‘This was kind of a perfect winter’: Average snowfall at low elevations, enough snowpack up high

If it seems like this winter was a lot warmer and had a lot less snow than last year, you’re not wrong.

“Last year, we were still getting snow in March,” said Jon Fox, a forecaster in Spokane’s National Weather Service office.

This year, the Spokane area received 40.9 inches of snow from September through March 5 as measured at the Spokane International Airport. The average is 41.1 inches.

“It’s close to average,” Fox said.

However, last year at this time 50.2 inches had fallen and more was still to come. Not only was the snowfall above average last winter, but much of that total fell during the month of February, which is unusual for the area, Fox said. Spokane got 29.9 inches of snow in February 2019.

The temperatures were also warmer this winter. Officially, the average daily temperature was 2.1 degrees higher than normal this year from September to March 5. Last year, however, the average daily temperatures were 12 degrees below normal.

“It’s a pretty sizeable difference over a six-month period,” Fox said.

While there hasn’t been much snowfall this year in the valleys, the snowpack in the mountains is doing well overall, even though there isn’t much snow at elevations below about 4,000 feet, Fox said.

“There’s no low-end snowpack left anymore,” he said. “Last year at this time, there was snow everywhere.”

But the upper elevation snowpack is just fine. As of March 5, it was 105 percent of normal in the snow basins in Eastern Washington and North Idaho. In fact, the snowpack on Mt. Spokane is running about 110 to 120 percent of normal. Last year at this time, the upper elevation snowpack was only 90 percent of normal in Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

“The snowpack in the mountains is a little better,” Fox said. “That’s good, because you want the snow in the mountains as long as possible.”

A good snowpack is important for many reasons, Fox said. Ideally, it should melt slowly during the spring to feed the rivers and keep grasses and other vegetation from greening up too early.

“It keeps the river levels high and the lake levels high for recreation,” he said.

If the snowpack melts too fast, it can cause flooding. If it melts too early in the season, it could cause a higher fire danger later in the summer.

“The earlier that the grasses grow, the earlier they dry out and cure,” he said.

Fox said he’s heard from people worried that the lack of snow in lower elevations will lead to a big fire season like the one in 2015, when millions of acres burned. Fox said, but that year the upper elevation snowpack was also much lower than normal.

“We have a lot more snow in the mountains than we did in 2015,” he said.

The key indicator for a bad fire season is hot, dry summer weather with thunderstorms to provide the match for lightning sparked fires, he said.

While this winter may have been close to average in terms of temperature and snowfall, the outlook for the next three months isn’t clear. There’s an equal chance of the Spokane area having above normal temperatures or below normal temperatures, Fox said.

“It really doesn’t tell you anything, does it?” he said.

That just means that there’s nothing in the long-range forecast to give confidence to predicting anything either way, Fox said. The precipitation forecast is similarly undefined. It’s likely that Spokane’s weather will be about average, he said.

This winter was ideal in that there wasn’t a lot of snow to shovel or plow in the lowlands, but plenty of snow fell in the mountains to create a good snowpack and provide lots of fresh powder for skiers.

“This was kind of a perfect winter for most people,” he said.