Is wintery weather around the corner?

With snow and freezing rain in this week’s weather forecast, the university is bracing itself for a possible campus closure.

Yesterday, the National Weather Service issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for Tuesday in portions of northwest Oregon, including the Portland metro area, and southwest Washington.

Commenting on the possibility of a campus closure, communications instructor Jil Freeman said that cancelled classes are not as hindering to a professor’s schedule as they used to be, due to online sites such as Blackboard and Desire2Learn.

“It really puts the responsibility on students,” she said.

However, Freeman said it is still difficult to get back on schedule after lost time. In winter 2008, when the campus shut down for several days due to hazardous weather, she said that she “moved much quicker” than usual to get through the course material.

“It’s so difficult already on a 10-week term,” she said.

As of press time, KATU meteorologist Joe Raineri reported that snow should begin falling this afternoon, totaling up to an inch to two inches of snow in the valley.

Once the snow stops falling, however, Raineri told KATU that freezing rain will begin overnight. He expects temperatures to rise and the rain to return by late Wednesday morning and afternoon.