Oh, Shit: Tomorrow Afternoon’s Commute Is Going to Be a Freaking Nightmare

Worst-case scenario Tuesday evening is that road conditions are similar to last December, when there were 101 crashes in 20 hours.

Portland snowstorm on Jan. 11, 2017. (Joe Riedl)
By Elise Herron

Tomorrow might be a good day to call in sick, sip on hot chocolate and work from home.

That's because the National Weather Service just issued a warning that snowfall Tuesday evening could create treacherous driving conditions similar to December of 2016—when a two-inch dusting of snow made city streets veritable ice rinks.

The city went into a meltdown. Portlanders averaged five car crashes an hour, and 911 operators reported receiving 101 calls about accidents in a 20-hour period. Drivers abandoned their cars on the shoulders of interstate highways, and returned to pick them up days later.

Related: Portland Drivers Are Averaging Five Crashes an Hour in the Snow.

The special ingredient in that fiasco: The snow arrived just before rush hour. And that's what forecasters say is likely to happen Tuesday.

"If you can telework or flex your hours earlier in the day," the agency tweeted, "that may be a good idea tomorrow."

It adds that snow may hold off until after the commute home, but that drivers should plan for the worst-case scenario.

"Remember the 10-hour evening commute last winter?" one NWS Portland tweet reads. "The timing of the snow moving in has us concerned it could happen again tomorrow evening."

The NWS says that snow is most likely to fall between 3 pm and 6 pm tomorrow evening.

If you are able to reschedule your workday tomorrow, the agency advises, it will "greatly help our friends the Portland Bureau of Transportation and Oregon Department of Transportation. It is hard for them to do their job when roads are filled with traffic."

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