NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
Page 2A
Thursday, January 12, 2017
Heavy snow weighs on roofs
By AUBREY WIEBER
The Bulletin
AP Photo/Don Ryan
Tree branches, broken from the weight of heavy snow, are scattered
on the ground of the park blocks across from the Portland Art Mu-
seum in Portland, Wednesday.
Portland, parts of Washington
buried by massive snowstorm
said officers took about three dozen
homeless people to warming shel-
ters during the storm. Jackets were
given to some who refused to leave
the outdoors.
Temperatures were expected to
remain at or near freezing before
hitting 50 degrees early next
week. Meteorologists said they are
concerned about flooding when the
temperatures rise.
The storm arrived in a Pacific
Northwest winter that has been
unusually cold, punctuated by
several snow and ice storms.
The snow began at the end of
Tuesday’s rush-hour commute, so
the roads were free of heavy traffic
during the storm. Still, some vehi-
cles jackknifed, spun out or were
left abandoned by fearful drivers on
Interstate 5 and other highways.
The Oregon Department of
Transportation urged drivers to
retrieve their vehicles Wednesday
and free up space for snow plows
and sanders. The agency also warned
drivers to stay home, if possible.
“The timing of this was definitely
fortuitous,” ODOT spokesman Don
Hamilton said. “When these kinds
of storms happen in the middle of
the working day, at noon or 2 p.m., it
can be very tricky.”
He added: “But we still had a
big rush of cars coming out at 8 or 9
o’clock, right when the storm was at
its fiercest, and that’s where we had
a lot of the problems.”
Snow didn’t hit Seattle but south-
western Washington got socked.
Clark County closed its non-essen-
tial government offices for the day.
In the central part of the state,
the Grant County Sheriff’s Office
warned motorists to stay off roads,
saying snow drifts of 3 to 5 feet
made them impassable.
PORTLAND (AP) — A major
snowstorm spread Wednesday
through Portland and parts of
Washington state — toppling trees,
closing schools and cutting power to
thousands in the heaviest snowfall
for the city since at least 2008.
Some Portland neighborhoods
got more than a foot of snow, a rare
event in a city known for its rain.
Snow that started falling Tuesday
was still coming down Wednesday
before tapering off around noon.
The storm’s intensity surprised
meteorologists, with most expecting
no more than 4 inches.
“We are going to be analyzing
this one, because this is a special
one,” National Weather Service
meteorologist Treena Jensen said.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler
declared states of emergency
Wednesday due to the severe winter
storm conditions.
“As snow continues to accumu-
late and local authorities respond to
provide core services and clear road-
ways, all available state resources
will be made available to ensure the
safety of communities throughout
Oregon,” Brown said in a news
release.
The state declaration allows the
deployment of the Oregon State
Police and the Oregon National
Guard to support communities
needing assistance and also allows
for aid in recovery efforts related
to the storms. Wheeler’s decision
could allow the release of money to
help handle the weather’s impact,
particularly on infrastructure and
homeless people.
Portland has many homeless
residents and four people have
died of hypothermia since Jan. 1.
Portland police Sgt. Pete Simpson
BEND — After another day
of relentless snowfall, Bendites
living in a typical 2,300-square-
foot home are likely sipping their
coffee this morning under about 31
tons of snow. That’s more weight
than five Asian elephants lounging
around on your roof.
With storm after storm piling
snow onto roofs all over Bend
— and the warm weather needed
to melt it practically nonexistent
— the city is in uncharted territory,
said Dave Howe, Battalion Chief
and spokesman for the Bend Fire
Department.
“We haven’t had this much
snow piled up on roofs that I can
remember, and I’ve been here 39
years,” he said. “This is really
quite unusual.”
The city of Bend building code
requires roofs to withstand 20 to 25
pounds per square foot. With wet
snow being as heavy as 21 pounds
per square foot, many structures
throughout the city are stressed
as snow continues to pile up. As
Tuesday’s temperatures hovered in
the mid-30s, the snow was wetter
than what fell previously and city
officials said that if rain starts to
fall, the snow will become much
heavier.
A joint press release issued
Tuesday by the city of Bend and
Deschutes County warned the
public of the weight of snow
slowly accumulating on their roofs
and suggested looking into having
it removed if snow levels surpass
20 inches. A drive around Bend
shows numerous homes with far
more than that piled up, but the
city and county also discouraged
DYI removal.
Howe suggested calling a
roofing company or an arborist.
But if you do plan to seek
expert help, expect to wait.
Calls to more than a dozen
roofing
companies Tuesday
afternoon resulted in mostly busy
signals and voicemail boxes. One
company representative stayed on
the phone long enough to report
that they were indeed very busy,
before promptly hanging up.
Craig Junker, owner of River
Roofing, was the only roofer The
Bulletin was able to reach. Junker
said his company was booked
five weeks out for snow removal.
He received 250 calls for service
Monday, and by 2 p.m. Tuesday he
had already received 80 voicemails
that day from potential clients who
couldn’t get through due to the
volume of calls.
While newer construction is
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Copyright © 2017, EO Media Group
FRIDAY
Sunshine and
bitterly cold
Partly sunny and
frigid
SATURDAY
Very cold with
periods of sun
SUNDAY
Partly sunny and
frigid
MONDAY
Cold with some
sun; ice at night
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
15°
15°
5°
6°
16°
3°
18°
4°
22° 18°
7°
19° 16°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
17°
16°
5°
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
LOW
17°
13°
41°
27°
63° (1953) -11° (1963)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
0.38"
1.06"
0.62"
1.06"
0.06"
0.62"
HERMISTON
through 3 p.m. yesterday
TEMPERATURE
HIGH
Yesterday
Normals
Records
LOW
22°
17°
41°
28°
61° (2014) -10° (1937)
PRECIPITATION
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Trace
0.41"
0.45"
0.41"
0.05"
0.45"
SUN AND MOON
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
Full
Last
Jan 12
Jan 19
New
Jan 27
16°
6°
20°
Seattle
36/25
ALMANAC
Yesterday
Normals
Records
7°
7:34 a.m.
4:34 p.m.
5:21 p.m.
7:27 a.m.
First
Feb 3
Today
Spokane
Wenatchee
17/3
15/4
Tacoma
Moses
37/18
Lake
Pullman
Aberdeen Olympia
Yakima 15/0
20/9
40/25
38/20
21/0
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
35/17
Lewiston
16/3
13/2
Astoria
24/16
40/25
Portland
Enterprise
Hermiston
32/16
Pendleton 23/1
The Dalles 17/5
15/5
23/11
La Grande
Salem
25/7
32/18
Albany
Corvallis 34/18
34/20
John Day
30/11
Ontario
Eugene
Bend
26/9
34/20
21/6
Caldwell
Burns
28/11
23/0
Astoria
Baker City
Bend
Brookings
Burns
Enterprise
Eugene
Heppner
Hermiston
John Day
Klamath Falls
La Grande
Meacham
Medford
Newport
North Bend
Ontario
Pasco
Pendleton
Portland
Redmond
Salem
Spokane
Ukiah
Vancouver
Walla Walla
Yakima
Hi
40
19
21
48
23
23
34
18
17
30
30
25
24
40
41
46
26
15
15
32
21
32
17
24
33
16
21
Lo
25
1
6
34
0
1
20
4
5
11
5
7
7
23
27
30
9
1
5
16
5
18
3
1
15
3
0
W
s
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
pc
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pc
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s
s
better suited to withstand a few
weeks of heavy snow, Bend didn’t
start enforcing building codes until
the late 1960s.
Howe said buildings built
before that might not have taken
structural standards into account
at all. Furthermore, each storm
can weaken a structure, Howe
said, and some around Bend have
weathered quite a few.
So far, the damage has been
minimal. A warehouse collapsed
early in the winter, and Howe
reported a barn collapsed Monday
in Tumalo. But those with older
structures might want to have their
buildings checked by a structural
engineer, he said.
While the snow can stress
structures, it can also block
exhaust pipes and cause fatal
carbon monoxide gas to back
up into a house. Homes with gas
water heaters and furnaces have
pipes on roofs that generally are
taller than the snow. But with snow
depths reaching record highs,
some homes might be in danger.
Corrections
The East Oregonian works hard to be accurate and sincerely
regrets any errors. If you notice a mistake in the paper, please call
541-966-0818.
Hi
42
18
25
48
18
23
34
19
16
31
24
26
26
38
42
49
20
14
15
31
25
31
18
25
32
15
16
Today
Beijing
Hong Kong
Jerusalem
London
Mexico City
Moscow
Paris
Rome
Seoul
Sydney
Tokyo
Lo
18
60
42
31
43
20
34
49
15
72
42
W
s
c
pc
r
pc
sn
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sh
s
pc
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Lo
29
3
13
36
-2
10
25
7
7
16
6
13
11
24
31
33
10
3
6
19
6
20
12
8
20
5
4
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Fri.
Hi
38
68
53
41
72
27
40
58
30
90
51
Klamath Falls
30/5
Lo
12
60
44
32
44
24
31
34
12
80
37
(in mph)
Today
Friday
Boardman
Pendleton
ENE 3-6
N 4-8
NE 4-8
N 4-8
W
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UV INDEX TODAY
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
REGIONAL FORECAST
Coastal Oregon: Partly sunny today. Clear to
partly cloudy and cold tonight.
Eastern Washington: Mostly sunny today.
Eastern and Central Oregon: Partly sunny
and cold today.
Cascades: Partly sunny today; very cold
across the north. Partly cloudy and cold
tonight.
Northern California: Cool today with clouds
and sun; a snow shower in the interior
mountains.
Western Washington: Mostly sunny today;
however, clouds giving way to sun across
the south.
0
1
1
1
0
NEWS
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COMMERCIAL PRINTING
Production Manager: Mike Jensen
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Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
WINDS
Medford
40/23
Classified & Legal Advertising
1-800-962-2819 or 541-278-2678
classifieds@eastoregonian.com or legals@eastoregonian.com
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Fri.
WORLD CITIES
Hi
42
69
58
43
73
22
45
53
34
81
51
Both Howe and Junker said
most often the exhaust will melt
the snow around the pipe, creating
a path for gas to escape. But that
isn’t always the case. Junker said
his company responded to a couple
of homes and found the top of the
pipe covered in snow.
Some exhaust pipes have a
mechanism to shut off the furnace
or water heater if the exhaust path
is blocked, but others don’t, Junker
said. Howe said the length of pipe
likely depends on the contractor
who installed it, rather than it
being of a specific era.
“If you have a gas water heater,
or even a furnace, they just need to
check and make sure it’s not being
blocked by snow,” Howe said.
Snow certainly presents a
danger on the roof, but it also
buries things on the ground. Howe
said fire hydrants all over Bend
are completely covered in snow.
Howe said rough department
calculations claim any given block
in town has a 1-in-60 chance of a
house fire once per year, and while
the department has a map of all the
hydrants in town, locating them
isn’t the primary objective when
responding to a fire.
“If we can have a hydrant
opened up on each block, we can
spend our time fighting the fire
rather than shoveling snow,” he
said.
Howe asks that residents locate
the hydrant closest to their home
and dig it out from the street in, so
firefighters can quickly access it.
— Dave Howe, Battalion Chief
for the Bend Fire Department
REGIONAL CITIES
Forecast
TODAY
“We haven’t had this
much snow piled up
on roofs that I can re-
member, and I’ve been
here 39 years. This is
really quite unusual.”
Advertising Director: Marissa Williams
541-278-2669 • addirector@eastoregonian.com
Advertising Services: Laura Jensen
541-966-0806 • ljensen@eastoregonian.com
Multimedia Consultants:
• Terri Briggs
541-278-2678 • tbriggs@eastoregonian.com
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541-278-2683 • efreemantle@eastoregonian.com
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541-564-4531 • jjewett@eastoregonian.com
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541-966-0827 • cmcclellan@eastoregonian.com
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541-278-2687 • snewsom@eastoregonian.com
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541-564-4538 • aworkman@eastoregonian.com
Subscriber services:
For home delivery, vacation stops or delivery concerns: 1-800-522-0255
— Founded Oct. 16, 1875 —
Staff photo by Daniel Wattenburger
Mark Davis helps shovel snow off the roof of Columbia Outdoors
Sports and Surplus on Main Street, Hermiston, on Wednesday.
0
8 a.m. 10 a.m. Noon 2 p.m. 4 p.m. 6 p.m.
0-2, Low
3-5, Moderate 6-7, High;
8-10, Very High;
11+, Extreme
The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ num-
ber, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.
Forecasts and graphics provided by
AccuWeather, Inc. ©2017
-10s
-0s
showers t-storms
0s
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
40s
snow
ice
50s
60s
cold front
70s
80s
90s
100s
warm front stationary front
110s
high
low
National Summary: Rain with warm air will extend from Texas to Maine today. Colder air
with some ice and snow will push eastward over the Upper Midwest. Coastal rain with
inland snow are in store for the Southwest.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 88° in Cotulla, Texas
Low -34° in Loma, Mont.
NATIONAL CITIES
Today
Albuquerque
Atlanta
Atlantic City
Baltimore
Billings
Birmingham
Boise
Boston
Charleston, SC
Charleston, WV
Chicago
Cleveland
Dallas
Denver
Detroit
El Paso
Fairbanks
Fargo
Honolulu
Houston
Indianapolis
Jacksonville
Kansas City
Las Vegas
Little Rock
Los Angeles
Hi
57
70
57
63
12
72
27
55
75
66
29
56
76
38
40
68
-5
5
83
79
58
76
30
57
72
59
Lo
33
51
48
49
3
59
11
42
50
45
13
24
58
16
21
43
-24
-21
67
63
23
52
16
44
43
46
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Fri.
Hi
56
72
51
51
23
72
22
43
76
46
25
29
67
35
28
73
-6
5
83
76
36
74
22
54
52
60
Lo
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51
31
29
6
51
9
18
50
34
21
22
56
22
19
50
-11
1
66
64
27
52
21
43
42
47
Today
W
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Louisville
Memphis
Miami
Milwaukee
Minneapolis
Nashville
New Orleans
New York City
Oklahoma City
Omaha
Philadelphia
Phoenix
Portland, ME
Providence
Raleigh
Rapid City
Reno
Sacramento
St. Louis
Salt Lake City
San Diego
San Francisco
Seattle
Tucson
Washington, DC
Wichita
Hi
67
71
80
27
13
70
75
58
51
25
61
67
50
55
68
11
37
51
42
35
62
53
36
73
65
38
Lo
34
48
69
8
-13
47
61
46
30
11
48
52
37
43
52
2
25
36
25
22
51
42
25
46
51
20
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Fri.
Hi
41
57
79
21
8
52
73
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34
23
49
65
39
45
69
23
38
55
33
30
60
54
38
68
52
30
Lo
35
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0
46
57
26
29
15
29
49
7
18
41
3
22
33
31
16
49
41
28
46
32
23
Weather (W): s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain,
sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.
W
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