Long-awaited cold temperatures arrive in Spokane after hottest summer on record

Harvest the last of the tomatoes and clean up the garden beds. After the hottest summer ever recorded in Spokane, temperatures are finally cooling down. Big time.

According to Rocco Telatti, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service of Spokane, a substantial cold trough is expected to sit over the Spokane area in the coming weeks.

He anticipates lows in the 30s and 20s, with day-to-day highs in the 50s. He said that this pattern could bring precipitation to the area, mostly in the form of rain. Mount Spokane, he added, might see snow at its peak in the next couple of weeks.

Although Telatti said forecasted temperatures for this week are typical for a Spokane October, precipitation levels are “above normal.”

If you plan on hitting the slopes this winter, you can thank La Niña for the powder days. Telatti mentioned the expected La Niña winter should give mountains more snow than usual.

La Niña is a weather pattern that occurs in the Pacific Ocean. It changes the location of the jet stream, bringing cooler and wetter weather to the Pacific Northwest.

Gus Colburn, marketing manager at Silver Mountain, said the mountain received a “light dusting of snow on two separate days in the past week.”