PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – With snow in the forecast over the holiday weekend, tire shops are busy with customers who are prepping their vehicles for winter driving conditions.
Officials with PBOT and ODOT said they have their staff and equipment ready for snow, so now it’s a watch and wait situation.
Drivers are also scrambling to get ready for whatever Mother Nature brings.
Busy work bays at Sandy Boulevard Tire and Auto are a sign that many plan to hit the road for the holiday weekend ahead.
“Everybody is just panicking to try to get in and get prepared for it,” Alan Croft, service advisor at Sandy Boulevard Tire and Auto, said.
With snow in the forecast this weekend, Croft says it’s made the rush to prepare even more urgent.
“This is an Easy sock here, it is a great alternative to chains, like I said, very easy to put on,” Croft noted.
Croft said snow socks and chains are flying out the door.
“We are selling out of the snow socks fast. Get here early, call us, make a deposit, we can hide them away for you so nobody can take your pair,” Croft explained.
Hannah Schafer, a spokesperson for PBOT said they want people to have the forecast on their radar before the holiday.
“It’s looking like for most of Portland, which is people living below 1,000 feet of elevation, that snow is likely going to be coming more Saturday night into Sunday,” Schafer said. “So, crews will be in on Saturday and getting prepared, will be putting down deicer, things like that in advance. Then of course will be going into incident command 12 hour shifts when the snow starts to fall.”
ODOT spokesperson, Don Hamilton, said state crews have also been preparing. He said they will keep an especially close eye on the mountain passes.
“We are looking at a lot of snow and ice in particular in the mountain passes. It’s going to be pretty treacherous going up over the Cascades and certainly going up over the coast range as well,” Hamilton said.
Croft said depending on where you are going, make sure you have a good set of tires that are rated for snow and you have chains or snow socks with you just in case.
“So, chains, they are going to be a little better for the ice, breaking up the ice. The easy socks are a little bit easier for the average person to put on. They are not going to cause any damage to your fender – they are a little bit cheaper as well,” Croft said.
Although they’re pretty slammed, they’ll help out in “any way they can”.
“Everyone has been rushing last minute to get their seasonal tires put on. We’ve been extremely busy, but we always have time for our customers,” Croft said.