More snowstorms on the horizon

Many people I know are experiencing their first winter in the Inland Northwest. My mother moved out here from Kansas last spring, and many of my neighbors are recent California transplants (no eye-rolling, please). Though the kids could not be more thrilled with this winter wonderland, most of the adults look at me with weary eyes from hours of shoveling, snow blowing and digging out, and they are wondering if this is how it is going to be every winter. As I write this article on Wednesday evening, the area is bracing for round three of a winter pummeling. Round one, of course, brought snow that was more easily measured in feet rather than inches.

We can thank the cooperation of two distinct weather systems for bringing the prolonged period of snow to the area. In an average snow event, weather features such as warm and cold fronts, or what meteorologists may call upper level disturbances, move through the area resulting in precipitation falling along the storms path.

In this recent heavy snow event, warm moist air was surging northward from an upper level low pressure system off the coast of California. Most of California was getting hit with torrential rains. At the same time, cold, drier air was progressing southeast from the Gulf of Alaska. Each feature on their own might have resulted in a period of rain or snow for the Inland Northwest.

Instead, both air masses met face-to-face over the Spokane/Coeur d’Alene region with neither the cold air nor warm air advancing any farther. This resulted in what’s called a stationary front – stationary being the key word here. This stationary front divided the rain and above freezing air which held over the Palouse for the first day of the storm, from the colder, sub-freezing air in Spokane and Kootenai County and northward.

The front was the focus of ongoing precipitation, heavy at times, which blanketed the area with snow. It wasn’t until Sunday evening that the cold air gained the upper hand, the front advanced as a cold front and the storm exited the region. Though total snow amounts from the entire storm ranged anywhere from 1 foot to almost 3 feet (and we’re not talking in the mountains either), local climatologist Cliff Harris recorded approximately 20 inches of snow at his station, about as much as is usually seen in the entire month of January on average. As of Jan. 30, 109 inches of snow had fallen in Coeur d’Alene. If we exceed 125 inches of snow by the time the season is over, 2007-08 will go down in the record books as the snowiest winter ever.

Since by now you are probably sick of seeing, hearing or reading about snow, I want to remind you that today is a special day designated as Groundhog Day. On this day, as legend has it, the groundhog emerges from his burrow. If he sees his shadow (i.e. it’s a sunny day), he is spooked back into his burrow and it is said there will be six more weeks of winter. On the contrary, if he does not see his shadow, he takes it as a sign of spring and stays above ground. As the calendar dictates that we still have over six weeks until spring, it might not surprise you that the groundhog sees his shadow nearly 90 percent of the time. The tradition of Groundhog Day stems from an early Christian holiday called Candlemas Day. An old English song sings:

“If Candlemas be fair and bright,

Come, Winter, have another flight;

If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,

Go Winter, and not come again.”