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Elementary schools turn back afternoon
kindergartners
Dundee council:
What happened to town's
reserve police force?
Inmate agrees to
end hunger strike at county jail
Old
Man Winter strikes
area hard,
then relinquishes |
A sudden snow storm melts almost as soon it falls in Newberg |
By Gary Allen, Newberg Graphic news
editor
E-mail Gary at gallen@eaglenewspapers.com
|
 Snow falling Wednesday morning had little effect on the streets and roads
of the Newberg area. Nevertheless people enjoyed the large, wet flakes and the ensuing
winter wonderland.
Newberg was fortunate to avoid some of the problems that accompanied the
snow, including power outages in the East Portland area, as well as flooded ditches and
slick streets.
According to the National Weather Service a cold air mass formerly sitting
over Alaska moved south and blew into the Portland area Wednesday, bringing with it up to
four inches of snow in areas of higher elevation.
The storm had little effect on the area, but did prompt ski areas to open
more than a week earlier than the traditional Thanksgiving Day start to the season.
Oregon Department of Transportation officials reported no major accidents in
the Portland area, although locally a collision at the base of Rex Hill sent four people
to Portland hospitals. Whether weather played a role in the collision between two cars is
still under investigation.
The adverse effect of the storm in Newberg was reduced to afternoon
kindergarten classes being canceled at both Ewing Young and Mabel Rush elementary schools.
A few Newberg High School students who live on Parrett Mountain and Bald Peak were allowed
to stay home after school officials feared it would be too dangerous for them to travel.
On Friday, Chief Michael Sherman of the Newberg Fire Department pointed to
the Rex Hill wreck as the lone incident that may have been weather-caused. “I think
we had a lot of little fender benders ...,” he said, not sure of whether
snow-slickened streets played a part in the accidents.
Sherman added that, as a precautionary measure, the department did install
tire chains on engines in the department’s rural fire protection district, but only
those vehicles expected to respond to calls on the hills surrounding Newberg. |
|
From Nov. 22,
2003, Newberg Graphic
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