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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883
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Spokane announces all-city plow, city’s first of the season

A city of Spokane snow plow clears the 1200 block of South Crestline Street on Thursday. The city has initiated a citywide plow after Wednesday’s snowfall. (COLIN MULVANY/The Spokesman-Review)
By Jonathan Brunt jonathanb@spokesman.com(509) 459-5442

All of Spokane’s residential streets will get plowed, the city of Spokane announced Thursday, after four days of snow piled 6 inches or more around Spokane.

It’s the first citywide plow of this winter season.

The city is asking residents to park on the side of the street with odd-numbered addresses to create more room for plows, according to a city news release.

Plows on Thursday afternoon were working on the Five Mile Prairie and areas near Rockwood Boulevard and Lincoln Park on the South Hill, according to the city’s plowing progress website.

It will take the city about three days to clear 2,200 miles of streets as long as new snow doesn’t require the fleet to refocus on arterials.

Snow stopped falling just before 3 a.m. Thursday at Spokane International Airport, said Daniel Butler, National Weather Service meteorologist in Spokane.

The airport measured 6½ inches since Monday through Thursday morning. But the winter overall has been quiet, with only 18½ inches , about half as much snow as usually would have fallen by now.

A cold front on Monday afternoon is expected to push the nighttime low that night to 3 degrees in Spokane, Butler said. Nighttime temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday also are forecast in the single digits. Daytime highs those days will be in the mid-20s.

Spokane County was focused on plowing arterial and secondary routes Thursday and expects to do the same on Friday, county spokesperson Pat Bell said. Hilly residential streets might also receive attention. Crews will monitor the upcoming snow forecast on Saturday and current conditions to determine if they will conduct a full plow of residential streets. The county has 38 snowplows, 34 graders and four de-icing trucks.

Spokane Valley street crews are focused on arterial streets, city spokesperson Jill Smith said. The city contracts with private plow drivers when the city manager decides residential streets need to be cleared, but that had not been determined to be necessary as of Thursday afternoon, Smith said.