Virtually every school district in and around Portland canceled school for a second straight day Friday, given the mix of freezing rain, snow and ice expected during the morning commute.

Update: Storm Tracker 2 Meteorologist Rhonda Shelby says a back edge to the first band of precipitation is just about to move through the metro area.1

The City of Portland is preparing for potentially hazardous roads this week as snow and freezing rain are forecast to hit the region Thursday and Friday. It will be dry and cool again on Wednesday with mostly sunny skies, but another chance of snow is right around the corner.

About an inch of snow officially fell Thursday on Portland, causing crashes, canceling school, shutting government offices and briefly cutting electricity to thousands. Potentially more dangerous weather was expected to arrive Thursday night,

A storm arriving in southern Maine on Saturday, just two days after a combination rain-and-snow storm swept through the area, is likely to bring another round of cold, wet weather.

According to David Bishop, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Portland, after a lull in the precipitation Thursday afternoon, freezing rain is now expected to start Thursday between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. That precipitation should start as freezing rain and transition to snow between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. or so, he said.

A snow storm has caused chaos on an Oregon highway, with up to 30 vehicles involved in a large pileup. Several people were injured and four people were taken to a local hospital with minor injuries. An SUV involved in the accident caught on fire,