Snow? Rain? Hail? It depends on where you were

Rain, snow, hail, sleet, snow, rain. It was an alternating combination that likely made contact with anyone who stepped outside the cozy confines of the indoors Wednesday.

In higher elevations, up to 4 inches of snow accumulated. In downtown Vancouver, it was soppy and wet, eventually yielding to some afternoon sunshine.

The Vancouver Fire Department and an emergency dispatcher with Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency reported few weather-related crashes. A two-vehicle collision on an icy road near Livingston Mountain, though, was photographed and submitted to The Columbian.

The crash happened at about 12:30 p.m. near Northeast 282nd Avenue and 53rd Street, south of the mountain that peaks at 1,944 feet above sea level.

Dawn Pratt, 80, of Camas lost control of her car on an icy curve and crashed into a vehicle driven by Bridget Estrada, 42, said Sgt. Bill Roberts with the Clark County Sheriff’s Office.

Estrada, also of Camas, was not reported injured. Pratt reported neck pain and was taken to Southwest Washington Medical Center. She was treated and released later Wednesday afternoon, a hospital employee said.

In that same area Wednesday, children found sufficient snow to make a snowman.

A meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Portland, Daniel Metcalf, said Wednesday brought with it the kind of system that hits the metro area “once or twice a year.”

A cold front that came from the north and swept across Clark County was followed, Metcalf said, by showers that combined in just the right recipe to bring intermittent snowfall to Felida, Hazel Dell and Battle Ground.

“This was not an uncommon system for us to see,” Metcalf said.

Looking ahead, Metcalf said New Year’s Eve is likely to be cold — and absent the precipitation necessary to bring more snow. An arctic air mass is expected to descend on the area, bringing nighttime lows on Friday (21 degrees) and Saturday (19 degrees) that will rival the year’s coldest temperatures.

“It’s going to get cold,” Metcalf said.