hay Fever problems run in my family. It's really a body's inflammatory reaction to/distaste for foreign substances being inhaled, like pollen, dust and chemicals.

I'm not allergic to much. Except, I could not tolerate the combination of chemicals, dog hair and dog urine where I worked once at a dog boarding facility. I broke out in rashes head to toe. My eyes were swollen. I even had a rash on the inside of my mouth. My doctor said I could die if I stayed on there. I loved the job. When I vascillated on quitting, my boss fired me, stating he did not want to find me dead in the dog kennel. Losing that job was devastating. I also lost a friend during the same time. I ended up on a psyche ward at Portland Adventist as a result, where I was severely beaten by staff. That's how I got the neck injury, that keeps on giving!

Portland Adventist has gotten publicity again lately, because a guy, feeling ill, drove himself to the hospital, crashing in the parking garage not many feet from the ER. He'd had a heart attack. Cops on scene for some other reason responded, then ran to the ER, requesting help, but the ER staff didn't go running to help. I don't care Adventist get bad publicity over this, having no capacity for empathy for that hospital after what they did to me, but the bad PR in this case probably isn't completely warranted. The man unfortunately was likely long dead. His crashed car had not been noticed for twenty minutes. The cops tried to save him doing CPR and they are the ones who complained that the ER staff told them to call 911, instead of running back to the scene with them to help. He was really close to the ER doors I guess.

Anyhow, back to the snow....

The valley is lowland and we never get snow!! With the threat of snow, comes excitement for those of us mostly confined to the valley, unable to recreate in the mountains, due to poverty. Do I want to see snow in the valley? Hell yeah!

I've been suffering the last few days, with spinal inflammation all over my body, from neck problems, from the old beating injury. This happens every now and then and it takes a couple weeks to deinflame. Very painful and difficult times.

Here's the weather alert from accuweather:

WINTER STORM WATCH
in effect until Thursday, Feb 24, 4:00 PM
...WINTER STORM WATCH NOW IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON FOR THE COAST AND LOWLANDS OF SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON...INCLUDING THE PORTLAND AND VANCOUVER METRO AREA...

THE WINTER STORM WATCH FOR HEAVY SNOW IS NOW IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH THURSDAY AFTERNOON.

* TIMING...RAIN SHOWERS ARE ALREADY MIXING WITH WET SNOW DOWN TO THE VALLEY FLOOR THIS MORNING. HOWEVER ACCUMULATIONS HAVE BEEN RESTRICTED TO THE HIGHER TERRAIN. ACCUMULATING SNOW WILL BE POSSIBLE DOWN TO THE VALLEY FLOOR LATE TONIGHT...WITH HEAVIER SNOW BECOMING LIKELY LATER WEDNESDAY AND CONTINUING INTO THURSDAY.

* ACCUMULATION/SNOW LEVELS...UP TO 3 INCHES OF SNOW ARE POSSIBLE AS EARLY AS WEDNESDAY MORNING. AN ADDITIONAL 2 TO 4 INCHES ARE EXPECTED LATER WEDNESDAY THROUGH THURSDAY. GENERAL STORM TOTALS OF 2 TO 5 INCHES ARE EXPECTED FOR THE COAST AND LOWLANDS BY THURSDAY EVENING...WITH LOCAL ACCUMULATIONS OF 6 TO 10 INCHES POSSIBLE MAINLY IN THE HIGHER HILLS.

* IMPACTS...ROADWAYS MAY BECOME ICY AND SNOW COVERED...RESULTING IN SLICK DRIVING CONDITIONS. THIS MAY SIGNIFICANTLY IMPACT THE COMMUTE BOTH WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THERE IS A POTENTIAL FOR SIGNIFICANT SNOW...SLEET...OR ICE ACCUMULATIONS THAT MAY IMPACT TRAVEL. CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS.

&&

SPECIAL WEATHER STATEMENT
in effect until Tuesday, Feb 22, 4:00 PM
...SNOW LIKELY DOWN TO THE LOWEST ELEVATIONS BY THURSDAY...

COLD AIR FROM ALASKA AND WESTERN CANADA WILL POUR INTO THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST THIS WEEK...BRINGING MUCH COLDER THAN NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND THE THREAT OF SNOW DOWN TO THE BEACHES AND THE VALLEY FLOORS.

THE SNOW LEVEL WILL START OFF AROUND 1500 FEET TONIGHT AS MOIST ONSHORE FLOW BRINGS A RETURN OF PRECIPITATION TO SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON. THE SNOW LEVEL WILL LOWER WEDNESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT...LIKELY REACHING THE VALLEY FLOOR. ACCUMULATING SNOW IS EXPECTED FOR MOST OF SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON...EVEN FOR THE BEACHES AND INTERIOR LOWLANDS.

ALTHOUGH THERE IS STILL SOME UNCERTAINTY AS TO HOW MUCH SNOW WILL FALL...CONFIDENCE IS INCREASING THAT TEMPERATURES WILL BE COLD ENOUGH FOR ACCUMULATING SNOW DOWN TO SEA LEVEL BY WEDNESDAY NIGHT. BASED ON THE LATEST INFORMATION...IT APPEARS SNOW TOTALS OF SEVERAL INCHES WILL BE POSSIBLE ALONG THE COAST AND IN THE INTERIOR VALLEYS. SNOW ACCUMULATION WILL BE MUCH GREATER IN THE HIGHER TERRAIN...WITH UP TO 2 TO 3 FEET OF NEW SNOW POSSIBLE IN THE CASCADES BY THE END OF THE WEEK.

DRIER WEATHER IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP THURSDAY NIGHT AND FRIDAY AS AN EVEN COLDER BUT DRIER AIR MASS MOVES INTO THE PACIFIC