Although the winter weather system in and around Central Oregon was expected to dissipate by Tuesday morning, areas east of the Cascades like Sisters, Bend and La Pine had persistent snowfall well into the afternoon, with some areas seeing several inches of accumulation.

The storm was so unexpectedly prolonged that the National Weather Service office in Pendleton issued a special weather statement Tuesday morning warning motorists of continued snowfall along the U.S. Highway 97 corridor with light accumulations and low visibility, despite warming temperatures.

“We initially had winter weather advisories going on this morning and they ended around 10 a.m., but it seems like — because the stationary front that’s to the south of you guys was much slower to move further south — the light snow kept falling through this morning and into this afternoon,” said Brandon Lawhorn, lead forecaster at the Pendleton office.

Lawhorn characterized this prolonged front as not terribly uncommon during the edge seasons, but “frustrating” to predict nonetheless.

“Spring and fall are tricky areas for forecasting weather because even with our model guidance, it struggles to get a handle on things coming in … Is the colder air going to make it to the south or is the warmer air going to keep it north? Things can stall out, especially with the stationary system we’ve been looking at all day,” said Lawhorn.

Moving into the remainder of the week, Bend will see sunnier skies with high temperatures in the mid- to upper 40s.

But don’t get carried away with the spring weather, Lawhorn said. More snow showers and cooler nightly temperatures are forecast to roll in Friday night.