'We advise people to slow down in this type of weather,' says ODOT spokesman Adam Torgerson

Chris McKee plans to travel over Santiam Pass today, and this time he plans to be prepared.

“I came from Bend to spend Christmas with my parents here in Corvallis,” McKee said. “I had chains with me on the way over but had never put them on before.”

McKee, a television producer at KFXO news in Bend, said he was traveling over Highway 20 on Saturday afternoon when the road became too icy. He pulled over to put on his chains but couldn’t figure out how to install them.

“Someone was nice enough to pull over and help me out,” he said.

On Wednesday, McKee was at the Les Schwab Tires store on Third Street waiting for a new set of studded tires to be installed on his vehicle so he could brave the mountain pass without having to solve the riddle of snow chains.

Oregon’s mountains got another dump of snow on Wednesday and travelers on even some lower-elevation roads ran into slick driving conditions. Oregon State Police reported accidents in Benton County on Highway 99W between Corvallis and Monmouth. A portion of the highway at milepost 76 midway between the two communities was closed for a time Wednesday morning due to ice.

There are more winter storms in the forecast through the weekend and transportation officials have issued warnings for those who plan to be on the road in coming days.

The National Weather Service has issued a heavy snow warning for much of the Willamette Valley and the Cascade and Coast mountain ranges. The forecast calls for up to 6 inches in the Coast range today and Friday and up to 16 inches in the Cascades. Driving conditions on U.S. Highway 20 between Corvallis and Bend to the east and Newport to the west could be bad.

“We advise people to slow down in this type of weather,” Oregon Department of Transportation spokesman Adam Torgerson said.

On most mountain roads, Friday is expected to be a better day to travel as snow turns to rain by late afternoon.

A snow advisory is in effect between 4 a.m. today and 4 a.m. Friday for the southcentral Cascades, Siskiyous and south Cascades.

A heavy snow warning is in effect for the Interstate 5 corridor through the Portland area between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. today. The Portland area could get 3 to 6 inches of snow by late afternoon, forecasters said, with the precipitation turning to rain by evening.

To the south, snow is expected on I-5 at Medford throughout the weekend.

Mike Louie of Monroe said he planned to leave today to drive south on I-5 to Sacramento. He said he hoped to get there in time to watch Oregon State University’s Emerald Bowl game against Maryland on TV on Friday.

Louie said he has been checking ODOT’s road conditions Web site, http://www.tripcheck.com, for regular updates.

“I’ll be checking the weather report on my mobile phone on the way down there, too,” Louie said. “If necessary, we’ll wait another day.”

For skiers and snowboarders, the latest winter storm brought good news. Hoodoo Mountain Resort on Santiam Pass reported 12 inches of new snow on Wednesday, while Mount Bachelor received 14 inches, Willamette Pass got 8 inches and Mount Hood Meadows received 14 inches.