A driving nightmare before Christmas

Traffic moves slowly in a light snow near the Interstate 5 Bridge in Vancouver on Wednesday morning. I-5 was arguably in the best condition of all roads in Southwest Washington. (Zachary Kaufman/The Columbian)

A smattering of rain on Wednesday only slightly diminished what will be Vancouver’s heaviest Christmas snowpack on record.

Clark County remained covered in up to 3 feet of snow.

Cars skidded into ditches across the county Wednesday morning, as another 2 to 4 inches of snow added to treacherous conditions — especially on secondary roads covered with four days’ worth of compacted snow and ice.

Snow was melting before Santa’s arrival, but not enough to significantly erode what will easily be the heaviest Christmas snowpack since record-keeping began in the 19th century. At areas above 500 feet, snow overnight and today is likely to continue to add to “truly incredible” snow totals in areas such as Amboy in north Clark County.

Julie King said she has been snowbound with her husband and two teenage daughters since last Thursday. The family was stuck in 3 feet of snow at their home on a private drive in Amboy, along with residents of about 10 other homes.

“The amount of snow is truly incredible up here,” she said by telephone Wednesday afternoon. “We’ve lived here for 10 years and this is by far the worst.”

King said her primary concern relates to medical care for her husband, Bruce, who has a form of cancer.

On the other hand, she said family members had already completed their Christmas shopping and they’ve got plenty of food, though they are down to four days’ worth of dog food for their seven pooches.

“In a weird way, it’s kind of exciting,” King said. “I just think it’s thrilling and gorgeous. The only thing that mars it is my husband being sick.”

Another 2 to 4 inches of snow is possible today above 500 feet, according to the weather service. Low-level areas most likely will see rain rather than snow.

“It looks like it’s going to be hard to get (snow) down to the valley floor,” said Jonathan Wolfe, a meteorologist with the weather service in Portland. “It may get a little lower or higher. I won’t completely rule out seeing any flakes, but accumulation-wise it generally should be above 500 feet.”

He said a warming trend is on the way, with rain and temperatures in the 40s by the weekend.

Pat Timm, the Columbian’s veteran weather columnist, said snowfall accumulations ranged from 11 to 36 inches across Clark County. Twenty-one inches were reported in Ridgefield, 16 inches in Salmon Creek and Hazel Dell, 22 inches in Camas and 36 inches in Amboy.

Vancouver weather observer Steve Pierce recorded 18 inches of total snow accumulation at his house in the Van Mall neighborhood since Dec. 14, though it compacted during the week. It had compressed to about 8 inches by Wednesday afternoon, he said.