Cold fronts could bring low-level snow

Tue., Nov. 1, 2011

By Mike Prager mikeprager15@gmail.com (509) 459-5454

The calendar has barely turned to November and already forecasters are talking about snow.

Colder air is expected to move over the Inland Northwest at mid-week behind a frontal system that could see snow levels drop to valley floors by Thursday morning.

The National Weather Service on Monday said that up to a half inch could fall in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene, with higher amounts in the mountains.

But the snow should be light and temporary as the air warms to the lower 40s by afternoon on Thursday and the snow level goes up to 2,700 feet.

A hazardous weather outlook for the chance of snow was issued to accompany the forecast for Wednesday night.

“The front is going to have some fairly low snow levels,” said forecaster Jeremy Wolf.

It will be followed by a second cold front late Saturday that could provide another round of light snow. The snow level over the weekend may fall to 1,900 feet in Spokane.

Daytime highs will go from the lower 50s to the 40s with lows at night in the middle 20s.

The average high for today in Spokane is 49 degrees, with an average low of 33.

Already some light snow has fallen in the mountains. Lookout Pass Ski Area had a dusting on its upper slopes over the weekend. Work has been under way at Lookout to expand the ski area by 700 acres.

Wolf said the weather is likely to remain cold well into next week with below-normal temperatures and above-normal to near-normal precipitation.

The forecast is consistent with the emergence of La Niña cooling in the tropical Pacific Ocean, a pattern that has brought cold and snowy winters to the region in three out of the past four years.

Spokane snow totals were 92.6 inches in 2007-’08, an all-time record of 97.8 inches in 2008-’09 and 68.4 inches last year, all well above Spokane’s normal snowfall of about 45 inches.

An El Niño warming in 2009-’10 led to a mild winter with only 14.4 inches of snow.

During La Niña phases, higher air pressure builds over the eastern Pacific and causes the storm track to flow out of the northwest. It allows storms to pick up a combination of ocean moisture and cold inland air, the kind of pattern expected over the next week or two, Wolf said.

The sun continues to sink lower in the southern sky. Daylight is now down to 10 hours with sunrise at 7:34 a.m. and sunset at 5:33 p.m.

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