OPB’s First Look: Oregon’s mountains finally see some snow

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Good morning, Northwest.

Have you been praying for snow in Oregon? Those prayers might be answered this week.

OPB’s Lauren Dake starts off today’s newsletter with where flakes may be in the forecast for Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington.

In other news, meet a person who decided on a whim to drive to every single Plaid Pantry convenience store in Portland in a day.

Here’s your First Look at Tuesday’s news.

—Meagan Cuthill

Good news for winter weather wishers: Snow is coming

Snow is finally falling in Oregon’s mountains and it could make its way down to the lowlands.

That’s what David Bishop, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Portland, is seeing in this week’s forecast.

“We currently have a winter weather advisory for the Cascades, the Cascade foothills and the Coast Range,” Bishop said. “We do have the potential for snow to be down to the valley floor on Wednesday night going into Thursday morning.”

But where exactly snow may fall in the Willamette Valley is a moving target. (Lauren Dake)

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3 things to know this morning

• A bill that would require health care facilities to monitor federal immigration officers and exclude them in some situations is running into headwinds in the Oregon Capitol. (Amelia Templeton)
• Another bill in the Oregon Legislature, sponsored by Bend attorney and hunter Anthony Broadman, would block landowners from pursuing trespassing charges against someone who is trying to “corner cross” from one piece of public land to another. (Kristian Foden-Vencil)
• This week, Portland city councilors will review a plan to overhaul the number and makeup of council committee meetings. (Alex Zielinski)

What we learned from Oregon’s most recent moment in the national spotlight

President Trump’s attempt to send the National Guard into Portland to quell protests was one of the top stories of 2025. In this episode of “The Evergreen,” OPB reporters and editors break down what they learned in following the ordeal. (Julie Sabatier, Conrad Wilson, Troy Brynelson and Michelle Wiley)

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Headlines from around the Northwest

• Free tax filing assistance available to Oregonians at upcoming events (Mia Maldonado) 
• As Trump’s deportation campaign grows violent, some Oregon Republicans begin to push back (Shaanth Kodialam Nanguneri)
• Oregon lawmakers ditch proposal to cut voters out of local gas taxes (Dirk VanderHart) 
• Oregon bill rejecting some Trump tax cuts clears state Senate (Dirk VanderHart) 
• For 5 decades, Portland Chinese School has preserved Taiwan’s language and culture (Winston Szeto)
• Monument honoring Eugene’s first Black families revealed (Brian Bull)
• Clark County Council considers extending rule to prevent redevelopment of mobile and manufactured home parks (Erik Neumann)
• Washington health officials work to curb unpermitted street food (Mitch Borden)

54 stores, 8 hours: Portlander turns longest Plaid Pantry run ever into a love letter to the city

This month, the Olympics feature elite athletes who have trained their entire lives to set records and win medals.

In Portland, Simon Xu realized there was another option: Pick a record no one had thought to train for.

Xu woke up one day this fall and decided to accomplish a feat no one had asked for: driving to every single Plaid Pantry convenience store in Portland. The plan would take them across the entire city — 54 stops in eight hours, with no medal at the end. (Lillian Karabaic)

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