Five years ago on this day, the Portland Aerial Tram opened to the public. The $57 million, 3,300-foot long aerial tram has been shuttling passengers between the South Waterfront terminal and the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) almost daily for the past five years.

The tram cars also have names: Walt and Jean, named after Walt Reynolds and Jean Richardson. Walt was the first OHSU African American graduate. Jean was the first female engineering from Oregon State University.

So, let us wish the tram a very happy birthday.

Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday dear Portland Aerial Tram.
Happy birthday to you.

Now blow out those candles.

What does Clackamette Park in Oregon City look like 48 hours later? I headed out to Clackamette Park today to shoot some follow-up photographs of the park flooded by the Willamette and Clackamas rivers. The scene at the park looks vastly different than it did 48 hours ago when I posted the flood photos in “Clackamette Park Flooding.” The water level is receding, leaving debris scattered on the grass, and mud and gravel on the pavement.

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Every Tuesday, The Oregonian’s ThisWeek/Food Day complimentary newspaper (I did not subscribe to) wrapped in a plastic bag lies on my driveway. Unless the weather is dry, the newspaper usually ends up soggy no matter how light it rains and it becomes unreadable. The pages tear when flipping through the soaking wet pages gently.

The newspaper eventually ends up straight in to the recycling bin. The punctured or torn plastic bag ends up in the trash that could otherwise be used as a dog poo cleanup bag. What an utterly waste of paper and plastic when I can enjoy a better reading experience online.

Today’s photographs features Cape Horn, Columbia River near Wishram, the Stonehenge replica, and a small rural town named Kent, Oregon.

Fog filling the Columbia River Gorge blankets the hillside and Hwy. 14 at Cape Horn. The fog also reduced the visibility to about 200 feet on some stretches of the highway. Despite the recent winter conditions, the highway was in good condition.

Near Wishram, the Columbia River fades into the fog at the mouth of the Deschutes River. Fog and low level clouds hovered over the Columbia River at least between Portland and Biggs Junction. Like the fog in the western Columbia River Gorge near Cape Horn, east of the cascades was just as bad near Maryhill.

Next stop is the Stonehenge Replica and War Memorial in Maryhill. The snow covering the ground and capping some of the stones added a nice touch to the scene. The Stonehenge is one of my favorite places to photograph and let my dogs out to exercise.

Wrapping up the photo series is the small rural town of Kent, Oregon. An abandoned gas station along U.S. 97 seems to catch most motorists’ eye. Across the highway from the gas station is a stone and concrete silo, but I have no explanation for its purpose. There is another similar silo out in the field on the east side of the highway three miles south of Kent.

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Last Wednesday, a strong warm weather system dumped heavy rain in the Willamette Valley, causing major flooding, extensive damage, and a few fatalities. Most of the floodwater is draining into the Willamette River and flowing downstream northward to Portland. There is some flooding along the banks of the Willamette River.

Clackamette Park is a small city park in Oregon City at the Willamette River and Clackamas River confluence now flooded by the two rivers. The park is no stranger to being flooded since it does flood almost every year. Minor flooding at the park begins when the river level is about 25 feet.

River debris marks the peak high water mark, but its exact peak measurement isn’t quite known. The National Weather Service Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service (AHPS) river gauge below Willamette Falls last reported the river level at 27.59 feet on Jan. 21 at 6:45 a.m. PST. The gauge has not provided river level data since then.

View Photos

Snow is now falling and sticking to the street surface in Milwaukie.

At 9:20 p.m. rain fell from the sky and the temperature was at 39°F. Shortly after 10:00 p.m., the rain turned to snow and the temperature plunged to 34°F.

One-half inch of snow covering the ground at the 125-foot elevation as of 10:45 p.m. Tuesday night.

Depending on where you were in the Portland metropolitan area for the past three days, either you had some snow or you did not. Some towns in the region received a couple inches of snow accumulation. Other towns only saw a light dusting or no accumulation. In Milwaukie, the snow accumulation amounted up to nothing, except for a dusting on Sunday.

A cold air mass moved over the Pacific Northwest late Saturday night, lowering the snow level as moisture off the Pacific Ocean moved in. The system was weak, bringing scattered showers over the Coast Range and then dissipating before entering the Portland area. The National Weather Service radar even showed precipitation practically avoiding the Milwaukie area.

Air temperature was near the freezing mark. Daytime temperatures for Milwaukie hovered around the mid 30s, so the precipitation falling was wet snow or rain and snow mix. On Sunday night, however, the sky cleared and that brought temperatures to below freezing, causing icy conditions on the area’s wet roads.

Small accumulation of snow dusted the ground in the Ardenwald-Johnson Creek neighborhood on Sunday. Around 1:30 p.m., a strong snow shower passed over the area, giving the ground a light dusting of snow. The snow then completely melted away about an hour later.

By Monday night, the weather forecast changed for significant snowfall and accumulation for Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Snow will turn to heavy rain on Wednesday morning and the snow level will rise to 4,400 feet in the afternoon. Look out, the “Pacific Firehose” is aimed straight for us!