Spotty icy conditions around the Portland-Vancouver metro area Friday led to some slipping and sliding on Clark County roads, and some school districts had delayed starts or canceled classes, particularly those near the Columbia River Gorge.
Conditions Friday varied widely, and emergency dispatch logs show police and fire personnel responded to about two dozen crashes in the county throughout the day.
Roads were icy in Camas and in Washougal, where an accident on Highway 14 about 3 a.m. resulted in one injury. The Washington State Patrol said a driver was going too fast and lost control, sending his vehicle into a pickup that had lost control and crashed earlier.
Parts of Portland saw dozens of crashes as the prior night’s ice was slow to melt, and some freezing rain was reported into the evening as far west as the Interstate 5 Bridge. But during the day in Vancouver, particularly on the west side of town, roads tended to be just wet.
The city public works department said most major streets were simply wet, but 192nd Avenue had a light slushy mix in spots.
Clark County saw power outages, with 130 customers losing then regaining their electricity Friday, according to Clark Public Utilities.
The National Weather Service in Portland says the rain should continue Saturday in Vancouver, as a warm front off the Oregon Coast will bring more moderate temperatures.
Weather service meteorologist Paul Tolleson said some freezing rain might show up Saturday morning east toward the Gorge, but temperatures would rise early in the day.
The weather service says to expect a quarter to a half-inch of new precipitation possible Saturday, and high temperatures around 46 degrees.
The rain will likely stick around through Saturday night, when another quarter to a half-inch of rain is forecast, and the low will be around 38 degrees.
It’ll rain Sunday, too, the weather service says, and although forecasters say their computer models weren’t agreeing, atmospheric conditions may be right to produce a little snow Sunday night.
“As far as Sunday, Sunday’s an incredibly difficult forecast,” Tolleson said.
While Vancouver’s forecast calls for little to no snow accumulation, there might be enough — 1 to 2 inches, he said — that drivers will notice it out on the road in some areas.
“It’s certainly within the realm of reason,” he said. “It’ll more likely be a situation where it’s raining and it will turn over to snow during the event, which doesn’t happen too often around here.”
Sunday’s high will be about 42 degrees, and the city might see a half inch to 3/4 inches of rain. Snow or not, rain is likely continue into the night.
Forecasts into next week call for more rain, with snow levels rising from the foothills into the mountains, according to the weather service.
