Temperatures that remained at or slightly above freezing overnight helped Clark County largely shrug off a snowstorm late Wednesday night. Many local schools were starting late today as a precaution, but freeways and metro-area streets are mostly bare.
The National Weather Service in Portland allowed its winter weather advisory to expire at 8 a.m. It was 34 degrees at Pearson Field just before 9 a.m. The forecast calls for light snow flurries giving way to mostly clear weather later today, followed by a freezing cold night with temperatures in the 20s.
Major Vancouver streets are improving. They’re mostly clear with more snow and ice on the eastside of town, according to the Public Works Department. Deicing and plowing crews spent another night on the roads, the department said.
There is light snow and slush on side streets, public works said.
“Be aware of slushy conditions along all routes, and road spray from vehicles going through the slush. Bike lanes are also slushy. If you’re driving, please be considerate of pedestrians, bicyclists and others,” public works said.
Washington State Department of Transportation officials report there is snow on Interstate 5 from Vancouver to Olympia, and there crews are working around-the-clock, treating areas of the freeway.
Washington State Patrol spokesman Will Finn said in a 7 a.m. tweet that troopers have responded to nine crashes in Clark County over the past 12 hours. Only a single crash appeared to be affecting traffic in the county at that time. A car went off the roadway at Milepost 12 of state Highway 14.
Evergreen, Ridgefield and Vancouver public schools will open two hours late Thursday.
Battle Ground, which includes many rural areas at higher elevations, will open its schools three hours late. Its north schools are closed. Buses are taking kids to schools on snow routes and will be doing the same when the school day ends.
Camas, Washougal and Green Mountain school districts chose to close their schools for the day. Both La Center and Hockinson had originally planned to open two hours late but later decided to call off classes for the day. Find updates to the closures here.
Washington State University Vancouver and Clark College are open and running on a normal schedules.
Clark Public Utilities’ outage map says 171 customers recently had their power restored, but there is currently no one without power.
Portland International Airport was open and operating with a handful of delays. C-Tran has its Battle Ground Limited route, Route 47, on a snow route, with no service to Yacolt and other points north of Battle Ground.
The area will flirt with snow again on Friday night, but at the moment, any sticking snow is predicted to be light and brief. Rain is expected for the weekend as the weather becomes more seasonal.
The weather service advised another winter weather system to drop into the region Friday and Friday night.
Any initial precipitation is expected to reach Southwest Washington late Friday morning before moving south and on to the greater Portland metro area through the afternoon and evening.
Forecasters little to no accumulation is expected with the potential rain and snow mix, as surface temperatures will be slightly above freezing.
However, parts of the western Columbia River Gorge and areas above 500 feet elevation may see an inch of snow. Snow levels will rise through Friday night, to about 1,000 feet, due to increasing surface winds, according to the weather service.
