Clark County got its first hit of winter weather as icy conditions snarled traffic on interstates and roadways on Thursday and Friday.
The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning for the region on Thursday, which extended through the late hours of Friday. Freezing rain began Thursday evening and led to a number of crashes that were reported by the Washington State Department of Transportation beginning at 3:30 p.m., with one south of the Yale bridge on state Route 503.
One crash on northbound Interstate 5 involving a semi-truck closed all lanes in that direction of travel for about 90 minutes before partially reopening on Thursday night, according to WSDOT. Other crashes closed lanes on I-5 between Ridgefield and Battle Ground, on state Route 503 west of Yale, and on Interstate 205.
Clark County remained about 10 degrees below freezing as of Friday morning. The NWS forecasted the temperature would reach freezing. Freezing rain throughout the day was expected with low to no winds.
Alongside the icy conditions, the National Weather Service also reported high winds on Thursday night. Peak gusts around midnight reached about 34 miles per hour north of La Center and about 26 miles per hour near Battle Ground.
The conditions led to power outages in the county. As of press deadline, Clark Public Utilities reported 3,100 outages either current or recently restored.
Southwest Washington wasn’t alone in grappling with a cold welcome to Christmas weekend. The weather across the state had the Washington State Department of Transportation calling the situation “Hoth” on social media, in reference to the planet from Star Wars completely covered in snow and ice.
