Guess we can forget camping this weekend!

I'm not afraid of camping in the snow, but the part about "wrapping your pipes" reminds me of last Thanksgiving when we were camping and woke up to find that we couldn't use any water in our trailer. Plus we couldn't even pack up to go home because the hose was frozen to the camper and to the spicket. Yeah, gonna avoid camping this weekend! But I DO need to make summer reservations... Oregon state parks fill up SO quickly!

Issued by The National Weather ServicePortland, OR 1:05 pm PST, Mon., Dec. 8, 2008
... TURNING EXTREMELY COLD WITH VERY LOW SNOW LEVELS THIS WEEKEND OVER SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON...
THE COLDEST AIR OF THE WINTER SEASON WILL BE SETTLING IN OVER SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON THIS WEEKEND... BRINGING VERY COLD TEMPERATURES TO THE REGION AND SNOW LEVELS POSSIBLY NEAR THE VALLEY FLOOR.
THE INITIAL SURGE OF COLD AIR WILL SPREAD INTO SOUTHWEST WASHINGTON AND NORTHWEST OREGON FRIDAY NIGHT AS A STRONG COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH. WHILE AIR AHEAD OF THIS FRONT WILL BE RELATIVELY MILD... VERY COLD AIR BEHIND THIS FRONT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO DROP SNOW LEVELS QUITE LOW... NOT UNLIKE A SNOW EVENT THAT OCCURRED IN MID NOVEMBER OF 2003 WHICH DROPPED SEVERAL INCHES OF SNOW IN THE PORTLAND METRO AREA. WHILE THIS KIND OF DETAIL IS NOT CERTAIN AT THIS POINT... THE SNOW LEVEL AT THE BACK EDGE OF THE COLD FRONT FRIDAY NIGHT COULD TURN OUT TO BE QUITE LOW.
THE COLD AIR WILL CONTINUE TO STREAM ONSHORE DURING THE DAY SATURDAY AND ANY SHOWERS WILL LIKELY DROP SNOW TO THE 500 OR 1000 FEET ELEVATIONS. THE ONSHORE FLOW WILL LIKELY LIMIT THE POSSIBILITY OF THE SNOW REACHING THE VALLEY FLOOR DUE TO A SIGNIFICANT OVER WATER TRAJECTORY OF THE AIR... AS THE WATER TEMPERATURES OFF THE COAST REMAIN IN THE LOWER 50S.
IT APPEARS A REINFORCING SHOT OF ARCTIC AIR WILL THEN SPREAD THROUGH THE GORGE AND DOWN THROUGH WESTERN WASHINGTON INTO NORTHWEST OREGON SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY... AND BRING THE COLDEST AIR TO THE REGION IN QUITE SOME TIME. AT THAT POINT... MINIMUM TEMPERATURES COULD FALL INTO THE TEENS WITH DAYTIME TEMPERATURES STRUGGLING TO REACH FREEZING. THE POSSIBILITY OF ANY SIGNIFICANT SNOW ONCE THE MAIN SHOT OF ARCTIC REACHES OUR AREA IS UNCERTAIN AT THIS TIME AS IT IS DEPENDENT ON WHETHER ANY ORGANIZED SYSTEMS WILL SPREAD OVER THE AREA... BUT THE POSSIBILITY DOES EXIST.
BE SURE TO TAKE PRECAUTIONS THIS WEEK IN ADVANCE OF THE ARRIVAL OF THE VERY COLD AIR... SUCH AS WRAPPING PIPES... COVERING FOUNDATION VENTS... DRAINING OUTDOOR WATER PIPES... AND PROTECTING VULNERABLE OUTDOOR PLANTS.