La Nina is officially here, so what does that mean for the Inland Northwest?

La Nina is here!

 After months of a La Nina watch, it finally became official, and we have entered into the realm of La Nina (albeit it a weak one). Ocean temperatures in the key ENSO monitoring region of the tropical Pacific have finally dropped below normal for a period of three consecutive months which makes the declaration official. We've been getting a lot of questions about what this means plus what have we have experienced thus far. So, let's take a deep dive and see what this means for the Inland Northwest. 

In a typical La Nina weather scenario, we see cooler and wetter than normal conditions for eastern Washington and north Idaho as the polar jet is typically oriented from the Gulf of Alaska into the Pacific Northwest.

But the typical weather scenario is generally reflective of moderate to strong La Nina episode, and this has not been the case thus far as we've only now reached weak La Nina conditions. 

The model consensus moving forward suggests this La Nina will be quite weak and temporally brief.  Most of the models suggest we are at the coolest sea-surface temperatures now with subtle warming expected moving forward. 

The Winter so far

  For those keeping track at home, it's been a very wet winter thus far. So how wet has it been? For the water year (beginning in October) most areas in eastern Washington have seen precipitation amounts above 150% of normal with portions of the Columbia Basin seeing twice the normal amounts. Meanwhile over portions of the Idaho Panhandle conditions have been closer to normal. 

From a historical perspective that places much of the region in the top tenth percentile for wetness from Oct-Dec with pockets of record values over central Washington. 

From a La Nina perspective that was anticipated, but the temperature portion of the equation has not panned out accordingly. All of the Inland Northwest has experienced a very mild beginning to the winter. Take a look at these temperature departures (most locations are running about 3-5°F above normal)

From a percentile perspective, that places much of the region in the top tenth percentile for this time of year. 

Additionally, the coolest temperatures this winter have been anything but winter-like. In Spokane, the coolest temperature reported this winter was 24°F (reported on December 2nd). This is the mildest minimum temperature through January 8th in Spokane since records were kept in 1882. 

In Lewiston the coolest temperature thus far was 26° (reported on 12/10) which was only exceeded once in 1935. 

So, if you combine the very wet conditions with the mild temperatures, what do you get? A general dearth of snow in the valleys, with some significant snow amounts in the mountains (at least the higher ones). In Spokane, we've seen 12.4" of snow thus far which doesn't make the top 10 list for least snowy beginnings to winter (we'd have to have less than 6.2" to achieve that mark).  

Of course, not all valleys are seeing a lack of snow, compared to normal, but most are according to this map. Yellow and orange shading equates to below normal snow depth, while blues show above normal snow depth. 

  If you look closer, you will notice quite a bit of blue over the mountains. Currently all drainage basins over eastern Washington into north Idaho are showing near normal or higher than normal snow water equivalent values (the amount of water contained in the snowpack) for this time of year.

You might ask yourself what's the cause of the warmer and wetter than normal weather thus far. That answer isn't easy to tackle, but if simply examine the prevailing storm track by looking at 500 mb heights (around 18k feet) from November-December it reveals some hints. The longwave ridge axis has been positioned over western Montana this winter which places the Inland Northwest in a predominant west-southwest flow (left image) and favors mild conditions. If we compare this to the storm track in 2022 (right image) which was the last moderate La Nina, we can see significant differences in the storm track. The beginning of that winter showed a longwave ridge displaced over the eastern Pacific which places the Inland Northwest under a cooler west-northwest flow regime. The beginning of that winter was much cooler and snowier than normal.  

 If we add up the impacts of the temperatures thus far combined with the persistence of snow cover (or lack thereof) this has been an exceptionally mild winter. We can measure the severity of the winter using something called the Accumulated Winter Season Severity Index which takes a look at the intensity and persistence of cold as well as snowfall and the persistence and amount of snow on the ground. When looking at Spokane, here is how we have fared (if you go to the link above you can query other cities in the Inland Northwest) thus far. 

This is unquestionably the mildest winter we have seen in quite some time. So far, the AWSSI is tracking quite similarly to what occurred in 2004-05, but that was a weak El Nino season. Notice that year, the winter bolted up significantly in severity sometime in mid-January. That's not to state we will see the same occurrence this year. Every winter is different and the distinction between a La Nina or El Nino episode is just one of the factors that influences the long-range weather. 

The Winter yet to come

  The longer-range models continue to suggest we are in for a pattern change in the near future. The longwave ridge axis which persistently been over us or just to our east of us for most of the winter looks like its headed for a significant migration westward.  This is called a retrogression. It's just a matter of when it will occur. According to this run (01/09 00z) of the European Ensembles, significantly cooler weather could arrive just before next weekend. 

Granted this is just one model run from the EPS, but there has been some run-to-run consistency which gives us a little more confidence in this overall pattern transition. 

If we simply look at temperature anomalies associated with this pattern change, it suggests we should see widespread cooler than normal temperatures by next weekend. 

And this is expected to continue through at least the end of the month (we only show through the 23rd, but other model data we have access to shows this pattern holding firm). 

If you love cold, winter-like temperatures, this offers you some hope. On the other side of the coin, this pattern isn't one terribly conducive to snow, at least not yet. Here's a map of the precipitation departure from normal from 1/16 through 1/23 which shows much drier than normal conditions. 

Once we get into February, the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) is still forecasting a colder and wetter than normal period through April, although that forecast was last updated December 19th. 

Although the official CPC forecast hasn't been updated since December, it is backed to a certain extent another long-range model, the North American Multi-Model Ensemble (NMME). The latest NMME forecast (issued January 7th) is forecasting near normal temperatures and wetter than normal conditions (at least through March). 

All this being said, it doesn't guarantee that winter is going to get into full gear in the near future. The long-range models are not infallible, nor are monthly outlooks. However, it looks like things are at least trending away from the very mild conditions we've seen thus far for the winter of 2024-25. 

Much warmer weather is expected next week after prolonged cold!

If you think this winter has a rather drastic change from the past several winters your senses are not deceiving you. When we began the month of November is seemed we would see yet another mild November, however as the calendars changed to December that notion came to an abrupt halt. The start of 2017 has continued that trend. Look at these statistics for Spokane and this will put things into perspective.

It certainly seems the mild winters of the past several years are a distant memory. This has been the snowiest winter since 2008-09 and the coldest since the early 90s. But the cold wasn't just in Spokane. Check out this list of sites that have seen their record coldest December-early January period on record (keep in mind some of these station records don't go back too far, see last column for details).

So we can see it's been cold and somewhat snowy. To see how snowy its been look at this comparison graphic of satellite pictures from early December vs. early January. 

Satellite comparison of snow cover via visible satellite. The January image suggests just about all of the Inland NW is covered with snow. 

This is quite a change. But its winter and it's not unusual to see widespread snow cover at the beginning of January across the entire Inland Northwest is it? Here is a look at the amount of water in the snow (Snow Water Equivalent- SWE) on each January 10th since 2008. 

Based on this, we actually saw the entire region covered by snow in 2016 as well. But this year and that were the only ones since 2008.  So if there is snow covering the entire region should this lead to concern? Well it depends. If we could melt all the snow at once it could cause a great concern due to runoff and potential flooding. This time of year it is improbable that we can melt all the snow over the mountains (where you can see the dark blue, purple, and red shading) as it doesn't get warm enough but we can melt some. But it is quite a bit easier to melt a significant (if not all the snow) in the valleys where we see the abundance of white and pale blue shading. Any area shaded in white has at least an inch of water tied up in the snow pack while the light blue shading represents values ranging from 2-4" of water. So what does it take to melt this? Obviously we need to see temperatures above freezing for a prolonged period. But that's not all. It also helps immensely to add wind into the equation. Warm winds and prolonged temperatures above freezing are an enemy of the snow and can cause it to quickly disappear. Imagine taking that 1 to 4" of water trapped in the snow and sending it into the rivers and streams. How about taking that same 1 to 4" of water over urban areas and sending it toward snow-clogged storm drains? That can cause quite a mess and obviously would lead to flooding issues. This scenario can be further complicated by rivers and streams choked with thick ice. 

So why are we telling you this? Well it just so happens we are looking at a dramatic change in the weather pattern early next week. Since December, we have been stuck in a persistent weather pattern featuring cold weather systems coming from our northwest. These are notoriously cold systems, and generally pose little threat from a hydrology standpoint. 

Mean 500 mb (18,000' above ground) since December. Note how the colors (or heights) buckle north into Alaska and then drop SE into the remainder of the county. This is indicative of cold NW flow. 

When we compare this weather pattern to what's normal for this time of year we see a clear signal. The blue shaded areas represent below normal heights which generally result in cold weather whereas the orange, yellow, and green shading represent warm conditions. 

500 mb height anomaly values. 

This is quite unusual. Typically we see some warmer systems invading from the southwest tied to a nice tap of relatively warm sub-tropical moisture. When these systems arrive they can bring a rapid warming in temperatures as well as significant precipitation and snow melt. Well after a long respite from such systems, we see hints of one on the horizon. Here is what many of the forecast models are hinting at for next week. 

Weather pattern for next Monday evening (500 mb heights in white, precipitable water is shaded)

What this reveals is our northwest flow of late will be replaced by southwest flow early next week. Of even more concern is the swath of green and blue shading headed into the Pacific Northwest. This indicates we will be subject to a very moist and warm air mass, which could do a very effective job of melting the low-level snow pack. Now if this feature were only going to be over us for a day it may not do much to the snow pack. However look at this map below for Wednesday. Not much difference is there?

Weather pattern for next Wednesday (500 mb heights in white, precipitable water is shaded)

So this at least indicates the potential for warm weather. Here are our forecast highs for next Wednesday. 

Forecast temperatures for next Wednesday

Notice most of the valley temperatures are above freezing. This will be good for potentially melting the snow, especially over the SE portions of Washington and NC Idaho where you see the greens (temperatures above 45°F) during the day. But what we aren't showing here is many locations across the same area will also see nighttime temperatures remaining above freezing. So its conceivable that some locations across SE Washington and NC Idaho could see temperatures above freezing anywhere from 48-72 hours. We will also see robust south to southwest winds during portions of this period. Below is the wind forecast for Tuesday. These are sustained winds. The gusts will likely range from 20-35 mph. 

Tuesday wind forecast

So remember earlier when we said about above freezing temperatures and good winds can result in some rapidly melting snow. It's conceivable that a good portion (if not most) of the snow over the Palouse, southern Columbia Basin, LC Valley, and even parts of the the Spokane/CdA could melt during this episode. So that's a significant chunk of the 1 to 4 inches of water tied up in the snow pack which could runoff into the area rivers. What we haven't talked about yet is how much precipitation can we expect in this upcoming weather pattern. The map below shows the GFS model forecast for precipitation amounts possible in a 48-hr period ending Wednesday afternoon. 

Tuesday-Wednesday precipitation forecast

This is a very impressive amount and is one of the wetter model runs. Locations shaded in yellow are amounts ranging from 1.50" (around Spokane) to nearly 3.00" over parts of the Idaho Panhandle. We suspect the valley precipitation will likely be overdone, but perhaps the mountains aren't showing enough precipitation. The combination of snow melt combined with ample precipitation could lead to some bad things across the region including:

• Flooding of small rivers and streams (especially over SE Washington and the southern ID Panhandle).
• Lowland flooding where the ground is frozen prohibiting infiltration into the soil. 
• Ice jams could give way and enhance the flooding potential.
• Urban flooding is a distinct possibility given snow-clogged storm drains.

But since we like to be purveyors of positivity let's not dwell on the negative and instead focus on some of the potential good:

• We will finally be able to walk on snow-free sidewalks, 
• We can drive on snow-free roads, 
• Just imagine how warm and refreshing 40s will feel compared to more single digit and teens. 
• The ice dams on snow-covered roofs may finally melt thus alleviating our worries of potential roof damage.
• Much smaller worry of frozen pipes.  
• We won't have to bundle up in countless layer of clothes just to shovel the latest dump of snow. 
• Spring is only 68 days away!!

UPDATED....Is a significant snow event possible for Spokane,Coeur d'Alene or the Palouse late tonight and tomorrow morning?

So as we talked about yesterday, an unusually tricky weather scenario looks like it will unfold over the Inland Northwest. So what are we fairly certain about? We are fairly confident that a slow moving upper-level low-pressure system will take up residence over the Inland Northwest and produce a band of moderate to locally heavy precipitation. The big questions to answer are where is this band going to set up and will it cool the atmosphere enough that we could see some significant snow. The setup producing the unusual event looks quite similar to what we discussed in our previous blog. We still expect to see strong lifting associated with a slow moving upper level low parked somewhere over eastern Washington. Notice the green shaded area (representing upper-level moisture) remains parked over eastern Washington and the central Idaho Panhandle through much of Tuesday.

500 mb pattern 2am Tue-5pm Tue

The lifting from the low will be accompanied by plenty of moisture and instability which should be perfect for producing a band of precipitation. Just how much precipitation are we talking about? A lot to say the least. The areas in purple represent totals between 0.50-1.00 inches of liquid and the reds and yellows equate to amounts between 1.00-1.50 inches. This is for the 12 hours between 2am through 2 pm Tuesday. Notice the band of heavy precipitation has eeked farther north than what we were looking at in yesterday's forecast and blog.

Latest 12 hr precipitation forecast 2am Tue-2 pm Tue

Previous 12 hr precipitation forecast for 2am Tue-2pm Tue

We still highly suspect that whatever verifies from a precipitation standpoint will more closely resemble the top two panes showing a heavy east-west oriented band vs the more poorly defined precipitation blob in the lower two panes.

Since the forecast is nearing in time we can also use one of our favorite tools called the HRRR (a rapidly updating model that runs hourly and can ingest current weather conditions). Let's see what the latest run of it says. The loop below is a simulation of what the radar is expected to look like. Green and yellow shading indicates where the heaviest precipitation is expected.

Radar simulation for Tuesday morning

So this also boosts our confidence that this event is going to occur. Each subsequent run of this model continues to show a similar radar formation (with small variations in location).

Now the largest problem remains is will the temperatures cool down enough to support snow. The models vary in this regard and there is a fine line as to whether or not snow can fall and then whether it will get heavy enough so it can accumulate on roads. The odds of rain changing to snow over the Inland Northwest look fairly good especially over Idaho and southern Spokane County and northern Whitman County. However a tougher question to answer is will the snow be able to accumulate on the area roads? If the snow gets heavy enough the answer is yes, however if not, most of the accumulations will occur on grassy surfaces. So once again lets look at the plume diagrams to see how much snow 27 different model runs produce over Spokane, Coeur d'Alene and Pullman.

Spokane plume diagram shows snow totals ranging from 0.0 - 2.5" with an average around 0.3" 

Coeur d'Alene plume diagram shows snow totals ranging from 0.0 - 5.3" with an average around 0.8" 

Pullman plume diagram shows snow totals ranging from 0.0 - 3.5" with an average around 0.5" 

Generally speaking, these values are on par with what the models were showing last night, however with the band moving further to the north, the snow totals in Pullman are trending lower. Motorists are still urged to check the latest forecast before venturing out in the morning and be prepared for a potentially snowy commute. Here is our latest snow forecast.

Snow forecast for Tuesday (issued 9 pm Monday )

1145pm Monday Update....the band of precipitation was beginning to take form. Our confidence is growing the moderate to locally heavy precipitation band will develop. Still not sure if heavy snow will accumulate.

1147pm radar imagery. Note heavier precipitation developing between  Davenport and Ritzville. 

Will the Inland Northwest see snow on Sunday night and Monday?

The Spring thus far has been fairly mild, and as a result we haven't had to worry about the threat of snow. The temperatures for March were some of the warmest if not the warmest on record for many locations.

March temperatures

But all weather patterns come to an end at some point and this will be no exception. So here is what the upper-level weather pattern for most of the month of March looked like. It showed a rather persistent ridge focused over the West Coast with the storm track nudged well north of our area

Mean 500 mb pattern for March 1-March 29th

However since the end of the March and continuing into April, the upper-level ridge has shifted to our east, allowing the upper-level trough to nudge into the eastern Pacific and the storm track to push through the Pacific Northwest.

Mean 500 mb pattern March 30th-April 1st

This has resulted in more typical springtime weather for the region including significantly cooler temperatures, and numerous afternoon/evening showers and thunderstorms accompanied by an Inland Northwest springtime staple: graupel. But despite the cooler weather, most of the valley locations, have yet to deal with snow. That might change though with the arrival of the next significant weather system. The model solutions are rather convincing that this system will arrive sometime between late Sunday night and Monday as the deep offshore trough heads inland.

500 mb pattern for Monday morning

Referring to  the map above, it suggests most of the upper-level energy will remain poised off the southern Oregon/Northern California coast, however look closely over extreme northeast Washington/north Idaho and notice the small yellow circles. These indicate the larger trough will also contain several small shortwave troughs.  If these troughs are accompanied by enough moisture and instability they can trigger small bands of moderate to intense precipitation, or what we
meteorologists term meso-banded precipitation or mesobands. Even more intriguing is these mesobands can often allow snow to fall (and possibly accumulate) at much lower snow levels than expected.

The odds are quite good that the region will see mesobands of precipitation form, the big question is where and what will the impacts be?

To answer the first question of where will these bands form, we first need to look at the positioning and track of any surface low tracks. Here is a look at four weather models we typically utilize and where they place the low (and resultant precipitation) as of 5am Monday morning.

4 model solutions with surface low position and 6-hour precipitation valid 5am Monday

As you can see above, all four models have a surface low located over the eastern third of Washington or north Idaho, however, the exact positioning and strength of the low is quite variable. The solution in the upper left corner is by far the most impressive solution. It has the strongest surface low (1000 mbs) and the heaviest amount of precipitation. The purple colors in this image represent precipitation amounts between 0.50-0.75" in a six-hour period. The other model solutions show a weaker low (1005-1006 mbs) and much lighter precipitation amounts.

When there are wide disparities between our core models we like to defer to ensemble modeling. This is where we take an initial model run and add small perturbations to the mix. The perturbations begin small but with time tend to grow. When the models cluster the positioning of a low, this boosts our confidence in the forecast, whereas if lows are strewn haphazardly across the region, our confidence is quite low. So here's a look at the SREF positioning of the surface lows for Monday morning.

SREF Surface low positions for 5am Monday

Although there are plentiful lows (L's) found across the Inland Northwest there is a wide scattering of their positions. The fact that there are plentiful lows is good from a standpoint of there is fair confidence of an event occurring. However, the wide scattering of the L's lowers our locational confidence significantly.  We can also look at the mean of all the low positions and the mean of all the precipitation data to come up with a preliminary snow forecast. In this case, the SREF is showing this as the mean snowfall for the 12hrs ending at 11 am Monday.

Mean 12hr snowfall ending 11am Monday

While these values themselves are not impressive (1-2" for the areas shaded in green) the fact that this model is showing such widespread snow is noteworthy. Another interesting thing we can look at from the SREF model is a plume diagram which shows all the suite of model solutions on one chart. So given the map above, it would seem locations north and east of Spokane as well as near the Cascade Crest would see the best chances of snow. So to hone our forecast a little more we will look at some plume diagrams to determine potential snow amounts. The first we will refer to is for Sandpoint.

Sandpoint snow plume diagram

Each line on this plot refers to one particular member of the SREF ensemble. In this case, most of the solutions are showing some snow on the right side of the diagram. The mean of the runs is denoted by the black line which is indicating a mean snowfall of 2". More impressive (but not probable) is the pink line which shows snowfall totals exceeding 8".  How about the plume diagram for Spokane?

Spokane snow plume  diagram

Even the Spokane plume diagram is showing some snow. Nothing compared to Sandpoint, but some snow nonetheless. The mean snowfall is right around an inch, however, there is one run which shows  totals nearing 5"!

Now despite these snow forecasts, the other factor to consider is how easily will this snow accumulate on the ground? The temperature forecast for late Sunday night and early Monday morning is for readings in the lower to middle 30s. Certainly cold enough for snow, but perhaps not enough for significant accumulations, especially in the Spokane area. After sunrise, temperatures will slowly climb into the upper 30s to middle 40s which suggest snow accumulations are even less plausible except perhaps on grassy surfaces. 

So in summary we are fairly confident a deep but compact surface and upper-level low-pressure system will track through the Inland Northwest producing locally moderate to heavy precipitation some of which will fall as snow. Where it will go and what time of day it hits will be critical for determining what it's impacts will be. Winter driving conditions are certainly possible for the Monday morning commute, especially north and east of Spokane. In the meantime, stay tuned to our latest National Weather Service Forecasts and don't put away your winter clothes quite yet.