February Review

 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 brown line is what normal precipitation accumulation should be.  The green line is what has occurred during the 2025-26 winter.  Things were looking good for the start of the winter with our stormy December.  But the dryness of the first two months of 2026 have put the area on the dry side. 

What about the mountain snow pack?  All of the red dots show stations in the mountains that  have less than 50% of the normal snow pack.  

In some locations, the snow pack is lower than any other season since the 1980s.  That’s an impressive statistic.

Here’s a couple of examples at Bunchgrass Meadows in Pend Oreille county, Mt Spokane, and Lookout Pass.  At all three locations, the current year (black line) is near the bottom of all the past years. 

Here’s how those same mountain locations are faring on precipitation.  Lots of green and blue dots, which means the mountains have actually received near-normal precipitation, but in the form of rain instead of snow.

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We don’t see much wet weather on the horizon.  

• Tue & Wed: We’ll get about 0.10” of rain
• Thu: a few afternoon showers 
• Friday-Sun: Dry
• Mon: a cold front comes through on Sunday night.  

While the cold front may bring us some precipitation, the main effect will be dry cooler air and gusty winds  This could lead to the potential for some snow showers next week.  This is not uncommon for early March, but typically has minimal impact.  But the mountains should see an addition to their snowpack.

For you lunar eclipse fans, the skies should cooperate initially.  The eclipse will start at 150am PST tonight, with total eclipse between 3 and 5am on Tuesday morning.  Clouds will be moving into the region from the west, reaching the Spokane area around 4am.  (Blue indicates cloud cover in the forecast image below, valid at 4am.)