How unusual will this next episode of warm and wet weather be for the Inland Northwest?

By now you have likely heard that this is going to be a wet and warm remainder of the week across the Inland Northwest. This wet spell of weather is expected to continue into early next week. So why is this? Well, most of it can be attributed to yet another atmospheric river event. While most atmospheric rivers come and go, this event will be a little different, as we will likely be impacted by a trio of rivers. The first arrived yesterday into last night. The next is expected to unleash its torrent of moisture on Friday and the last will likely impact the region on late Sunday. The video below shows the expected sequence of events. The atmospheric rivers are denoted by the blue, purple and red colors

So what does this mean for the area. Well, it will translate to several things. The most obvious is it will result in very wet weather. Here's the estimated rainfall we are forecasting between today and Sunday night.

Rainfall forecast between today-Sunday night

These are some pretty hefty totals. Notice the reds and oranges spread across the Cascade Crest and extreme northeast Washington/north Idaho. These locations could potentially amass a few spots of 3-6" of precipitation, most of which will fall as rain. While these amounts are impressive, the question is just how rare are they? We get atmospheric rivers all the time this time of year. Certainly it can't be that unusual, can it? Well, if put into perspective for the time of year and amount of precipitation it actually turns out to be a very rare event. One of the new tools in our weather toolkit consists of quantifying an event based on climatology. In other words, how common is a weather event for a given time of year? For this event, we will look at the amount of rainfall expected over a 3-day period (between today-Sunday). Below you will see an image from one of our ensemble models showing the approximate amount of precipitation (black contours or isohyets) combined with the rarity of the forecast amount (the color shading). What's interesting, in this case, is northern California is covered with isohyets in excess of 3 inches, while over the Inland Northwest we see a small area of 1.5"-2+"  inches over extreme northeast Washington and north Idaho (the amount is smoothed and will not catch the locally higher amounts we forecast over the mountains). Despite the lighter rain totals over our neck of the woods, it's actually a less common event as shown by the blue and dark green shading. The blue shaded areas are locations where this event places in the 99.9 percentile (or 1 out of 1000 events)  for all rainfall events between December 22 and March 22nd (between 1985-2012). The dark green shaded areas, which cover a good portion of the Inland Northwest represent a 99.5 percentile event (1 out of 500 events). So technically speaking we will experience the most unusually heavy precipitation in the western US this weekend.

Ensemble precipitation forecast (Thu-Sun) combined with the relative rarity of the amount.

The other unusual weather phenomena we are expecting this weekend will be the warmth. If we once again choose to utilize a percentile ranking of the warmth for this event it's rare, but nowhere close to as rare as the rainfall. Here's a look at the forecast temperature and the respective percentile (for the period between January 27-February 17)  for the temperatures at 850 mbs (around 4500' above sea level) on Friday afternoon. The image below is showing temperatures in the lower to middle 40s (4-6°C)  pale yellow which indicates roughly the 90th percentile (1 out of 10 events). So really it's not rare at all. Temperatures at this level will be significantly cooler than what we experienced on the 25th of January when our 4500' temperature surged into the lower to middle 50s.

Climatology rarity of 850 mb temperature for Friday afternoon (2/6/15)

What will make this an unusual event though is the duration of the mild temperatures. Right now for the Spokane area we are forecasting 4 consecutive days of high temperatures right around 50° (see image below). The last time we saw that many 50°F or warmer days between December and early February (2/10) was in 1963! The longest stretch on record is 6 days set in 1917. A 3-day stretch of low-temperatures of 40°F or warmer is also rare for this time of year. Between tonight and Saturday night, we are forecasting lows at or above that mark. Surprisingly, the last time we saw three nights of lows ≥ 40°F was earlier this winter (in early December). Before that, we had only seen 3 or more consecutive nights of 40°F or warmer lows 7 times since 1881.

7-day outlook for the Spokane area Thursday (on left) through Wednesday (right)

Just the latest chapter in what has been an unusually mild and relatively snow-free winter.

Say Goodbye to your Snow

If you've got snow on the ground where you live, and you're tired of seeing it, you may not have to deal with it much longer depending on your location.  There's going to be a big change in the weather pattern this week.  And the result will be a big meltdown for much of the Inland Northwest.  Here is this morning's snow pack analysis:

There's at least some snow on the ground in many locations.  By this time next week, this map will look very different.  All of the snow at the lower elevations east of Moses Lake will be gone.  The only valleys that will keep their snow will be in the Cascades (e.g. Methow Valley).  Why the big change?  Let's show you what we have coming our way.

Here's the Integrated Vapor Transport forecast for Thursday.  What's that you ask?  It's a forecast that tries to summarize all of the moisture in the atmosphere and combine it with the wind (black arrows).  You might have heard the term "atmospheric river".  It's often over-used, but in this case, it describes what you're seeing below.

Integrated Vapor Transport forecast for Thursday, 5 Feb 2015

This atmospheric river will deliver large amounts of moisture to the West Coast by Wednesday.  What's more, it will continue on and off through at least Sunday or Monday.  In addition to the moisture, the atmospheric river will bring warmth.  The black wind arrows point from south-to-north along the West Coast.  The air you'll be breathing this weekend will come from the sub-tropics (Hawaii is in the lower left corner of the above graphic).  Here's the temperature forecast for this week for Spokane:

The temperature in Spokane will warm into the lower-50s for Friday through Monday. There's a good chance that at least one of those days will be even warmer, say mid-50s.

But there will also be rain with this event.  Lots of rain for some areas.  Here's the GFS forecast of precipitation for the next 7 days at Spokane:

The last 2 forecasts from the GFS have nearly 2.5" of precipitation for Spokane, all in the form of rain.  Typically this model over-forecasts precipitation a low elevations like Spokane, so we don't expect to see this much rain, but it will still be very wet.  That said, here's the same data over the entire Pacific Northwest from the Canadian GEM model:

Precipitation forecast from the Canadian model for Monday 2 Feb through Monday 9 Feb 2015

The forecast from the GEM agrees closely with the GFS.  They show more than 4" of rain for the Panhandle mountains, locally up to 6", with up to a foot of rain for the north Washington Cascades and Olympics. There will be periods of light precipitation for the next couple of days.  The heavy rain will arrive on Thursday and continue through Sunday.  It won't rain every hour of all four days, but there will be several periods of heavy rain.  Notice that we've been using the word "rain" and not "snow".  Even for the mountains, much of this precipitation will fall as rain.  Here's the Weather Story from NWS Spokane showing the rising snow levels:

 So we have warmth, and we have rain.  That will definitely melt some snow.  But the real "snow-eater" will be the wind.  Nothing beats a warm, moist wind when it comes to melting snow.   And it will be windy.  As an example, here's the sustained (not peak gust) computer wind forecast from the GFS MOS for Saturday:

So as we said, the low elevation snow pack should all melt by next Monday, except for the Cascade valleys and parts of the Waterville Plateau (these areas are protected from much of the rain and wind).  The mountain snow pack below 4000' will also take a big hit.  This could lead to some flooding issues in the Idaho Panhandle over the weekend and early next week. 

We'll probably update this blog later in the week as the details of this upcoming event become clearer.  Suffice to say for now that that a big change in the weather is expected.

Is Winter Over in the Inland NW?

As we expected, this winter has not been very wintry.  Aside from a few cold outbreaks, the temperatures have been very mild without much snow.  So, even though it's still January, folks are asking if winter is over.

First, the official outlook for February doesn't look very promising.  Above normal temperatures and below normal precipitation is expected for the Inland Northwest.

Of course, that doesn't mean we won't see any snow, and that every day will be warmer than normal.  But if you're a snow lover, our chances of seeing more white stuff are getting slim.

On that note, there is hope for some Inland NW residents to see some snow in the upcoming days.  A weak storm will move through the area on Sunday.  Right now, the timing is ideal for snow, arriving during the late night/morning hours.  Most locations will be too warm for snow.  But the northern valleys could see an inch or two.  Here's the NAM model meteogram for Republic, WA:

The snowiest forecast is 2", while the least amount is a half inch.  For Bonners Ferry, ID, the story is similar:

For Spokane, it's a more difficult call.  Here's the same meteogram for Spokane:

This plot shows both the NAM (in red) and GFS (in blue).  The GFS predicts an inch or 2 for Spokane, but this would fall with temperatures just above freezing, so it may be tough to get much accumulation.  And if the precipitation does start as snow, it would probably change to rain in the afternoon.  The NAM is decidedly less excited about the snow chances for Spokane.  This is largely because it expects the precipitation to start later in the day.

Another minor system arrives on Monday but the timing of it looks like mainly rain for the lower elevations, while the mountains will get a few inches of snow.  More storms are expected during the latter half of the week.  Again, timing will be a major importance in determining snow type for the lower elevations, mainly north of Interstate-90.  The mountains will see mostly snow but some rain is also possible for them as well.

So, to answer the original question, no, winter isn't quite over.  But don't expect any major valley snow storms.  Instead, we'll see some threats of lowland snow depending on the time of day (late night/morning), with rain favored for the afternoon/evening hours. 

Spring Skiing in January?

If you've looked at the forecast lately, you'll notice that we're expecting warmer temperatures next week.  Temperatures are forecast to be in the 40s, with even some lower 50s in places (i.e. the Palouse and Lewiston area).

Why will it be so warm?  Very strong high pressure will develop over the western US in the next few days.  But we often see that.  So what's so special about this?

The image below shows the temperatures at about 5000' above sea-level this morning.

Temperature at 5000 feet MSL on Thursday.

You'll notice that the warmest air (red shading) is over California, as well as in the lee of the Canadian Rockies.  Now here's the same image on Saturday afternoon:

Temperature forecast at 5000 feet MSL Saturday

Notice those bright red colors off the coast of northern California?  Where did that come from?  The wind will be "offshore" at this time, which means it will be blowing from the northeast, coming from Nevada and eastern Oregon, to the Pacific Ocean.  As it does this, it descends from the Sierra Nevada mountains down to sea level.  Air that descends warms due to compression.  So this warm air didn't move here from somewhere else, it was created by the wind flowing from the Sierra's (e.g. 8000 feet elevation) down to sea level.

Now here's the forecast of what will happen to that warm air on Monday:

Temperature forecast at 5000 feet MSL Monday morning

You can see that the warm air has spread northward, along the coast, and into the Inland Northwest.  

OK, so just how warm are we talking?  Well, in addition to keeping track of all of the record high and low temperatures at various cities, we also keep track of historical temperatures on our weather balloons.  So here's the January record high temperatures at 5000' MSL for various western locations, along with the computer model forecasts:

Site	Max 5000’ MSL Temperature	Model 1	Model 2	Model 3
Oakland	19°C	18.3°C	18.3°C	18.2°C
Medford	18°C	17.6°C	17.2°C	17.6°C
Salem	19°C	15.5°C	18.9°C	18.5°C
Quillayute	16.5°C	11.3°C	16.3°C	14.8°C
Spokane	14.5°C	11.2°C	12.6°C	14.1°C

The three models differ a bit in their forecast, but they all have very warm temperatures at 5000'.  Some records (going back to 1948) could be broken.  How warm are these?  The forecast of 14.1°C at Spokane, if it verifies, would be the same as what we normally see on April 6th!!!

So what does this mean?  The answer is somewhat complicated.  Here's the forecast high temperatures for Monday:

These are about 10 degree above normal for the end of January.  But this forecast could easily be very wrong.  You'll notice that much of the western Basin (i.e. Moses Lake), and the northern valleys (e.g. Omak, Colville, Bonners Ferry) are in light blue (40-45F) while the mountains (e.g. the area between Republic and Colville) are in green (45-50F).  What gives?

The northern and Cascade valleys have snow on the ground.  Any melting of snow could lead to fog and low cloud formation.  And this would keep the valley temperatures cooler (i.e. little or now sunshine).  But if that fog doesn't form, then the temperatures could easily be 10 degrees warmer than forecast.

Typically, for a mid-winter warm spell, we need wind.  The wind helps to mix the atmosphere, taking warm air aloft and mixing it with the cold air near the surface.  But in this case, there won't be much if any wind.  So we won't have any "mechanical mixing" to stir the atmosphere. The sun will have to do all the work by itself to warm up the near-surface temperatures.  With the low sun angle of late January, this is a tough task.  Not impossible, but difficult.

Meanwhile, the mountains will be above any fog formation and they should see abundant sunshine.  So confidence is high that they will be warm.   Here's the minimum temperature forecast:

Notice that the mountains are as warm as the valleys?  The mountains won't just be warm during the day, but they'll probably be above freezing during the nighttime hours as well.  And this will likely last for 3 or 4 days.  A week cold front in the middle of next week will cool things down some, but it will still be warmer than normal for late January.

So we'll get a taste of early spring next week, especially in the mountains.  There's a big bust potential for the valley temperatures, especially north of I-90.  But if you're going skiing, make sure you bring the sunscreen and don't over-dress.

This winter compared to last...and will we see a normal recovery?

A couple weeks ago we posted a story on our Facebook page that said, climatologically speaking the harshest part of winter is now in our rear view mirror. Here's was the post.

We stated that since the days are getting longer, sunnier (very slowly) and temperatures are on the rise that in fact, climatologically speaking the worst is over with. However, we did put a caveat in the story which said we can still get some very good winter storms during the remainder of January into February. One astute reader mentioned that we stated something similar last year in a blog entry. Last winter we had a very dry and relatively snowless beginning to the winter and wondered what the chances were of it continuing. Needless to say we recovered quite nicely in the second half of winter. This winter, things might be just a bit tougher. Just for comparison sake, here was the mountain snowpack last year on this date.

And here's how it looked this year

Not a lot of differences. All locations were seeing below normal snow water equivalent values for both years. The Okanogan Highlands and the northern Cascades are doing a little better this year, and things are a little worse elsewhere.  Also, notice how poor the snow water numbers are for the southern Washington Cascades and the Oregon Cascades.  However, these maps aren't really telling the entire story. Why is that? If we choose to just look at the amount of precipitation which has fallen since October 1st (beginning of the water year) rather than the amount of water in the snowpack the winters are completely different. Here was 2014 through January 19th. Just like the drier than normal snowpack, the precipitation was similarly dry.

Oct 1 2013-Jan 13 2014 percent of normal precipitation

Now look at the data for this water year. What a difference a year makes! All basins are seeing normal to slightly wetter than normal conditions.

So what gives, why the big difference? In one-word temperatures. Temperatures this winter and late fall have been significantly warmer temperatures than what we saw last year. Much of what's been falling has been dropping as rain as opposed to snow. Take a look at the temperature departures from normal below. They exhibit a huge difference. In the first half of winter 2013-14 temperatures were well below normal.

Oct 1-December 2013 temperature departures. Note widespread below normal temperatures

 While this year...they have been generally well above normal. The swing from last winter to this winter is around 3-6°F warmer. That may not seem like a lot, but in terms of snow it makes a big difference.

Oct 1-Jan 18 temperature departures. Note widespread warmer than normal temperatures. 

Anyway we digress. We simply wanted to demonstrate that although we have seen similar snow totals to last winter in the mountains, how we got to those totals is completely different. Last year was an ENSO neutral year which often does not foretell what sort of winter to expect. This year is an El Nino winter (albeit a weak one). Typical El Nino winters deliver warmer than normal conditions (sure enough it has been warmer), and a variable precipitation signature. So let's examine some snowfall numbers across a few valley locations including Spokane, Wenatchee and the always snowy Holden Village (on Lake Chelan). Just like the mountains, most valley locations are seeing sharp snow deficits. In fact, most locations are seeing a top-10 least snow winter since 1949. We are utilizing 1949 since that year is when the NWS began keeping track of  El Nino/La Nina data.

Least 10 snowy Spokane winters through 1/19 since 1949

Least 10 snowy Wenatchee winters through 1/19 since 1949

Least 10 snowy Holden Village winters through 1/19 since 1949

So of those three sites, this year ranks as either the 5th or 6th least snowy winter through 1/19. But more importantly how did the rest of the winter fare and could the snowfall deficit be made up. The answer is an overwhelming no. In Spokane, none of the 10 least snowy years through 1/19 was able to recover to normal. The winter of 1989-90 was close. Last year was also somewhat close as much of the region saw a record or near record snows in February. However, those were not El Nino years. Of the El Nino years, three of them, the remainder of the winter failed to deliver more than 6 inches of snow.

For Wenatchee, two of the winters were able to recover to above normal levels after such a slow start to the snow season.  Both of those years were ENSO neutral years. During the El Nino years, the numbers were quite meager. The two El Nino winters on the list experienced snowfall of less than an inch through the remainder of the season. On average, less than 5" of snow typically falls during the remainder of the season. 

Now onto the ever snowy Holden Village area. The numbers for here spell bad news for heavy snow lovers. Of the 10 least snowy winters through 1/19, none were able to get back to normal. Last year was close (after an astounding and record breaking 142" of snow in February) as was 1989-90. Both of those years were ENSO neutral ones. The trends during an El Nino year are much less promising. Of the 4 El Nino years on the list, none were able to recover to normal levels. Additionally, 3 of the 4 El Nino years saw significantly less snow than normal through the remainder of the winter.

So climotology tells us the odds of recovering from such a slow start to the winter are slim and given our weak El Nino conditions the chances are even slimmer. However, keep in mind that long-term weather forecasting can prove a futile endeavor and ultimately anything can happen. 

Through the remainder of the month the weather pattern will not be conducive to adding significant amounts to our  snow totals. Although wet weather will likely return by the end of the week, this moisture will be accompanied by unusually warm temperatures at least over the mountains. The 6-10 and 8-14 day outlooks are calling for a good chance of warmer than normal temperatures and average or slightly wetter than normal conditions. 

8-14 day precipitation outlook

8-14 day temperature outlook

Odds for a White Christmas: Update

OK, we're only 3 days away from the Big Day, and snow is still hard to come by in my Inland Northwest locations.  Is there any hope for a White Christmas?  Here's the current snow depth analysis:

Pretty pathetic.  Folks in the Cascades are doing well, as are those in some of the northern valleys (e.g. Omak, Republic, etc).  Otherwise, lots of bare ground.  

Just to refresh your memory, here was last year's snow cover at this same time. Not stellar, but better than this year.

But there's still time to change this, right?  Actually, the answer is "yes", for some locations anyway.  As we've been discussing in earlier blogs, the computer models have been suggesting a Christmas Eve storm for over a week now, but they've been waffling on the exact timing, track, etc.  And these small differences play a HUGE role in who will get precipitation, and in what form will it fall.  But now, the models are in fairly close agreement. So let's take a look at what they're saying.

Below is the GFS forecast precipitation for the 12 hours ending 4pm Wednesday.

While this looks encouraging, unfortunately almost all of this will fall in the form of rain.  Snow levels during the morning hours will be around 6000' but will rapidly fall through the day as cold air moves in from the north.  Can the snow levels drop all the way to the valleys before the precipitation ends?  Maybe, but this is typically a poor pattern for valley snow.  And even if it does snow in the valleys, it will have a hard time accumulating on the ground during the afternoon/evening hours.

Here's the probability of 1" or more snowfall on Christmas Eve. 

Things are looking up for folks in the Idaho Panhandle.  Meanwhile things look bleak for locations in central/eastern Washington, with locations west and south of Spokane having next to no chance for snow.

So, looks like a brown Christmas for many folks.  The interesting climate tidbit in all this is that we could set an obscure record at Spokane.  The latest that it's ever taken for the Spokane Airport to have it's first 1" or greater snowfall from one storm is Dec 24th 1976.  Unless the forecast changes in a hurry, we'll break that record.  But not by much.  Why you ask?  Because it's is now looking very good for a decent snow event after Christmas.

Here's the 24-hour precipitation forecast from the GFS ending Saturday evening:

Looks similar to the Christmas Eve storm, right?.  The difference is that just about all of this will fall in the form of snow instead of rain.  The reason is that while the Christmas Eve storm might not bring much snow, it will bring colder air.  So by the time this second storm arrives, we'll be much colder.  Different models have different amounts of snow, but in general they all have a solid 2-4" for most locations with the potential for higher amounts.

Here's the snowfall forecast from the NAM (red) and GFS (blue/purple) for Spokane. 

There are different forecasts here using different techniques.  But in general they give a similar message.  Snow will start Friday evening and continue into Saturday evening.  The ECMWF (not shown) has a similar story, but doesn't start the snow until Saturday morning and continues it into Sunday.  Either way, there is the potential for several inches of snow.

It's too early to hang-your-hat on this forecast.  But one of the things we like to see is that each model forecast is similar to the previous one (GFS runs every 6 hours, ECMWF every 12).  And they've been saying a similar message for about the last 24 hours.  So that's a good sign and gives us confidence that this forecast could indeed pan out.  But the overall pattern for this storm isn't necessarily a favorable one for heavy snow in the Inland Northwest.  The mountains will almost assuredly pick up some snow from this, but the lower elevations might not see much. Stay tuned to the forecast, especially if you plan to travel this weekend.

Are the chances of a White Christmas improving?---UPDATED 12/18/14

...Here's an update to yesterday's blog. We replaced the images with the latest weather forecasts...  

 Since our last post, we have gotten a little more resolution on the prospects of seeing a White Christmas across the Inland Northwest. But before we answer that question we need to deal with a weak weather system tonight and Friday and then a much stronger system for the weekend. As of our latest forecast (issued 3pm Thursday). Tonight and Fridays weather system is calling for light snow, mainly confined to the mountains. Valley snow chances will be reserved for the Cascade valleys, Okanogan Valley, and a small part of the Waterville Plateau. These locations will generally see amounts ranging from 1-3 inches with locally heavier amounts near the Cascade Crest. There will likely be some travel concerns going over the Cascade passes.

Snow forecast for tonight-Friday

The storm system for Saturday and Sunday stands a much better chance of producing significant snowfall as it will contain much more atmospheric moisture. This will be care of a very well-defined atmospheric river that has its sights set on the Pacific Northwest. Here's what the atmospheric river is expected to look like by Saturday morning. This river will draw its moisture from well south and west of Hawaii.

Atmospheric river forecast for Saturday morning. The darker the colors, the more moisture content. 

While the river will assuredly produce widespread precipitation, it will also deliver steadily warming temperatures. Our confidence is high that snow levels will be low enough to produce moderate to heavy snows near the Canadian border and in the Cascades. It would not be surprising to see snow amounts approach a couple feet in the Cascades.  Meanwhile, the forecast for the nearby valleys is a much tougher call as temperatures will be critical. If they warm much above 32°F the snow accumulations could be less than forecast, in fact much less. Right now, we are forecasting temperature very close to freezing over most of these lower elevation locations and putting moderate snow accumulations in the Cascade Valleys. Most of this valley snow threat would occur between Saturday morning and early Saturday evening.

Weekend Snow forecast

By Sunday afternoon, temperatures will warm significantly as the warmth associated with the sub-tropical moisture continues its northeastward surge. Snow levels will rise to 4000' or higher over the entire Inland Northwest. This will translate to melting snow over most of these valley locations. The big question is can we melt what falls? That depends on how much accumulates over these locations. The warming will be accompanied by breezy conditions which will help melt the snow especially as the dewpoint temperatures and nighttime lows rise above freezing. And that's what we are expecting as of our latest forecasts. Here's a look at the high-temperature forecast for Sunday.

Sunday Forecast Highs

 So based on the current forecast the only valley locations which stand a chance of snow before Christmas Eve would be near the Canadian Border, or the Cascades. How about the remainder of the region? Well, as we talked about in our last blog entry we are expecting a big pattern change, right around Christmas Eve. That's still true. Our mild west-southwest flow of late will take a decided cooler turn to the northwest. Here's what the upper-level pattern is going to look like (at least something like it anyway). The wind flow will be parallel to the yellow height lines and it will deliver cooler air into the area (blue and purple shading is cold air, other colors are relatively warm) via the Gulf of Alaska. Meanwhile, the remnants of the weekend moisture stream will get hung up somewhere over the Pacific Northwest. The big question is where is that going to happen? Most likely it will occur immediately downstream or east of the curve in the yellow lines. In the picture below that suggests that will be somewhere over extreme southern Washington and northern Oregon.

500 mb Heights and temperatures

So is there good model agreement in where that curve is going to form? That is the key to this forecast. As of the latest model runs, consensus is growing. Here's a look at four various model runs all looking at the afternoon hours of Christmas Eve. We placed the precipitation forecast on top of the 500 mb yellow height lines. Notice, they all show a similar curve in the height lines or flow, however they vary on how far north to place it.  Model trends continue to support the band forming well south of I-90. Notice some don't place any precipitation over eastern Washington, while others only give us light precipitation amounts. Based on the trends, our confidence in seeing precipitation remains highest for locations near the Oregon/Washington border, such as Lewiston and Pullman. However, even in these locations temperatures may remain just a little too warm for snow.

Various weather models for Christmas Eve. Shading represents the precipitation. 

So to answer our original question. Are the chances for a White Christmas improving? For locations such as Mazama, Republic, or Plain the answer is a decided yes. For Lewiston or Pullman the answer is a maybe. Folks in Spokane, Couer d'Alene, Moses Lake, or Wenatchee the odds are not great. Of course, Christmas Eve is just under a week away and much can change between now and then. So stay tuned and maybe just maybe the yellow curve will decide to set up over the entire Inland Northwest resulting in a White Christmas for all.