Portland’s brush with perilous winter weather will linger substantially longer than originally forecast after temperatures Wednesday failed to climb high enough to melt the ice and snow that continues to encase much of the metro area, the National Weather Service said. Forecasters had expected southern winds to bring enough warm air into the region by mid-afternoon that frozen streets, trees and structures would begin to rapidly thaw, offering a reprieve from the five days of deadly cold that began Friday. Those winds, however, petered out well before Portland could reach a hoped-for high of 44 degrees, meteorologist Miles Higa told The Oregonian/OregonLive. Instead, as of 2:30 p.m., the recorded temperature downtown hovered near 34 degrees while at Portland International Airport it was 32 degrees. “We’re not getting the warm rain that we were forecasting last night, especially in the north metro area,” Higa said. “Overall, throughout the rest of the afternoon and this evening, we w...