Morning commute could be tricky

Weather conditions could make for a challenging Monday morning commute. The weekend warm-up went a long way toward melting snow on area roads, but as temperatures dipped into the mid to high 20s tonight, wet pavement turned to ice. “I know when I drove in to work, it was pretty icy,” said Steve Bodner of the National Weather Service in Spokane. “We don’t see driving conditions improving much unless they get salt or sand down on the roads.” Complicating a potentially icy commute is a new storm system that is expected to move into the area early Monday, possibly as early as 4 a.m. Spokane could see new snow accumulations of four to five inches until early afternoon before the snow tapers off, Bodner said. Fresh snow atop icy roads could make driving treacherous. It’s possible temperatures may warm to close to 30 Monday afternoon, which may help melt some of the snow, Bodner said, but gusty winds expected later in the day could cause issues with blowing snow.