Ice Storm — Greater Vancouver Area, Washington

2021-02-14 to 2021-02-15 · Greater Vancouver Area, Washington

Event narrative

Overall, ice amounts were a little less than the Oregon side of the metro area. Totals ranged from 0.25 to 0.75, and many thousands lost power in Clark County.

One ice-related fatality: At 1715 PST on the 14th, one adult male, aged 57, died when he was heading southbound and lost control of his vehicle on the icy road surface, driving off the side of the Glenn Jackson Bridge near Government Island. The vehicle and the driver's body were later found on February 17.

Wider weather episode

A deep upper trough drove an arctic airmass into southwest Washington. As multiple Pacific fronts moved over the area, a major elevation winter storm with heavy snow and freezing rain occurred over a multi-day period. This was a major, widespread, multi-faceted winter storm that caused major problems across the forecast area, even (and especially) in the lowlands.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 946439. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.