Weather across Eastern and Central Oregon right now

[wriddle082]

My brother is currently taking a road trip from TN to Portland, where he is going to work for a couple of months.  Right now he's spending the weekend in Denver with our stepsister, but he's considering leaving early on Monday to try to head the rest of the way.

The friend that he will be staying with is currently in Bend, but will return home to Portland sometime on Monday or Tuesday.  My brother wants to know what US 20 is like going across from Ontario to Bend, since he may choose to meet up with his friend and follow him the rest of the way to Portland.  Are there many snowy areas along that route?  Or should he just stick to I-84?  He's afraid there would be ice on either route, and thinks the I-84 route would be more prone to ice through the Columbia River Gorge.  He's driving a less than 5 year old F150 4wd with custom wheels/tires, so I personally don't have any worries if he were to slide around a little and not hit anything because he could get himself out of it, but still he wants to avoid poor road conditions and any sliding possibilities if at all possible.

Thanks in advance!

[Hurricane Rex]

Although I have not driven US 20 east of Bend, I have been on I 84 from Boise west. You should be fine both ways considering it will be dry till next Friday in the general area (Burns weather). A lot of times I 84 can be dangerous in bad weather for future reference. I do not know if there is any snow there but that shouldn't be an issue with your rig.

That being said: Since I haven't driven this can someone else give a description of this road?

[wriddle082]

Thanks Hurricane Rex!

Update: my brother is on the road now, and his GPS sent him up, from Denver, up 25 north to 287 north, where he is now, to 80 West to 84 west.  He's going to try to get to Boise tonight in time to watch their "Spud Drop" , since our stepsister has requested he try to get a photo of that!

I told him I-80 across Wyoming might be a bad idea right now.  Hoping he doesn't have any issues there!

[US 89]

Thanks Hurricane Rex!

Update: my brother is on the road now, and his GPS sent him up, from Denver, up 25 north to 287 north, where he is now, to 80 West to 84 west.  He's going to try to get to Boise tonight in time to watch their "Spud Drop" , since our stepsister has requested he try to get a photo of that!

I told him I-80 across Wyoming might be a bad idea right now.  Hoping he doesn't have any issues there!

80 in Wyoming is nothing to worry about unless there's actually been a big storm sometime in the past few days. His biggest worries would be traffic in the Denver and Salt Lake/Ogden areas.

[gonealookin]

There was a nasty fatal accident on US 20 yesterday, about 40 miles west of Ontario.  The photo shows not much snow but it could have been icy.

www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2017/12/four-car_pile-up_in_malheur_co.html

While police say the investigation is ongoing and officers have not determined the cause of the crash, a news release says that speed and weather conditions were likely factors.

[doorknob60]

Maybe a bit late to be useful, but in my experience, US-20 from Bend to Ontario is less snowy/icy than I-84 between Ontario and, say, The Dalles. I-84 has multiple potentially bad segments: the hill just SE of La Grande, the entire blue mountains section and cabbage hill between La Grande and Pendleton, and the Gorge, really from Boardman to Troutdale can all be bad at times. US-20 stays in the desert and while it gets cold, it's usually pretty dry (like driving the US highways through Nevada). The curvy sections are generally in the lower elevation parts (being that it's in the Malheur River canyon) and overall I-84 is more curvy. Also this one can be a blessing or a curse, but traffic levels are relatively low on US-20. In my opinion it's a good thing, as long as you're not going right after or during a storm (before the plows can get through).

I-84 can be so sketchy at times, that on my way back from Portland to Meridian, I took WA-14 over its entire distance to avoid I-84, and it was legitimately safer (after seeing the shit-show that was the gorge on the way in a few days prior, passing 4 accidents and seeing 2 cars directly in front of me swerve at 65+ MPH just between Boardman and The Dalles, before crossing over to WA-14, plus looking at Google Maps traffic before leaving). The problem with the gorge sections is that the hills prevent the road from getting any sun in some spots, so you'll be driving along fine and then hit a shady spot that's super icy, repeat constantly. WA-14 gets a lot more sun and was bare pavement almost the whole way for me, and once past US-197 has very little traffic.