Snow blankets La Grande City Hall on Friday in the season’s first winter storm.

LA GRANDE — The first major winter storm of the season descended on Northeast Oregon on Friday, bringing dangerous driving conditions, road closures and heavy snowfall in the mountains.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the Blue Mountains on Friday morning through 4 a.m. Saturday.

The agency predicted 8 to 20 inches of snowfall to accumulate in areas above 3,000 feet and winds gusting up to 40 mph.

The Oregon Department of Transportation reported about a dozen semitrailers slid off the eastbound side of Interstate 84 near North Powder between mileposts 287 and 289.

ODOT shut down the eastbound freeway from around Pendleton to Baker City for several hours.

Tom Strandberg, spokesperson for ODOT, said icy roads and high winds made for poor road conditions.

“Numerous slide-offs indicate that folks are not able to maintain control of the vehicles on the road, and that means it’s time for us to close them until conditions improve,” Strandberg said.