Look out for icy roads, showers and potential snowfall to ring in the New Year

Spokane drivers should exercise caution on their first drive of 2025.

The forecast for the early half of this week calls for intermittent showers with more than a few chances of snowfall in Spokane County, according to the National Weather Service.

Patchy fog and cloud cover are expected for most of Tuesday, but precipitation likely won’t fall until the evening, according to the weather service.

Joey Clevenger, a meteorologist with the regional office, said the area is experiencing a continuous pattern of showers that have been coming in waves every 12 to 24 hours. Tuesday night’s temperatures, forecast in the upper 20s, will provide the opportunity for some of those showers to turn into snowfall carrying into Wednesday.

“You can expect a rain-snow mix with generally rain throughout the day,” Clevenger said. “As far as any snow accumulation, it’s not looking to be much.”

Daily high temperatures will hang just above freezing Tuesday and Wednesday, Clevenger said.

Clevenger said the service is expecting no more than an inch of snow to accumulate but that the snow level will fluctuate. Lower elevation areas like downtown Spokane may see snow, while the higher-elevation South Hill may see a greater accumulation of the slushy mix.

It is unlikely Spokane will see enough snow to trigger full-city plowing operations.

“The forecast we are seeing is temps in the mid- to high 30s, so we aren’t expecting to need to do snow removal,” said Spokane Public Works spokeswoman Kirstin Davis. “Anything can happen though.”

Davis said the department is in winter operations, however, which means there are crews on standby 20 hours a day to monitor conditions and respond to snow, ice and other maintenance, as needed.

With overnight temperatures below freezing, and fog and precipitation expected, Clevenger warned there may be icy roadways throughout the region Wednesday morning. Black ice tends to be particularly prominent on shaded areas, bridges and overpasses.

This year, Spokane has seen much higher temperatures and a lot less snowfall than it typically does by the end of December. Clevenger said both daily highs and nightly lows have been about 10 degrees higher than average and that snowfall totals are lagging nearly 15 inches behind average, according to agency records.

While Spokane hasn’t seen much of the white stuff, Clevenger said the snowpack in the Cascades and at many popular resorts in the region is trending above average.

“So if they want to ski on the 1st, there’s probably plenty of snow up there,” Clevenger said.