Snow coming Wednesday night

The National Weather Service this evening issued a hazardous weather outlook for the possibility of snow Wednesday night and Thursday as a cold low pressure system moves south from the British Columbia shoreline. About 3 inches of snow is being forecasted for Spokane and upwards of 5 inches could fall in some locations in North Idaho, including Bonner County, with up to 6 inches in the mountains. The hazardous weather outlook was in effect for areas of Eastern Washington and North Idaho from Whitman and Latah counties northward. A low temperature Wednesday night of 32 in Spokane would be just cold enough to allow snow to accumulate, but with a high of 39 forecast for Thursday, the snow is not likely to stick around, forecasters said. The source of the storm is a low-pressure system originating in Alaska, forecasters said. Another snow storm could arrive over the weekend, they said. Despite mountain snows over the past week, the region’s snowpack was reported at about 76 percent in the mountains around Spokane and Coeur d’Alene with snowpacks elsewhere in the region varying from 61 percent in north central Washington to 95 percent in western Montana. Rainfall of .43 inches was reported in Spokane on Sunday through 5 p.m. Monday. Wheat growing areas near Davenport and Reardan saw .3 inches of rain, while .12 inches was reported in Ephrata.