County braces for more snow, possibly on Thursday

Gigantic Flakes were just warming up

A dusting of snow covered much of Clark County at least briefly on Wednesday, with big gloppy flakes falling on the tail end of the morning rush hour.

Morning commuters may not be so fortunate today.

Tyree Wilde, warning coordination meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Portland, said it appears likely to be slightly colder today than it was on Wednesday morning.

“Any band of moisture that rolls through is going to produce snow showers,” Wilde said.

Road maintenance workers are preparing for the threat of low-elevation snow and ice coating area roadways through the weekend. Abbi Russell, spokeswoman for the Washington Department of Transportation in Vancouver, said workers were sent home early on Wednesday so that trucks could be out on major freeways by 4 a.m. today.

She said five trucks equipped with plows and a chemical de-icing agent will prioritize Interstate 5, Interstate 205 and state Highway 14. Highways 500 and 503 also will get attention, as they’re considered heavy commuter routes.

The DOT will maintain the same schedule through early next week.

“The weather pattern is showing we could get dumped on at any point,” Russell said. “We’ll have the same pattern of staffing through Monday.”

County public works spokesman Jeff Mize said county road superintendents will watch forecasts and road reports and if necessary deploy snowplows to high-priority corridors. He said the county plowed high-elevation roadways on Wednesday in the upper Washougal River basin and north Clark County, which typically happens several times a year.

“We’ll be vigilant, and we’ll provide whatever response is needed,” he said.

Wilde, of the weather service, said the threat of low-elevation snow will continue through early next week, with atmospheric temperatures more typical of January. Any bands of moisture rotating through are likely to generate snow falling all the way down to the lowest elevations of downtown Vancouver, he said.

“A couple of times this year, we’ve had cold enough air but not quite enough moisture,” Wilde said.

High temperatures will rise to the 40s by midday, melting snow by the evening commute, Wilde predicted.

Steve Pierce, weather blogger for The Columbian, noted that Wednesday’s snowfall was only the second time this winter that snow has accumulated in low elevations of Clark County. The last time was late November, Pierce said. Citing weather records dating back to 1940 in Portland, as a proxy for Vancouver, he said the area normally gets 6 inches of snow in an average year.

As far as the county’s low-elevation snow on Wednesday, Battle Ground recorded the most, with just less than 3 inches, Pierce said.