By JAYSON JACOBY, LISA BRITTON

and CHRIS COLLINS

Baker City Herald

Dick Hentze doubted the Harley-Davidson motorcycle would plow smoothly through several inches of slippery slush.

He was right.

It didn’t.

Fortunately for Hentze, he anticipated the two-wheeler’s mishap and stayed well behind the motorcycle as he drove his Honda Civil through a rare late spring blizzard on Interstate 84 near Meacham Tuesday afternoon.

andquot;It was January, February conditions up there,andquot; said Hentze, who was returning to his home near Baker City after attending a meeting in Pendleton.

When the motorcycle swerved, Hentze gently pushed his brake pedal.

andquot;All of the sudden he spun around a couple times and rolled onto his side,andquot; Hentze said of the Harley. andquot;He was sliding all over the freeway.andquot;

Hentze slid to a stop with help from the guardrail about 15 feet from the motorcycle.

The Harley’s rider wasn’t hurt.

Neither was Hentze’s Honda.

Hentze’s episode with the motorcycle was typical of the accidents the snowstorm spawned on highways in Northeastern Oregon.

Several trucks spun out, and stuck trucks blocked Highway 204 near Tollgate for about an hour, but no major crashes were reported, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation.

ODOT snowplow drivers worked all day to scrape the heavy slush from highways.

About eight inches of snow fell along Interstate 84 at Meacham, with a foot at Tollgate.

Sticking snow arrived later Tuesday in Baker Valley, with about half an inch accumulating in Baker City between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Snow is exceedingly rare in Baker City during June.

According to National Weather Service records, snow has accumulated at the Baker City Municipal Airport just twice since 1965 .4 of an inch in June 1979, and one-tenth of an inch in June 1991.

The automated weather-recording devices that replaced human observers at the airport several years ago do not measure snow depth.

In Sumpter, City Recorder Toni Thompson said snow fell Tuesday night, but didn’t stick.

andquot;It’s blowing like mad right now, but there’s no snow,andquot; Thompson said this morning.

andquot;That’s subject to change,andquot; she was quick to add. andquot;It’s definitely been some interesting weather.andquot;

Laura Harryman is waiting to see how her garden recovers from the inch of snow that fell and stayed overnight at her Starwood Eco-Farm near Old Auburn Road, about 12 miles south of Baker City.

Her place sits at an elevation of 4,100 feet 700 feet higher than Baker City.

andquot;I’ll go plow through it this morning,andquot; she said, a bit of disgust in her voice. andquot;It’s just not fair.andquot;

Harryman and her husband, Kevin Lee, grow produce, plants and flowers to sell at the Baker City Farmers Market.

andquot;I have chard and beets just popping out of the ground,andquot; she said.

And her crop of strawberries well, she’s hoping the snow’s insulating properties will help protect the tender berries.

andquot;It’s better than just dry and cold,andquot; Harryman said.

She is, however, checking the Web site weather.com to determine when she’ll move her pepper plants outside.

Tami Waldron, who own’s Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home in Halfway, said there was no snow on the ground this morning in the Panhandle town, which, like Sumpter, is infamous for its prodigious snow depths during winter.

andquot;There is no snow down low,andquot; Waldron said this morning. andquot;It’s overcast and I see some blue.andquot;

Waldron placed a call to her friend Bill Barnett, who owns the Cornucopia Lodge in the Wallowa Mountains north of Halfway.

Barnett reported four inches of snow overnight.