Whether low snow lands in Portland or not, it’s good to be prepared

Wendy Fisher owns Hankins Hardware in Northeast Portland. She said customers were dropping by Wednesday to be prepared, just in case they saw snow overnight.

“They say, ‘Well it might snow or it might not.’ And then, it snows,” she said with a laugh.

It’s not that busy at Hankins, because it hasn’t been a cold winter. But some people are buying ice-melt, faucet covers, snow shovels, heaters and even some sleds.

“Around here, you never know what the weather’s going to do.”

City transportation departments face the same problem. Portland’s Bureau of Transportation has a half dozen snow preparedness levels from “slight chance,” to “50/50″ to “snow is imminent.”

Related: Winter weather alerts throughout much of Oregon

For each level, the city takes certain precautions. Over the last couple of days, for example, it has pulled in snow crews early to bolt plows and salters on trucks.

PBOT spokesperson Dylan Rivera said the city is also putting plows in strategic locations overnight, mainly on hilly areas above 500 feet.

“What we always do, and we urge the public to also take a similar stance, which is: Prepare for the worst and hope for the best,” Rivera said.

Cities like Portland cannot afford to just hope bad weather doesn’t materialize. An unexpected storm in 2023 dumped 10 inches on the afternoon commute, leaving many drivers stranded for hours.

Related: Portland-area transportation agencies unprepared for historic snowstorm

“Our leadership is constantly assessing the potential impact on travel safety and what the implications would be for our labor, for our materials, for our equipment,” Rivera said.

The National Weather Service early Wednesday afternoon was forecasting snow over portions of Southwest Washington and the north Oregon Coast Range by Thursday morning, but mainly rain or a snowy rain mix below 500 feet in the Willamette Valley and Portland areas.

Related: Lookback: Why winter ice and snowstorms can paralyze Portland