581
FXUS66 KOTX 130901
AFDOTX

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Spokane WA
101 AM PST Thu Nov 13 2025

.KEY MESSAGES...

- Breezy and wet Thursday into Friday.

- Mountain snow late Thursday into Friday night. Additional snow in
the mountains Sunday into Monday. Minor travel impacts expected.

&&

.SYNOPSIS...
Wetter and windy weather returns today and Friday. Light snow
is expected over mountain passes. A brief break between weather
systems on Saturday. Then another weather system Saturday night
into early Monday will bring additional light precipitation
including more light snow to mountain passes, especially Sunday
night into Monday morning.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Today through Friday night: A low pressure trough off the
Pacific Coast will continue to deepen and split over the western
United States and gradually move inland. The somewhat weaker
northern split moves across the area over the next 24 hours,
with a secondary upper disturbance tracking by Friday. Tapping a
PWATs fetch around 200-250 percent of normal, this will lead to
increasing precipitation across the region. The best chances
remain near the Cascades to northern mountains this morning,
then expand out across the rest of the area this afternoon into
Friday morning, before the best chances start to retreat into
the mountain zones. With that said, the westerly flow will hold
precipitation amounts lowest in the lee of the Cascades and even
in the L-C Valley downwind of the Blues with generally less
than a tenth of an inch. The best chances in the lee of the
Cascades/central WA will be this afternoon and early evening.
Other areas will be pick up between 0.20 to 0.50 inches, with
higher amounts in the mountains. Snow levels will generally be
high through today, above 7kft, then start to decrease overnight
into Friday from the west dropping to near 5-6kft. This means
the main impact for snow will be in the higher passes.
Washington Pass could see 3 to 6 inches overnight tonight
through Friday night. Sherman Pass could see some light snow
too, but accumulations generally less than a half inch. Strong
southerly flow ahead of the trough will bring gusty winds across
the Basin, mainly over the Palouse and Southeast WA. Gusts into
the reach into the mid 30 mph range. Overnight lows 30s to low
40s. Highs will be the upper 40s and 50s.

Saturday through Wednesday: Weak ridge builds in for the
weekend, shifting the primary precipitation potential toward the
mountains in the upslope flow. Snow levels will rise again
heading into Saturday generally above 6000 feet, limiting snow
amounts near Washington Pass after Saturday morning. Another
couple troughs moves on the area between Sunday night and
Wednesday, though models are still coming together on the
precise evolution. However as it stands now look for increasing
precipitation chances later Sunday into Monday, a lull around
Tuesday, and renewal around Wednesday. A colder air mass will
accompany this, with snow levels dropping to between 3500-5000
feet, then down to 3000ft around Tuesday and Wednesday, locally
down to around 2000-2500 feet in the overnight/morning hours..
Lowland locations could see some snow mixing overnight Monday
into Tuesday and Wednesday, but will not expected to cause
impacts for travel as amounts region wide are only a couple
tenths at most. Highs will be in the 40s, with lows in the upper
20s to 30s. /Solveig

&&

.AVIATION...
06Z TAFs: MVFR/IFR stratus expected tonight into Thursday
morning, especially near GEG/SFF/COE and developing at EAT/.
Precip chances increase for Thursday morning with increasing
moisture. Ceilings have around 30-40% of becoming MVFR Thursday
afternoon.

.FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND/OR ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: Moderate
confidence for MVFR ceilings after 20Z. Rain could drop
visibilities to IFR-MVFR but confidence is low.

-----------------------

Confidence descriptors:
Low - Less than a 30 percent chance
Moderate - 30 to 70 percent chance
High - Greater than a 70 percent chance

For additional probabilistic information for NWS Spokane airports,
please refer to the Aviation Dashboard on our webpage:
https:/www.weather.gov/otx/avndashboard

&&

.Preliminary Point Temps/PoPs...
Spokane        54  44  51  42  53  40 /  80  90  50  50  30  20
Coeur d`Alene  54  45  50  43  51  41 /  80 100  80  70  50  40
Pullman        58  45  53  42  54  41 /  60  90  80  40  40  20
Lewiston       61  51  60  45  59  43 /  50  80  60  20  20  10
Colville       50  35  50  36  51  36 / 100  90  60  70  40  40
Sandpoint      50  42  48  40  48  40 /  90 100  90  80  70  70
Kellogg        57  46  48  44  49  44 /  80 100 100  80  70  60
Moses Lake     50  41  55  42  56  39 /  90  60  10  20  10  10
Wenatchee      51  43  53  44  56  43 /  90  50  20  40  20  10
Omak           50  40  51  41  52  41 /  90  50  20  30  20  10

&&

.OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
WA...None.
ID...None.

&&

$$