A winter storm warning across the Inland Northwest has been extended to 7 p.m., the National Weather Service said. It had been set to expire previously at 4 p.m.

Spokane Transit Authority has pared its operation for the evening commute to No. 25 North Division; No. 74 Valley Limited; No. 23 Ash/Maple to the Five Mile Park and Ride lot; and the No. 90 to Sullivan Road and the Mireabeau Park Park and Ride lot.

Paratransit is only making emergency or medical service trips, said Molly Myers, STA spokeswoman.  

Spokane airport officials reported that a stoppage in flights through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has hampered operations at SIA.

A large number of flights to and from Spokane fly through SEATAC.

Of 16 departures at SIA between 9:20 a.m. 3:20 p.m., only three were on time while eight were listed as cancelled. The rest were listed as delayed.

Staffers Jonathan Brunt and Adrian Rogers just arrived in the newsroom after slogging on foot through two feet of snow from their Perry Street District home, with their thumbs out like a couple of latter-day hipsters.

By the time they got to Second Avenue, a pickup driver - a great guy named Gary, Jonathan says - stopped his chained-up white rig and said he’d never seen anything like it.

They hopped in the warm cab and learned from Gary that Spokane Valley traffic lights had so much snow on them you couldn’t tell if they were red or green. They offered to hop out at Second Avenue Lincoln Street, but Gary insisted on providing door service.

If you are out there, Gary, thanks. We need Jonathan and Adrian in here to help put out a paper tomorrow.  

The historic Post Office on Riverside Avenue at Lincoln Street was closed today, but postal employees leaving the building said that other post offices remained open. 

Coeur d’Alene blew through its 24-hour snowfall record with 25 inches reported at the mouth of the lake with about 3 additional inches expected through today. The old record was 16 inches set on Feb. 6, 1955.

Marlene Feist / Thursday afternoon plowed routes

The city of Spokane is establishing plowed routes that will be most reliable during today’s snow emergency. Read past the jump to see them listed, or click here to download the city’s map.

Marlene Feist, public information officer for the city of Spokane, said that the city typically takes 72 hours to clear all residential streets after it stops snowing. There are lots of variables, she said, including the density of snow and whether plows need to move back to arterials for some reason. Of course, if it starts snowing again, that also will slow things down.

“We’re throwing everything we’ve got at this, and we’re trying to move through the roads systematically,” Feist said by email.

Forecasters are calling for more snow on Sunday, but they expect about a 50-hour break after the snow stops today.

The National Weather Service said Spokane’s official weather reporting site as of 10 a.m. had 19.4 inches of snow, well more than the previous 24-record of 13 inches. But some locations in the area had more than 30 inches, including the Athol and Spirit Lake areas in North Idaho where the snowfall appeared to be heaviest across the Inland Northwest.

The snow was concentrated in Eastern Washington and North Idaho. In Okanogan County, only a skiff fell, according to a sheriff’s dispatcher.

Spokane city street Director Mark Serbousek reported that arterials and snow emergency routes within the Spokane were opened by daybreak, but needed another pass by plows to improve conditions.
The city remained on a “condition red” snow emergency, and will continue plowing 24-hours-a-day until the city’s 967 miles of arterials and residential streets are plowed.
Residential streets were badly clogged with snow this morning, and getting from driveways to arterials was a challenge for most vehicles with the exception of high-profile trucks and SUVs that had enough clearance to pass above the deep snow. Smaller vehicles were getting caught because their front ends were pushing snow ahead of them, bogging them down eventually.
Many residents had to use shovels to clear the snow before moving ahead. A lot of drivers were stuck at the side-street entrances to arterials where big piles of snow had built up.

Most schools in the region are closed today due to the heavy snow, although a few are delayed. Click through to read the latest list.