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Medford mostly dry despite storm's visit Staff and wire reports A cold Pacific storm blew through Oregon Saturday, dumping heavy snow on the Cascades, rain on the coast and precious little on Medford. "We just kind of got skipped over," said meteorologist Jay Stockton at the National Weather Service office in Medford. Meteorologists expected the cold front to move slowly and stall a little over the Rogue Valley on Friday and Saturday, Stockton said. But the storm kept moving south, creating small snow flurries during periods of sunshine in Medford Saturday afternoon. Mountains in Southern Oregon, however, can expect up to 3 feet of snow this weekend, meteorologists said. Motorists traveling south on Interstate 5 over the Siskiyou summit were required to use chains on their vehicles Saturday. Mountain travelers on Highways 62, 66, 138 and 140 were required to carry chains. Oregon State Police responded to 10 accidents on the freeway Saturday, said an OSP dispatcher. The majority of accidents happened near the Siskiyou summit and were weather-related. Police and road crews from Oregon Department of Transportation also assisted semi trucks that spun out on the freeway and blocked traffic for short amounts of time. The snow was expected to taper off by Monday, and the storm should dry up by the middle of the week as the temperature cools down, Stockton said. Temperatures in the 20s tonight will dip to 18 in Medford and 15 in Ashland on Monday night, Stockton said. A daytime temperature of 40 degrees was forecast through Tuesday. Several small flurries dropped a messy mix of snow and rain in Portland Saturday morning, and the National Weather Service warned of snow showers throughout today. An inch of snow was forecast to fall on the Willamette Valley floor. The Cascade Range was blanketed with a fresh foot of snow Friday night, and authorities warned of extreme avalanche danger from Mount Hood to Crater Lake. The Northwest Weather and Avalanche Center described the threat of avalanches as "high to extreme" because it has formed unstable sheets that can break apart and crash down the mountainside. Heavy rains caused minor flooding on Oregon's north coast on Friday. Water washed over U.S. 101 south of Seaside and north of Tillamook, causing minor traffic problems. The high water, expected to recede today, was unlikely to require evacuations or cause any serious flooding, said Pat Affolter, a duty officer for Tillamook County's emergency management office. A key reason, she said, is that colder air will turn rain into snow. No major roads were reported closed Saturday, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation. On the Net: Northwest Avalanche Center: http://www.nwac.noaa.gov/ . Oregon Department of Transportation's Web site at www. tripcheck.com/ Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.