Inland Northwest Hay Weather

  February in the Inland Northwest is typically a transitional month from winter to spring. We saw the usual mix this year.  It was mild during the first half of the month, followed by a colder spell that brought some snow along with the coldest temperatures of the entire winter. Deer Park had its only sub-zero temperature of the year on the morning of the 20th. Here’s how the temperatures for the month compared to a normal February.  Generally more than 3 degrees warmer than it should be   Moisture for the month was lacking for most of the state, although the lower Columbia Basin and Lewiston-Clarkston areas fared well. So where does that leave us for the winter as a whole?  Kind of a mixed bag.  Some parts of the Northwest are doing well (blue and purple areas).  But there are locations where we’re starting to fall behind, most notably in the northeast section of Washington. Here’s the precipitation accumulation graphic for Deer Park.   The brow...

As I spelled out in the previous blog, we would see a return of snow into the forecast later this month. That still looks to be the case.  A major weather system will dive south of us and head into California this weekend. They will be the weather news maker.  But a couple of weak weather systems could also move through the region this weekend.  The first should arrive Friday night.  This will mostly be in the form of rain but some snow is possible. Another weaker and less certain storm could move through here on Saturday night or Sunday with more chances of rain or snow. By the middle of next week, the entire West will be under the influence of a rather cold weather system.  For our area, there will be a chance of snow each day starting about Tuesday the 17th and continuing for several days.  At this point we don’t see any strong storms, although there could one lurking that we just can’t see yet.   But the atmosphere will be very unstable.  Snow...

They’ve had very little use this winter. But they’re probably still handy, just in case. Our snow shovels. Will we need our shovels anymore this winter? We are expecting a pattern change due to a rather wet weather system this weekend. Here’s the best guess of rainfall from the National Blend of Models.  A half inch around Spokane with more over Pend Oreille county.  Some models focus the rain south of Spokane, so there’s still some uncertainty.  The rain will spread across the Cascades late Saturday afternoon and evening.  Then there could be a break on Sunday morning before heavier rain arrives during the afternoon and evening  the precipitation has a chance of changing to wet snow Sunday night north of Spokane but shouldn’t have any impact   Behind these storms cooler air will move into the region.  Nothing cold.  Highs will still be in the lower to mid 40s.  Next week will be mostly dry with a small chance of rain or snow showers.  N...

To say it’s been a mild winter so far would be an understatement. How mild?  Here’s the temperature departure from normal for the last 90 days.  Crazy warmth in the West. Parts of the central Rockies are more that 10 degrees above average. That’s huge. Meanwhile it’s been cold in the East.  Just for fun, here is the temperature outlook from the Climate Prediction Center issued in October for the same time period as above. They didn’t show any below normal temperatures anywhere in the lower 48 states. They said the Northeast would be warmer than usual. Not their best outlook. Let’s zoom in on the Northwest. Just about everywhere east of the Cascades has been at least 4 degrees warmer than average, with some locations more than 6 degrees warmer.  Here’s some interesting graphics. When you average all of the temperatures in each state and rank them, December 2025 was the warmest December on record (131 years of data) in several western states, including Washington and O...

We’ve been discussing in the past couple of blogs the potential for snow and cold weather this weekend. Based on the recent computer forecast models, I would say that the odds of cold and snow are looking very slim at this point . Of the over 100 computer forecasts, none of them show sub-zero temperatures this weekend, and only about 1% of them have temperatures dropping into the single digits.  The cold Canadian air is expected to stay east of the Continental Divide. We should see colder temperatures at night this weekend.  But that’s because our cloud blanket that’s keeping us mild at night should be pushed to our south by a northeast breeze on Friday.  Speaking of which, here’s what our cloud blanket looks like from space As for snow?  There’s about a 20% chance of a dusting of snow on Sunday or Monday.  We’re still looking at milder temperatures next week to finish out the month of January. This would be accompanied by a chance of rain next week.  Inter...

  Four days ago I mentioned that the computer forecasts were “hinting” at some colder weather starting around the 23rd. Four days later, they’re still hinting at it, albeit a stronger hint. But we’re starting to see some potential details.  First, the odds of colder temperatures next weekend are probably about 60% now. Not a done deal, but likely. There’s still a lot of uncertainty. Some computers give us sub-zero low temperatures while others say we won’t go below freezing. Your app is probably saying teens for a low, and that’s the best guess right now. But it could be colder. There are three sources of uncertainty: Will the cold Canadian air push in from the northeast? Will this bring us snow? Will the skies clear with calm winds after the snow stops? Canadian Air The models have been showing this potential consistently and the trend has been to push the Canadian air in here a little stronger. So for question #1 I’d answer: Yes. Snow Potential If the Canadian air comes blas...