Snow storms blanket Sisters

Jim Cornelius

Snow piles up in Sisters. photo by Eric Dolson

A series of snow-laden storms rolled over Sisters during the New Year's Day holiday, blanketing the area with a the heaviest cover of snow local residents have seen in a decade.

More snow is predicted through this week.

Road crews had a hard time keeping the network of city, county and local subdivision roads plowed ahead of the continuous snowfall.

According to Sisters City Manager Eileen Stein, it takes three people about four hours to plow the city streets of Sisters.

"We've probably done that four, maybe five times," Stein said.

Snow plows left a berm down the center of Cascade Avenue -- a sure sign of an unusually heavy snowfall in Sisters. The berm makes it difficult or impossible to turn into some driveways along the main downtown street.

According to Stein, both the city and Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) are aware of the inconvenience caused by the berm. ODOT crews remove the berm at night when possible, shoveling the snow into dump trucks to be deposited in clear areas.

Stein noted that responsibility for snow removal on public streets in front of businesses belongs to the adjacent property owner.

"This helps us out tremendously so we can focus our resources on plowing travel lanes," she said.

Responsibility for snow removal on private parking lots belongs to the property owner. Business owners must keep their sidewalks clear. Stein notes that a city ordinance requires sidewalks to be shoveled (or de-iced) within six hours of daylight following snowfall (or "ice event").

Many locals restricted their travel on New Year's Day -- since it was hard enough just to get a car out of the driveway. But some travelers braved difficult conditions to make the treacherous trip across the Cascades.One couple that drove to the Sunriver area for a New Year's Eve wedding told relatives it took a full six hours to return to Portland on New Year's Day.

The Oregon Department of Transportation reported packed snow on Highway 20 on Friday, January 2, and 23 inches of snow on the roadside.

There were unconfirmed reports of slides in the area of Hogg Rock on Thursday, but the highway has remained open.

While the storms have dumped several feet of snow in local mountains, they haven't pushed the water season into the above average range... yet.

According to data from the federal Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the Deschutes and Crooked River Basin has now hit 100 percent of average precipitation overall.

Locally, water totals are still just short of normal.

As of Friday, January 2, NRCS reported 10.9 inches of "snow water equivalent" at the Three Creeks snow telemetry station. Average is 8.9 inches. Total precipitation at Three Creeks currently stands at 14.8 inches; average is 17.7, putting that station at 84 percent of normal.

The Three Creeks Station is sited at 5,650 feet in elevation.

The McKenzie Station (4,800 feet) reports 24.8 inches of snow water equivalent, compared to an average 19.7; total precip is 97 percent of normal at 38.8 inches.