Mike Prager

The dry and calm weather of early January is going to switch over to a snowy period next week, forecasters said.

Spokane County Commissioners said Wednesday they might want a piece of the action when voters are asked for money to expand the existing Convention Center and add seats to the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena. Officials in charge of the two public facilities will ask voters April 17 to extend a pair of taxes used to pay for Spokane entertainment facilities.

Serious winter weather – that means accumulating snow – could arrive over the Inland Northwest through much of next week, forecasters said on Wednesday. Enough cold air has descended on the Inland Northwest to ensure that any incoming Pacific storm systems will be dropping snow instead of rain.

Colder temperatures and dry air this week should give way to a major change in the weather pattern over the Inland Northwest with accumulating snow an increasing likelihood next week.

Production of a new fleet of Boeing air refueling tankers could bring more jobs and investment to Spokane, officials said Monday. The first in the new fleet of KC-46A tankers will roll out of Boeing’s Everett plant in 2017.

Snow is in the forecast for this evening, but forecasters said it is likely to be no more than another dusting like the one that occurred Saturday night.

The next phase in development of the North Spokane Corridor will begin later this year with construction of a new overpass for Francis Avenue in Hillyard. Money saved on construction of the northern segment of the freeway is being used to finance the overpass, estimated to cost $38 million.

The trend toward dry weather will continue through this weekend with Pacific storm systems being blunted by a persistent area of high pressure over the Pacific Northwest.

Living in a newer home in Eastern Washington does not eliminate the risk of having elevated radon levels, even though building construction codes have required radon mitigation for nearly 20 years. Washington adopted radon control standards in 1992 for new dwellings in “hot” counties, but Mark Gerard, co-owner of Advanced Radon Technologies in Spokane, said those standards are hardly a cure considering that many homes still have serious radon problems even with radon mitigation systems.

The last shot of wet and windy weather is expected today over the Inland Northwest as drier and calmer weather moves in for the holiday weekend.

Two Spokane-based environmental organizations have filed an appeal against Spokane County’s new $173 million wastewater treatment plant in east Spokane. The local Sierra Club and the Center for Environmental Law & Policy want the state Pollution Control Hearings Board to invalidate the state permit allowing the plant to operate.

The next and maybe last in the current series of strong Pacific storms is moving onshore today and should reach the Inland Northwest by tonight.

Wind gusts to 32 mph were reported this morning at Spokane International Airport as the first in a series of wet Pacific storms batters the region.

A traffic fatality Monday night near Deer Park became the fifth roadway death in the Inland Northwest over the Christmas holiday period. Bradley Updegrove, 45, of Deer Park, was driving south on Cedar Road about 9 p.m. when his pickup truck went off the road, traveled along the shoulder and struck a tree about two miles southeast of Deer Park.