Clark County could see another few inches of snow tonight, according to a winter weather advisory put out by the National Weather Service in Portland shortly before 11 a.m. today.
The advisory starts at 11 p.m. tonight and runs through noon Tuesday. During that time, Clark County will see a mix of rain and snow, which is expected to switch the mostly snow overnight and into Tuesday morning.
The snow accumulation will be in the 1- to 3-inch range, with more snow falling in areas closer to the foothills such as Battle Ground, Hockinson and Camas. Downtown Vancouver could see 1 to 2 inches of snow, according to Gerald Macke, a meteorological technician with the National Weather Service.
“There will probably be a lot of places with a lot of white on the ground,” he said. “Roads will be on the slushy side. A slushy mess is how I’d describe it.”
Macke said he doesn’t think there will be a lot of new precipitation during the day today.
“That’s good for the evening commute,” Macke said. “We do think temperatures should be above freezing tonight. We’re not looking at a bunch of re-freezing and icing tonight.”
The high temperature for today is expected to be around 40 degrees, with the overnight temperature dipping around to the mid-30s, Macke said.
The relative warmth won’t last long, though, as the service is tracking another system expected to hit the region Tuesday night into Wednesday.
Macke said there is some uncertainty about the next wave of winter weather, but the Portland metro area will most likely be hit with cold air coming from the Columbia River Gorge. There’s a possibility for some additional snow, but Macke said if there is any precipitation, it will be a light accumulation.
Still, with the cold air coming in, that could mean rough driving conditions Wednesday morning.
“It will be cold. It will be below freezing,” he said. “Any snow or slush leftover is going to freeze over. Even without anything new, we’ll probably have enough water left over to cause problems.”