The finale

Here at Blog Central, we are moving into the most dangerous part of any winter storm in Portland, which is the freezing rain stage at the end. My friends in the 'burbs to the south have had nothing but ice all weekend, and a lot of them are sitting in the dark and cold, or looking at fallen trees, even trees that are sitting on their houses. Here in town, we've been spared that so far, but the icicles are starting to form just now.

The weather people tell us to have no fear, it will be above freezing in a couple of hours, and the big melt will begin. They tend to be wrong about the timing of the thaw as often as they are right. It's not unusual for the temperature to rise up to 31 degrees and then stay stuck there for days. And so we're charging up what's chargeable just in case. On the front porch, it's 30.5 at the moment.

Our winter wonderland could be gone in a day or two. Frosty waves goodbye again. For us, this has been a good one. So far. But let's hope the swan song isn't "In a Gadda da Vida."

UPDATE, late afternoon: Sure enough, it got to 32.1 on the porch, but now it's dropping again. And drizzling. The latest is, they're saying it may hit a balmy 34 tomorrow. Don't hold your breath.