Wintry Saturday serves up a weather smorgasbord

It was one of those days in Western Oregon when the weather was not sure what to do.

Shine some sun? Drop some snow? Drop some mixed rain and snow? Blow some strong, blustery winds? Just rain? Just rain sideways?

All of the above happened Saturday in the Eugene-Springfield area.

A pretty decent snowfall could be seen in Eugene’s south hills between 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. Saturday, providing a nice white summit on Spencer Butte.

From Friday night to Saturday morning, a foot of snow had dumped on Willamette Pass, according to the National Weather Service in Portland.

Can Lane County residents expect to see any more snow today or early in the week ahead?

“We don’t have any large-scale system, but the showers could continue tomorrow (Sunday) — maybe snow mixed with rain,” National Weather Service meteorologist Kirsten Elson said.

“We’re pretty much in a cool air mass, and some more systems are moving in,” she said. “It wouldn’t be a surprise to see more snow this week. We’ll probably see a few more snow showers at lower elevations this week.”

One thing’s for sure: Overnight temperatures are expected to be at or below freezing the next few days, so early morning motorists should drive carefully.

High winds were reported Saturday on the Oregon Coast, with some people calling the National Weather Service to report gusts up to 40 mph, Elson said.