Winter in January

Joker, a young Siberian Husky, belonging to Naomi Hinkle of Nine Mile Falls, pulls a weighted sled during an IWPA Sanctioned Dog Weight Pull at Winterfest on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, in Deer Park, Wash.

Sharlene Olson, 10, battles competitors in a game of Broomball during Winterfest on Saturday, Jan. 26, 2013, in Deer Park, Wash.

Michael Knapp, center with baseball hat, consoles his mother Laura, after the car she was riding in with her husband, Jim, was hit by another vehicle and slid off the road, Jan. 28, 2013, at the corner of Ivanhoe and Graves Roads near Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash. A car failing to stop at a stop sign, collided with the Knapp’s driver’s side door of their 2004 Jaguar S Type. The vehicle came to rest between a pair of trees and the two occupants were extracted through the windshield.

JC Conrad, 44, of Spokane Valley, Wash., pounds in a painted plywood piece back into the mouth area of his giant snowman, Friday Jan. 25, 2013. The warming temperatures caused the wood to drop. Conrad, along with his daughter, Asia, 19, left, and other family members gathered snow from neighbors’ driveways to add to the snowman’s height and bulk. They used 5-gallon buckets to collect the snow in the 13900 block of E. 26th Avenue.

Ice hangs from the bumper of a Pontiac G6 while parked in a downtown Spokane lot, Jan. 22, 2013.

Camie Beebe of Hayden walks along a frosty Centennial Trail in Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013.

A shrub on Spokane, Washington’s South Hill is encased in ice and icicles on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013.

Neither snow nor rain nor a flock of ducks can prevent USPS city carrier Kristopher Krampert from the swift completion his appointed rounds, Jan. 8, 2013, near the corner of 22nd Manito Boulevard in Spokane, Wash. Over 60 mallards meandered the yard looking for a bite to eat. Krampert says he sees them often when delivering the mail. “They are used to me.”

A doe keeps a wary eye on a photographer while foraging in the yard of a home near 37th and Glenrose south of Spokane Valley, Thursday, Jan. 17, 2013.

This aerial shows a frozen-over Avondale Lake, a small lake near Hayden Lake in North Idaho.

Hoar frost forms on the branches of a shrub, Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2013, in Spokane, Wash. Hoar frost ice crystals form on the ground or exposed objects on cold clear nights when objects become colder than the surrounding air.

Craig Walker, of Durham School Services , assists stuck motorists spinning their wheels at the corner of 37th Avenue and Havana, after a blanket of snow made the road an icy mess, Jan. 7, 2013, in Spokane, Wash. Walker spread a bucket of sand on the incline to help with traction.

A runner plods his way south on Manito Boulevard, Jan. 8, 2013, in Spokane, Wash., after a storm blanketed the region with many inches of snow.

Blue sky serves as a backdrop for a snow-covered sunflower in Coeur d’Alene on Friday, Jan. 11, 2013. Frigid weather is in the forecast for the Inland Northwest.

Hagadone Hospitality workers brave the wintery weather to dismantle the Christmas tree on top of the offices in Coeur d’Alene on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013.

Hoar frost clings to trees as fog blankets the Spokane area before daybreak, Jan. 17, 2013, at Chase Middle School.

A Washington State Trooper tries to stand up barrier posts after a car slid off of eastbound I-90, Monday morning in Spokane Valley, at approximately 9 a.m., Jan. 7, 2013.

Sharman Watson shovels out her walkway on West 21st Avenue after a winter storm dropped 4-5 inches of snow across the region, Monday, Jan. 7, 2013.

Michael Cello braves the snowy weather while riding his bike along Sherman Avenue in Coeur d’Alene.

Snowy tire tracks make a graphic pattern in a parking lot in downtown Spokane.

Pedestrians walk single file westward on Sprague Avenue at Division Street past an urban snowman outside the Mountain Goat Outfitters store, Jan. 7, 2013, in Spokane, Wash. The store’s manager, Shane Collins, said it was easier to build the snowman than it was to shovel to snow off the sidewalk. His goal was to “Keep the holiday cheer going.” The snowman’s eyes are climbing bolts and the mouth is a length of climbing rope from the store.