Recent snowfall in top 10 in last 100 years

Vancouver-area residents are plowing their way through one of the top 10 snow events in the past 100 years.

More than a foot deep in some places, it’s also a total that might approach the biggest accumulation since a snowstorm hit Clark County 67 years ago.

In a National Weather Service update of snow totals in and around Vancouver, the top figure Wednesday afternoon was 12.5 inches in Salmon Creek.

The report from the agency’s Portland office showed considerable variation around Clark County, from 3 inches in Washougal to 14 inches in Yacolt. But forecaster David Bishop affirmed that this week’s snowfall “was the biggest since 2008.”

Back then, the December 2008 total was judged the Vancouver area’s biggest snowfall since January 1950.

Weather experts pegged that 2008 accumulation at 12 to 13 inches and ranked the so-called “White Christmas Snowstorm” at No. 6 on the Vancouver area’s all-time list.

Then you have to go back to January 1950, when there were 13 inches on the ground at one point.

There are other snow statistics, including monthly totals. January 1950 shows up with another mark that nobody probably wants to approach: a 31-day total of 35 inches of snow.