Thaw brings cautious return to normal.

Byline: Scott Maben The Register-Guard

And on the seventh day, it began to melt.

The wild winter weather that rang in 2004 took another hairpin turn Wednesday with the appearance of a bright yellow orb in the southern sky and temperatures that neared 50 degrees.

The Willamette Valley again awoke to a landscape shellacked by freezing rain, but telltale signs of a thaw soon followed in Eugene and Springfield.

Drips turned to fat plops of melting ice while frozen chunks slid off roofs and trees, shattering like crystal.

By midafternoon, the ice and much of the snow was a memory, except in shady spots and at higher elevations.

"It finally got thawed out enough where I could get out here without breaking my neck," Leroy Hileman of Springfield said as he retrieved his trash can from the curb on Game Farm Road. "I haven't hardly been outside."

People emerged from their homes and went to work while thousands of students returned to school after a prolonged holiday break. Gardeners ventured out to assess the damage to battered trees and splayed bushes, and countless others shed their coats and gloves to enjoy a day that felt springlike compared to the past week.

It was a good day for a serving of jamoca almond fudge ice cream with hot fudge and nuts, and that's exactly what Juanita Benedicto ordered during a lunchtime visit to Baskin Robbins Ice Cream on Eugene's south Willamette Street.

"I've been craving ice cream since last night," the University of Oregon librarian said. "It's kind of comfort food, really."

Jim May, owner of the parlor, was glad to see a few customers trickle in. The past week has been the worst January start in his 12 years there.

"We need some more days like this," May said.

But AJ Brooks wasn't ready to bid the ice farewell. The sixth-grader and his classmates at Life Lutheran School near the UO campus spent recess sliding on a sheet of ice in a corner of the playground. It was their first day back after 2 1/2 weeks off, and Brooks was tempted to redeem a coupon his teacher gave him for extra play time.

"I want to use my 20-minute recess (voucher) before it melts," he said. "I hope there's more snow."

The turn in the weather was a relief for Lane Transit District driver Dick Ellis, who spent several days watching for pedestrians who might slip near his bus.

"I had just come back from vacation and boom, a baptism of not fire, but ice," Ellis said. "I'm from Minnesota, so in a way, this is like being home."

At Wayne Morse Ranch in south Eugene, Reta Anderson watched Houston, her 3-year-old golden retriever-shepherd mix, frolic in what remained of the soft snow with a stuffed, green and pink dinosaur.

"You're making snow angels today, aren't you?" said Anderson, director of Willamette Wildlife Rehabilitation, which is based at the 28-acre city park.

The National Weather Service said it reached 46 at the Eugene Airport, which is the average high for the date. The overnight low was forecast to be 39 and today's high is expected to reach 49, continuing the rapid melt.

Although rivers are swollen with runoff, no major flooding in and around Lane County is expected this week, the weather service said.

Wednesday wasn't problem-free in the southern valley, however. About 3,400 customers of four local utilities lost power for part of the day, mostly due to icy limbs falling on lines and causing outages.

The airport continued to see delayed and canceled flights as a result of the shutdown of the Portland and Seattle airports. Some flights departed for destinations to the south, but no traffic was headed north.

The bad Northwest weather left Springfield resident Ric Zagone stranded for at least 24 hours at San Francisco International Airport.

"I've had it," said Zagone, awaiting word as a standby passenger. "I'll never, never, never fly again."

Deputy managing editor Carl Davaz contributed to this report.

CAPTION(S):

Eugene resident Keith Clemmer waits at San Francisco International Airport for word on his status as a standby passenger for an afternoon flight to Eugene on Wednesday. Weather problems in the Northwest delayed Clemmer for 24 hours on his way back from a holiday visit to Pennsylvania. Kevin Clark / The Register-Guard Ice covering teasels begins to melt under the morning sun Wednesday. Warmer temperatures cleared the area of most of the snow and ice. W e a t h e r