Surprise snow stings

Ken Lader and Ginger Blair stroll though downtown Vancouver on Sunday night. The two were out of town for the holidays and December’s storms. “We thought we better take a walk and enjoy the snow tonight,” Lader said. (ZACHARY KAUFMAN/The Columbian)

Sunday’s snow surprise should be mostly gone as you read this, but it caused misery and added to this winter of discontent.

Traffic mishaps caused frigid vehicle hairballs around Clark County.

“It hit us hard and quick,” said Camas Police Sgt. Doug Slyter. He said one car crashed into a business at Seventh Avenue and Drake Street, another car hit a tree on Dahlia Street and a third hit a traffic island on Dahlia. Rescue crews decided it was too risky to pull the car out of the business building Sunday night, Slyter added.

“To boot, we had a lot of them in the ditches,” Slyter said.

A 911 dispatcher said police officers and deputies responded to more than 15 accidents, with many motorists sliding off roads.

A Washington State Patrol dispatcher said troopers responded to more than 10 accidents, including an injury accident on Cape Horn, east of Washougal on state Highway 14.

Even Clark County Sheriff’s Deputy Phil Walker had his patrol car struck by a motorist, forcing both vehicles into a ditch at Southeast 28th Street and Ingle Road near Camas. Sgt. Shane Gardner said Walker attempted to avoid the sliding car but could not prevent the collision.

Most accidents were reported as noninjury.

Asked at 9:15 p.m. if there was snow in Yacolt, Paramedic Lyndsey Maylone said, “A lot and it won’t stop. I wish it would stop.”

Rain was expected Sunday. What happened?

Vancouver’s Steve Pierce has an explanation: “Forecast models have a hard time taking into account the snowpack that is still on the ground at many locations in the Columbia River Gorge and points east. As the storm approached the coast, it drew an east wind over these snow-covered areas and finally into the Portland-Vancouver area. As soon as precipitation began to fall into the cold dry air in place, we had a classic recipe for snow. This is known as evaporative cooling. Once the wind switched around to the south, the precip changed back over to rain.”

He is executive councilor of the American Meteorological Society’s Oregon Chapter.

So what’s ahead?

No snow today, said Miles Higa, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Portland. Instead, rain.

Higa predicted “a fairly wet system for Tuesday and Tuesday night. We’ll be watching the rivers because there is potential for bringing those rivers back up to flood stage.” Highs should be in the 40s and lows in the upper 30s the next two days, Higa said.

So what’s the snow total for the Vancouver area this year?

At his home near Vancouver mall, Pierce recorded 20 inches in December, an inch on Jan. 2 and 2 inches Sunday for a total of 23 inches.

For comparison, the weather service at Portland International Airport recorded 44.5 inches the winter of 1949-50 and 34 inches the winter of 1968-69, Pierce noted.