Spokane snow that has lingered for months starts to vanish

The pack of snow that has been sitting on the ground for months is finally giving way to bare ground in many places.

Spokane International Airport, the city’s official weather reporting site, has had 83 days of snow on the ground, with just an inch remaining Friday.

The snow measurements include a 76-day string of consecutive days from Dec. 9 until Feb. 22 with snow on the ground.

While that sounds like a lot, it falls well short of the 117 continuous days of snow cover from the record year of 2001-02.

This year’s consecutive days of snow cover comes in at seventh place on record, said forecaster Bob Tobin of the National Weather Service.

Many areas of the region, especially Spokane’s South Hill, have healthy snowpacks yet to melt off.

Snowfall in November and again at the end of February and early March added to the 76 straight days of snow cover.

The snowpack reached its greatest depth of 13 inches Feb. 4.

February was an especially snowy month with 19.8 inches of snow and ice, or 13 inches more than normal.

As of Friday, the season total was at 55.6 inches, which was 15 inches above normal.

February was also cold, with an average temperature of 11 degrees below normal.

Tobin said more snow is possible on Saturday night and Sunday morning, but beyond that, the chance of accumulating snow will be hit or miss going into early next week.

Highs through early next week should be in the lower and middle 40s, with lows in the middle and upper 20s in Spokane.