Snow likely as storm blusters through the region

A strong storm system dumped snow in the mountains across much of the Northwest on Sunday, and forecasters issued a heavy snow warning for Stevens and Pend Oreille counties and mountainous areas of North Idaho.

One to 3 inches of wet snow were expected Sunday night and this morning in the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene areas, which also could see wind gusts of 45 mph today.

The National Weather Service was predicting another 8-14 inches of snow to fall in the Cascades and up to 20 inches in some higher locations of North Idaho and northeast Washington by this morning.

Up to a foot of new snow had fallen in some areas of the Cascades’ western slopes by midday Sunday, said Dennis D’Amico, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Seattle office.

Chewelah Peak north of Spokane had 2 feet of snow and Schweitzer Peak in North Idaho had 21 inches of snow reported on Sunday.

East of Mount Rainier, snow and avalanche danger forced the closure of both Chinook and Cayuse passes until spring.

Spokane has seen only one minor snowfall this season, but November has proved to be wetter than normal with more than 2 inches of rain in less than two weeks, 0.8 inches above normal.

Another Pacific storm system is predicted Wednesday morning, and could bring icy conditions during daybreak hours before changing to rain in the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene areas.