Series Of Storms Taking Aim At Region Another Round Of Winter Weather Expected To Continue Through The End Of Next Week
FOR THE RECORD (Jan. 27, 1996): Dwight McCane led Paula Marano’s third-grade class across an imaginary Atlantic Ocean on Thursday in Coeur d’Alene. McCane, a Ramsey Elementary school counselor, was misidentified in a photo caption in Friday’s Idaho Spokesman-Review.
As if 16 inches of snow in the past week weren’t enough, the coming week could get snowier.
“We’re going to get dumped on,” said Irv Haynes, forecaster at the National Weather Service office in Spokane.
A winter storm watch was issued Thursday for heavy snow tonight and Saturday in North Idaho and Eastern Washington.
After that, storms at two- to three-day intervals should pile up the powder through Feb. 3, according to forecast charts from advanced computer models.
Sensing the lull between storms, merchants and snowplow crews spent Thursday gearing up.
At the General Store on North Division, a storm of customers is expected this morning. That’s when another shipment of sleds and plastic toboggans arrives.
“We had a shipment come in Tuesday and it was gone by Wednesday noon,” said employee Francis Schmitt.
Other hot items are window de-icer, shovels, boots and jackets.
“What wasn’t selling around Christmastime is selling right now,” Schmitt said.
At Keller’s Sales and Service on the North Side, Eric Figler said he sold at least 10 John Deere snow blowers this week.
That’s nothing like the big winter of ‘92-93, when Figler sold everything he had - and everything he could get from other dealers. Many of the people who bought blowers that year haven’t used them since.
Worse, said Kelly Stewart, owner of South Hill Small Engine, they didn’t bother to drain the fuel out of the tanks. Now Stewart is besieged by folks who need the gunk cleaned from their snow blower carburetors.
“But, amazingly enough, people aren’t really panicky,” he said. “It’s almost like they’re grateful that we’re getting snow, like they missed it. It’s like a child coming home after three years.”
Weary road workers are less enthused.
Spokane city crews have been working 12-hour shifts to provide around-the-clock snow removal.
If Saturday’s storm materializes, city Transportation Director Bruce Steele said, employees who are football fans are going to be disappointed Sunday.
“There’s going to be a lot of people who are going to miss seeing the Super Bowl,” he said.
Phil Barto, head of road maintenance for Spokane County, said his crews are exhausted but are bracing for the next thick blanket of snow.
“We completed our plowing cycle (on Wednesday), so we’ll be in pretty good shape going into it,” he said. “Today (Thursday) was a day for us to do some of the routine repairs.”
Independent plower Gary Franklin trims trees much of the year but clears driveways and commercial parking lots when it snows in Spokane.
The snowplows on his two 4-wheel-drive pickups had gone mostly unused until last week. “I was back in the tree business until it snowed, and that just slammed the door on that,” he said.
The weather service is not yet predicting how much more snow will fall, but the newest storm stretches from Hawaii to the Gulf of Alaska. Cold upper-level winds are expected to intensify as the storm reaches the Pacific coastline.
That suggests snow totals will exceed anything so far this month, forecasters said.
But because of its size, the storm is drawing a big wave of moist, warm air ahead of it. That leaves open the possibility of freezing rain and rain, especially in southeastern Washington.
Saturday’s high is forecast to be 30, rising to the mid-30s on Sunday.
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