Winter starts today; holiday weather looks dry

Winter officially arrived at 9:47 a.m. today as travelers prepare for journeys over the two-week holiday period. The National Weather Service says the weather outlook through the first of the two holiday weeks should be favorable for drivers across the Inland Northwest with the exception of snow over the mountains of northeast Washington and North Idaho through midday Wednesday. Light snow could fall in the lower elevations tonight as today’s storm moves out of the area and draws colder air behind it. Little accumulation is expected. Rainfall amounts of up to an inch of rain were measured across the region over the past 24 hours, and a dry December has now become a wet month in just the past week. Spokane International Airport had .57 inches of rain for the 24 hours ending at 2 p.m. A flood advisory was posted today for Pend Oreille County in Washington and Bonner and Boundary counties in North Idaho for ponding water in fields and on secondary roads. A high pressure system is expected to move into the region by Wednesday, ending the threat of rain or snow, although fog is possible early and late each day from Thursday night through Saturday morning. There is a slight chance of snow Tuesday and early Wednesday, but forecasters said any accumulation would be light. Drier weather is forecast by Wednesday night. After the chance of some sun on Thursday, the weather should turn cloudy. Precipitation is not forecasted from Wednesday night through Sunday. This morning, mild temperatures and high humidity led to a dense fog advisory for a broad area of the Columbia Basin west of Spokane. Rain is likely today with a high near 45 in Spokane and 43 in Coeur d’Alene. Temperatures at 7 a.m. looked more like the highs on Sunday with 40 degrees reported at Spokane International Airport and 44 degrees in downtown Spokane. Coeur d’Alene was 41. Passes on Interstate 90 in Washington and Idaho were open this morning. Slush was reported on Snoqualmie Pass; wet pavement on Fourth of July Summit; and slush on Lookout Pass. Stevens Pass on U.S. Highway 2 also had snow. Highs in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene today will continue in the lower 40s. Valley rain and mountain snow are expected until snow levels drop during the evening today. The mild weather had softened snow on Sunday at ski resorts hoping to draw crowds during the holidays, but a cooldown starting tonight and a forecast of snow should improve winter conditions in the mountains, forecasters said. All of the region’s ski areas reported small amounts of new snow on Sunday, but temperatures at several of the lodges were in the middle 30s. Colder weather at mid-week could bring light snowfall to lower elevations of the region at the same time allowing fog and low stratus clouds to dissipate as drier air migrates the region from the north and west on Tuesday and Wednesday. Forecaster John Livingston said only about a half inch of snow could fall in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene before Christmas. “If you don’t have snow on the ground now, the chance of a white Christmas is pretty slim,” he said. Thus, the holiday period on Thursday and Friday should bring decent travel weather as higher air pressure settles across the region and brings colder temperatures with highs in the middle to upper 20s and lows from 15 to 22. Fog early and late in the day on Thursday evening through Saturday morning appears to be the biggest threat for drivers from Christmas Eve into Saturday. Computer forecast models suggest that the high pressure system forecasted for later this week will give way to a split storm track early next week with most of the storm energy and precipitation moving into California in a pattern consistent with El Nino warming of the tropical Pacific Ocean this year. Precipitation amounts would be light in the Inland Northwest under that weather scenario. The normal high for today is 32 and the normal low is 21.