Winter off to a soggy start

Tue., Jan. 10, 2006

Christopher Rodkey Staff writer

Yes, it has been warmer lately. Much warmer.

And wetter, too.

Forecasters at the National Weather Service said that the 20 days since the first day of winter, Dec. 21, are on track to be the region’s warmest and possibly wettest ever.

The next few days don’t look so cold, either, with high winds expected today and more rain throughout the week.

Not since 1901 has the average temperature been so high – 38.3 degrees – and not since 1964 has there been more precipitation, forecasters said. Spokane has seen 3.7 inches of rain and snow since Dec. 21, which is second only to the 4.08 inches collected by this point in 1964.

“To have this warm weather fall over this time of year is pretty remarkable,” said hydrologist Charles Ross with the National Weather Service. Usually the days after Dec. 21 are the coldest of the year with an average temperature of 24.5 degrees.

“This is about as mild as it can get for this time of year,” he said.

But the warm snap follows a bitter cold spell during the first three weeks of December that resulted in the third coldest beginning of the month in Spokane history.

“It’s just really been a yo-yo of a winter,” Ross said.

Cold or hot in Spokane, it hasn’t mattered in the mountains, where except for an occasional raindrop, mostly snow has been falling. A monitoring station in Schweitzer Basin in North Idaho showed 82 inches of snow Monday, an increase of about 45 inches since Dec. 21.

“Mountains are still below where they should be for snowpack, but conditions are improving,” Ross said.

The weather will stay mild throughout the week, but temperatures will get closer to normal by the weekend, said Ron Miller, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service.

Wind will hit today, with scattered showers coming Wednesday and Thursday, he said. By the weekend, another wet system will move in, dropping more rain across the region.

Snow lovers should not give up hope, Ross said. The forecast probably won’t stay warm forever. “The snow’s not over in Spokane yet,” he said.

Seattle is approaching a notorious record of its own. Rain has fallen on the Emerald City for 22 days in a row and may break the 1953 record of 33 consecutive days of precipitation.

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