Storm or two ahead before end of Inland NW winter

February has been incredibly warm in the Inland Northwest, with average temperatures 10 degrees above normal – including a record-tying 58 degrees at the Spokane airport on Feb. 12.

A strong ridge of high pressure has been locked in over our region bringing us the warm and recently dry conditions with lots of sunshine this week.

Despite the high pressure system here in the Inland Northwest, we’re still receiving the moisture as it goes over the top of the ridge, including the “milky rain” on Feb. 6. This event will sometimes occur when we have that Pineapple Connection of moisture streaming in from Hawaii. Winds in the desert areas of eastern Oregon and southeastern Washington will often be very strong, even up to hurricane force. Dust will be picked up from the ground and mixes in with the rain showers and eventually creates a mudstorm in places that are downwind from these deserts, like the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene area.

The mild weather has been a disappointment for snow sports fans, but a blessing for golfers. Some courses opened as early as late January. However, winter is not over. As I’ve been saying for weeks, I do see several colder storms that are expected to produce snow across our region. The Pacific waters have been cooling down which would increase the chances for these colder storms. This event is likely to occur by the end of next week and continue into the first weeks of March, so don’t take off those snow tires just yet.

After the middle of March, it does appear that we’ll start to enter our spring. The overall new season may be a bit wetter than normal, especially from mid-April into May.