Wednesday’s snowstorm wreaked havoc on evening commutes in the Portland-Vancouver metro area, sending multiple vehicles off the roadway and adding hours to many southbound trips home.
As of Wednesday night, the Vancouver, Evergreen, Battle Ground, Ridgefield, Woodland, La Center, Washougal and Mount Pleasant school districts have canceled classes for Thursday. Hockinson and Green Mountain schools planned to start two hours late.
King’s Way Christian Schools, Cornerstone Christian Academy, Firm Foundation Christian School, St. Joseph Catholic School and the Gardner School of Arts & Sciences will close as well. Meadow Glade Adventist Elementary School planned to start two hours late. Columbia Adventist Academy planned to start classes at 11 a.m.
Washington State Patrol Trooper Will Finn said the combination of inclement weather and the daily commute — snow began falling in earnest around 4 p.m. Wednesday — led to multiple minor crashes and sent vehicles sliding off the roadway, especially on state Highway 14 east of Interstate 205. Other trouble spots appeared to be on I-205 around Highway 14, he said.
No significant injuries were reported, but two people were hospitalized following a head-on crash around 4:15 p.m. on state Highway 503 in the Fargher Lake area, Finn said. Neither person had life-threatening injuries.
Vancouver Police Department spokeswoman Kim Kapp said that officers working Wednesday afternoon hadn’t seen more activity on the roads than on a typical rainy day.
Public works crews generally had things well in hand in most of the county through the afternoon, Clark County Public Works spokesman Jeff Mize said.
“We are holding our own would be the best way to describe it,” he said.
Vancouver Public Works saw much of the same, according to the agency. City workers had been applying de-icer since late Tuesday, helping traffic along on arterial roadways, but side streets and neighborhood areas may still be slick in places.
Traffic was able to move relatively well in the urban areas of the county, he said, but crews were out into the evening, and will be out again early Thursday morning, to clear the roads.
Wind preceded the snow, and about 4,300 customers in the east Vancouver area lost power late Wednesday morning when a wind-blown tree fell into some power lines, Clark Public Utilities spokeswoman Erica Erland said. Most customers had their electricity back by early Wednesday afternoon.
Wednesday’s snow slowed, and eventually shut down, C-Tran, and caused school districts to cancel after-school activities. Thursday, the transit agency’s C-Van paratransit service will be limited to medically necessary trips only.
Matthew Cullen, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Portland, said no significant snow is expected for Southwest Washington Thursday, beyond occasional light flurries.
“Whatever you see on the ground … it’s not going to go anywhere,” he said Wednesday night, adding that commuters may want to give themselves some extra time Thursday morning.
Temperatures remained below freezing through the night, so significant ice is unlikely. Temperatures are predicted to inch above freezing through Thursday, he said.
Thursday’s predicted high in Vancouver is 33 degrees, but temperatures will drop below freezing again Thursday night, he said, to around 25 degrees, so commuters should again be cautious.
“If there’s still liquid on the road when the sun goes down, it’ll probably freeze a little bit,” he said.
Friday and Saturday also will see slight chances of some snow and freezing temperatures, both day and night.
Cullen said another wintry mix is possible Sunday and early next week, but forecasters’ computer models still aren’t clear on the details.
