Oregon mountain passes to see first serious snow of the season

The first serious snowfall of the season will arrive on Oregon's Cascade Mountain passes beginning Tuesday night, while the coldest temperatures of the season are expected to bring a hard frost by the weekend.

A winter weather advisory forecasts 6 to 12 inches of snow to fall on U.S. Highway 20 over Santiam Pass and Oregon Highway 58 over Willamette Pass.

"The heaviest snow we're expecting is Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, with flurries kind of lightning up after that into Thursday," National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Burling said.

Burling said to the north, in the Oregon Highway 26 area near Government Camp at Mount Hood, snowfall is expected to be closer to 2 to 6 inches.

The snow level could drop as low as 2,500 feet, although most of the accumulating snow will be above 3,000 feet.

Anyone traveling into the Cascade Range backcountry could see over a foot in the 5,500-foot range and above.

Frigid weather late in the week, freeze by the weekend

Temperatures will drop into the upper 30s in the Willamette Valley by the second half of the week and drop below freezing levels by the weekend.

That could impact houseless populations and bring a hard frost.

Eugene could see a frost by Friday morning, Burling said, while most of the valley won't see frost until the weekend mornings. Low temperatures could drop into the 20s.

By next week, temperatures are expected to warm back toward normal or even above normal levels.

The 8 to 14 day forecast favors warmer temperatures and wetter conditions.

Zach Urness has been an outdoors reporter in Oregon for 15 years and is host of the Explore Oregon Podcast. To support his work, subscribe to the Statesman Journal. Urness is the author of “Best Hikes with Kids: Oregon” and “Hiking Southern Oregon.” He can be reached at zurness@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6801. Find him on Twitter at @ZachsORoutdoors.