Mountain snowpack continues to deepen

A pair of early February storms is expected to leave a deep blanket of fresh snow at mountain elevations.

Lowlands should see a new layer of snow Thursday morning, but a second storm on Friday night is going to bring rain to lower elevations.

Mountain areas in North Idaho were expected to see up to 9 inches by Thursday. Mountains in Northeast Washington are in line to get 2 to 5 inches.

Another 3 to 5 inches of snow were being forecasted for Friday night in the mountains of North Idaho.

In Northeast Washington, the forecast for Friday night is calling for 2 to 4 inches of new snow.

Breezy to gusty winds will accompany a frontal system bringing the Friday rain and mountain snow, forecasters said.

Over the weekend and into early next week, a strong system of higher air pressure will shut off the storms, but bring a continuing chance of low clouds and fog to lower elevations.

Highs in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene should be in the low 40s with lows in the 30s through Sunday and likely beyond that.

The incoming snow storm should boost snowfall totals to near normal in Spokane. So far, 32.4 inches of snow has fallen at Spokane International Airport this season, which is about 2 inches shy of normal through Feb. 2.

The only significant snowfall in Spokane last month came on Jan. 16, when 2.7 inches of snow fell. Every other snowfall was an inch or less. The monthly total was 6.7 inches of new snow, compared with 24.1 inches of snow in December.

More precipitation in January came as rain. The month ended with 2.74 inches of precipitation, which was nearly an inch above normal for the month.

Also, the average temperature was 1.5 degrees above normal in January.