Week’s forecast calls for another stretch of winter

Just when you thought spring was around the corner, forecasters Wednesday came up with an outlook that is decidedly more January than March.

Periods of snow, snow showers or cold rain are forecast through much of the coming week.

A snow advisory was issued on Wednesday for today, warning that 1 to 3 inches of snow could cover valleys in northeast Washington and North Idaho, including Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.

Forecasters said the snow advisory would be in effect through 4 p.m.

Snowfall could continue tonight in mountainous areas north of Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, where the advisory is in effect through 10 p.m.

Those areas could also see an additional inch of snow with more in the mountains.

The snowy forecast comes after Spokane and Coeur d’Alene saw highs near 50 degrees under mostly sunny skies late last week.

“It looks like we’re in a cool and unsettled pattern through the middle of next week,” said Matt Fugazzi, lead forecaster for the National Weather Service in Spokane.

Highs are expected to run from the mid-30s to low 40s in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.

Normal high for this time of year is 41 degrees in Spokane.

The lows will be in the mid-20s to low 30s

The lower temperatures will be accompanied by a series of weather systems and shower cells moving across the region from the North Pacific and Gulf of Alaska.

“The jet stream is to the south of us, which means we’re on the polar side, which means winter isn’t quite done with us,” Fugazzi said.

Spokane is behind on snowfall for the season.

Normally, the city would have seen 40 inches of snow by now, based on 30 years of weather records from 1971 to 2000.

Since the cold arrived last fall, Spokane has seen just 27.4 inches.

However, precipitation – a combination of melted snow and rain – is running an inch ahead of normal with 9.4 inches since last Oct. 1 compared with a normal of 8.5 inches.