White Christmas seen as unlikely

The National Weather Service this afternoon said that an abrupt warming in the two days leading up to Christmas could doom the chances of a white ground covering for the holiday. Snow is expected on Saturday afternoon through Sunday with tapering snow showers on Monday. Light amounts are most likely across the region with the snowfall coming in a series of relatively weak waves. A warm front on Tuesday night should send temperatures above freezing and turn precipitation over to rain on Wednesday and Thursday when highs will go to the middle and upper 30s and Coeur d’Alene. The low Wednesday night is expected to be 35. A deep fetch of Pacific moisture arriving from the southwest will repeat a pattern seen earlier this month and likely end the chances of a white Christmas, forecasters said today. For now, the Inland Northwest’s break in active weather continues on Friday into the early part of the weekend. For Friday, the National Weather Service is calling patchy fog before 10 a.m. and then partly sunny skies and a high near 35. Lows may reach the lower 20s through Monday night with highs near the upper 20s. A deep low currently off the northwestern U.S. coast and the presence of colder air to the northeast of the region should allow the cold air to continue drifting southward at lower elevations through Monday night and early Tuesday, ensuring that incoming precipitation arrives in valley locations as snow, forecaster said.