Slideoffs, spinouts order of the day; no serious injuries reported
By Barney Lerten, KTVZ.COM
A holiday-shortened workweek began in slick-road fashion for many Central Oregon commuters Monday morning, after a troublesome Sunday storm dropped snow and triggered crashes and slideoffs around the region.
Temperatures dropped below freezing overnight and stayed there, turning any melted snow into treacherous ice on roads and sidewalks as well. ODOT sanding crews said the Vandevert Road area and Highway 97 south of Bend remained slick, and there were reports to KBND Radio of very icy roads on Highway 20 near Black Butte Ranch.
Fortunately, NewsChannel 21 Meteorologist Ben Burkel said daytime temperatures should warm above freezing amid drier conditions between now and Thanksgiving, aiding holiday travel, with a chance of showers returning Friday.
At the end of a day full of snow, wind, sun breaks and tricky driving weather on many High Desert roads, icy Highway 97 was blocked for more than three hours south of Sunriver Sunday evening after a pair of semi truck incidents that fortunately caused no injuries, authorities said.
The problems began just before 3 p.m., when the driver of a southbound semi truck hauling wooden pallets lost control due to icy conditions and left the highway near Vandevert Road, landing on its side, said Deschutes County sheriff's Lt. Deron McMaster.
The driver wasn't injured, but the slide-off crash "only served to complicate the already treacherous driving conditions" in the area, McMaster and Deputy Chris Jones said in a news release Sunday night.
Traffic in the area slowed as deputies worked to process the scene, McMaster said. Driving conditions worsened as the afternoon progressed, and pre-holiday heavy traffic slowed, some to see what was going on, causing "inconsistent and often dangerous intervals, especially for the larger semi-trucks," he said.
Around 4:30 p.m., the slowing traffic helped cause a second incident, less than a mile away, involving a northbound semi-truck carrying a load of dog food, McMaster said.
That truck jackknifed while trying to avoid traffic that had come to a sudden halt, he said.
"To make matters worse, the location of the incident is on a downgrade, and the semi truck slid into the oncoming lane of traffic," McMaster said.
Again, no one was hurt - but this time, the truck and trailer blocked travel lanes in both directions. Coming to rest "on a downgrade posed serious challenges to attempts at its removal," McMaster said.
Sheriff's deputies and Oregon State Police troopers tried to clear the highway, while limiting the chance of the jackknife truck rolling onto its side or sliding further, making matters worse.
"The combined efforts at opening the highway for traffic to pass kept vehicles in a snarled standstill in excess of three hours," McMaster said, concluding by urging "drivers to take the extra time to allow for safer travel in these icy and treacherous road conditions."
Travel on the Sunday before Thanksgiving became tricky, even dangerous as snow fell, amid bouts of sun and wind, making roads dangerous and leading to numerous minor crashes as well.
Drivers often found themselves spinning out or sliding off the roads Sunday, especially on Highway 97 south of Bend, from Lava Butte to Sunriver, and Highway 372, the road to Mt. Bachelor.
A two-vehicle crash occurred in northeast Bend around 6:30, near 11th and Greenwood Avenue, with a man reporting chest pain afterward.
ODOT sanding and plowing crews were busy all day, trying to keep the roads from getting too treacherous.
Deschutes County 911 dispatchers dealt with numerous cars that slid off roads, and Crook County had a couple, but no serious injuries were reported in the region. Slipping, sliding cars caused big troubles at the Wanoga Sno-Park, blocking the entrance for a time; an OSP trooper said snowplows had to focus on keeping the main highways safe.
Even with wind and winter weather advisories posted, the latest storm didn't hit as hard on the High Desert as it did early Sunday in western Oregon and southwest Washington, where more than 72,000 utility customers lost power due to high winds.
Up at Mt. Bachelor, another seven inches of snow fell, pushing the base at West Village to 39 inches amid stormy weather. Wind kept Pine Marten lift from starting up, but Skyliner and Sunshine were ferrying skiers and snowboarders wrapping up the opening weekend of the season.
The day began with packed snow on the roads from Bend to La Pine and Sisters, and travel over the passes didn't look like a lot of fun, either, as many motorists and truckers pulled over to chain up and make the trip safely.
A couple of inches fell in the Bend area, but as usual, La Pine got more - 7 1/2 inches, according to resident David Fredrickson, who shared this photo on Facebook and with us, as well as several others among our online friends.
If you have any photos you'd like to share, send us 1-2 of your favorites - not too huge a file, please - at stories@ktvz.com and we'll share with everyone.
La Pine gets 7.5 inches of snow; David Fredrickson shares
photo of the wintry view
John and Jan Davis measured the snow that fell in La Pine
Kimberly Sickler shared photo of this snow-hatted snowman
Another way to measure snow, as Davises show - by truck
