Posts

Wednesday Night Windstorm

Image
Round 2 of this windy week is looking stronger than part 1. The weather pattern is pretty classic for high wind in these parts. A deepening low pressure system that moves west to east along the US-Canadian border.  Wind will increase Wednesday evening, gusting to 50 mph by about 10 pm.  The peak wind should occur around 2am Thursday. Wind gusts to 65 mph are possible.  By about 5am Thursday, wind gusts should be decreasing to about 45 mph Here’s the European model forecast for peak winds. It’s worth noting that with Sunday’s wind event, the European (and all the other computer forecasts) were about 5-10 mph too light with the peak gusts. So the forecast below may be on the light side   Another storm is right on the heels of the windstorm. But rather than more wind, this storm looks like it will bring us some precipitation. Could be in the form of wet snow on Friday morning, mainly in the northern valleys, but mostly it will be a rainy Friday. Probably on 0.1-0.2” of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Wet and Windy

Image
We’ve had some rather tranquil weather for the first couple of months of 2026. That may be changing for next week.  Sunday’s front is still forecast as we talked about in the last blog. It won’t bring much precipitation, but it will bring some gusty winds. This is the ECMWF wind gust forecast for Sunday afternoon. Wind gusts will generally be in the 30-40 mph range. Nothing damaging, but not a very pleasant day.  Cooler and MUCH drier air will move into the area behind the front.  Dew points will fall into the teens.  High temperatures on Monday and Tuesday will be in the lower 40s with wind gusts to 25 mph. The dryness of the air will make any breeze feel rather chilly.  Expect light snow or snow pellet showers for Monday through Wednesday morning.  Not much impact from them, except for emotional impact.  By next Wednesday afternoon or Thursday we could see another blustery storm. Too far into the future to pin down details with any confidence. Gusts ...
Post a Comment
Read more

February Review

Image
  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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Snow is Back in the Forecast

Image
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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Can I Put My Snow Shovel Away?

Image
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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Where do We Stand on Rain and Snow?

Image
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...
Post a Comment
Read more

Will We Have to Pay For This? Probably Not Now

Image
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...
Post a Comment
Read more