Baste the turkey, and advise your guests to bring tire chains.
Forecasters are raising the possibility of freezing rain on Thanksgiving, especially if the cold air that settled into the area Monday fails to quickly relinquish its grip.
Miles Higa, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Portland, said a moist marine system arriving today will eventually nose out a mass of ice-cold air lingering at the surface. However, the transition period could be ugly if relatively warm rain from above freezes when it hits the still-frigid ground.
Freezing rain could pelt the Portland-Vancouver area by late afternoon or evening, forecasters said.
Public agencies in Southwest Washington, which dodged the brunt of a snow storm that slammed the Puget Sound region earlier this week, could be in for a long Thanksgiving holiday.
“Ice is always worse than snow,” said Abbi Russell, spokeswoman for the Washington Department of Transportation in Vancouver. “We get pretty wet snow here, so you can push it off the road. Ice is much more treacherous.”
The DOT has three truck drivers on duty in Vancouver today and four more on standby, she said. They will spread salt-based de-icing agents as needed on state highways and interstates.
“We want to encourage people not to drive if they don’t have to,” Russell said. “If you do have to travel, give yourself extra time and be prepared. Take chains, water, food and blankets, and wear warm clothes.”
Motorists headed north on Interstate 5 should be aware that the weather system will arrive earlier in the day. Ice could begin to form beginning in the mid-morning along the I-5 corridor from Bellingham to Chehalis.
“Hopefully, it is a transition period and lasts a short time,” Russell said. “Then, it’ll start raining and warm up.”
A record
Two days of sub-freezing temperatures in Vancouver set the stage for potential ugliness this evening.
Shortly after midnight Monday, Vancouver officially recorded its coldest high temperature for November in a quarter century — 30 degrees. It didn’t get that warm again until noon Wednesday. It was up to 32 at 3:53 p.m. Wednesday at Pearson Field.
“Overall, the air mass will be warming,” according to a special weather statement issued by the weather service Wednesday afternoon. “But an easterly pressure gradient through the (Columbia River) Gorge may keep pockets of cold air around the area, potentially giving a period of freezing rain overnight Thursday into Friday morning. The chances of this occurring are better in the Gorge and Hood River Valley.
“Even though this is a low-probability event, it has potential to cause a lot of impacts due to the holiday travel season.”
Pipe problems
There’s a drawback to the ever-so-slight warm-up from this week’s sub-freezing temperatures: bursting pipes.
Water-alarm systems sounded at two schools, a medical clinic and an assisted-living facility Wednesday when frozen pipes thawed, burst and dumped water.
“Typically, we come and the alarm will be sounding and we’ll find water gushing somewhere,” said Jim Flaherty, a Vancouver Fire Department spokesman.
Flaherty said shattering pipes are part of an annual routine of cold-weather emergencies that begins with skidding cars, ground-level falls and then the pipes.
None of Clark County was immune Wednesday. Alarms rang out at Yacolt Primary and Battle Ground High schools.
Clark County Fire District 6 responded to busted pipes at Vancouver Clinic Salmon Creek, 2525 N.E. 139th St., and Bridgewood at Four Seasons Retirement and Assisted Living Community, 11700 N.E. Angelo Drive. Additional units had to be called to stem flowing water at the clinic.
Significant damage can occur when pipes break above the first floor inside multiple-story apartment complexes, Flaherty said.
“The thaws a lot of the time are during the day when people are at work,” Flaherty said. “You can get into tens of thousands of dollars of damage very quickly.”
An emergency dispatcher said broken pipes at schools “happen every year.”
Flaherty urges homeowners to call a plumber rather than trying to de-thaw frozen pipes with a blow dryer or lighter, especially in confined spaces. Once a pipe breaks, residents are encouraged to find the water valve — typically located in a basement or crawl space — and shut it off.
Bob Albrecht contributed to this story.
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