Oregon Public Broadcasting

Snow that has blanketed most of Oregon may be around until next weekend, according to the National Weather Service.  And as Pete Springer reports, a new storm could bring fresh snow for Christmas Day.

Jonathon Wolfe is a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Portland.

He says the Northwest is in the midst of an unusual combination of arctic air near the surface and moisture blowing in off the Pacific Ocean over the top of that cold air. 

Jonathon Wolfe “As far as things different in this storm’s nature, we just have a lot of cold air and it’s really draped across most of the country and it’s just hunkering down and you’re just running storms over the top of it and we’re the first to get hit—at least inland.”

Wolfe says as the moisture from the Pacific storms drops through the cold air, it turns into snow. 

He says it’s unusual in Oregon for these two systems to align like this for such an extended period.

But Wolfe is predicting more snow on Wednesday and says we’re unlikely to thaw out until next weekend.