Thanksgiving Week Snow - Update

Don’t cancel thanksgiving dinner at Grandma’s house based on the weather forecast.  Yes we could see some snow this week, but it’s doubtful it will cause travel problems.  Here’s the situation.

In our last blog we talked about the disagreement between the models on timing and amount of snow.  As usual, they’ve pretty much reached a consensus at this point.

The timing for snow isn’t good.  The computers agree that precipitation will reach Spokane just after sunset Tuesday.  This is just about the worst timing possible if you want snow.  It allows the atmosphere to warm up to near 40 degrees just before the precipitation starts.  As such, rain is favored over snow.  Or any snow that does survive those warmer temperatures will be wet and have a difficult time accumulating on the ground.  

I’ll show you the snowfall forecast from the European and US models just to give you an idea of what I’m talking about. 

Both predict somewhere around an inch of snow for the lower elevations.  But these computers also predict that temperatures will be around 35F while the snow is falling.  So don’t expect much more than slush.  Any snow that does accumulate on the roads should quickly melt on Wednesday.

There still is a predicted second storm for Wednesday night and thanksgiving morning.  But by this time the atmosphere will be even warmer.  So expect rain for most areas.  Folks north of Newport and Colville have the best chance of seeing some Thanksgiving day snow.

As stated in the previous blog, there’s still a chance we’ll be brushed by some colder Canadian air late in the weekend.  Lots of uncertainty still.  Some computers say we’ll have single digit lows next week.  Others say will have highs in the 40s.  

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