Hoping for Snow? Urban Skiing and Snowboarding?

The so-called “Polar Vortex” has been hammering the midwest and NE parts of the U.S. and, if you’re like the average Portlander (especially if you’re a local), then you’re probably crossing your fingers big right about now…hoping for some frozen white stuff. Indeed, it is in the forecast, although one that we snow lovers hope they’ve blown a bit…to the warmer side. You see, a mere dusting at higher elevations is what’s likely to happen, yet we don’t just want a smattering, we want it to dump!

Check out the weather forecast for next week from one of my favorite sites, Weather Underground. Also, see this map from KOIN.com that shows possible snow coverage areas in and around PDX. It looks a bit thin for the city itself, but the higher elevations are sure to be white. But let’s hope for some “urban snow” so we can get our “urban ski” on! Yes, I have a few friends that like to hit the “urban slopes” when winter touches down here locally. Perhaps we’ll see you out there? It only takes about 3 inches of snow and a really trashed pair of skis (or snowboard) to get it rolling…

The February Effect

Many of us are hoping for what happened this time last year, just when we were losing hope of a big valley snowfall. Remember early February, 2018? It seemed like Spring was nearly here…and, while we’d had a few dustings of snow (even on 12/24), we didn’t have any real accumulation. And then BOOM…I recall around 15 inches at my house, at least on the northern exposures. Being the nut I am, I snowboarded all over the neighborhoods…narrowly missing cars, dogs and people and getting in some truly “urban skiing.” In the spirit of such urban craziness, here’s a some great local videos of people doing just that around PDX:

Ride Mt. Tabor

Skiing from Council Crest to Downtown

Snowboarding in Downtown Portland “Water Ski Style”

Fingers Crossed

Well, here’s to getting some snow to fall around here. And if it doesn’t come to pass, well, perhaps these urban skiing and snowboarding videos will inspire you to head up the hill! But hopefully we’ll cross paths somewhere in the local streets here…it just doesn’t get much more novel.