Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Spokane, WA

Home | Current Version | Previous Version | Graphics & Text | Print | Product List | Glossary On
Versions: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40
000
FXUS66 KOTX 191002
AFDOTX

Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Spokane WA
302 AM PDT Tue Mar 19 2024

.SYNOPSIS...
Warm and dry weather under High pressure will slowly transition to
cooler and wetter by late week. Temperatures will trend closer to
seasonal normal. Chances of lowland rain and mountain snow will
return by the weekend with snow accumulations especially at
mountain passes.

&&

.DISCUSSION...
Today and Wednesday: The satellite imagery early this morning has
quite a stark contrast of where the ridge of high pressure is and
where the approaching trough is located in the Pacific. The
entire Western US is nearly cloud free, save for eastern Arizona
early this AM. Today will feature nearly a repeat of the last few
days with dry, warm, and quiet weather for the Inland Northwest.
The airmass has changed very little over the last 24-48 hours
(850mb temperature +11C, PWAT 0.42 inches), so there is another
opportunity to see near record high temperatures for many
locations across the Inland Northwest Today. Winds will remain
light under a dry environment with increasing high clouds moving
into the northern WA/north ID areas. Wednesday, additional
increasing clouds will spread through the region as we see a
shortwave feature work to flatten out the ridge and effectively
transition us back to a more Northwest Spring weather pattern. Bid
a farewell (at least for now) to our warm and dry weather as we
begin to see a shift back to cooler and wetter. West- southwest
winds will become breezy Wednesday across the eastern Cascade
slopes, the Columbia Basin, into the Palouse and north Idaho. The
cooling trend will begin to alter the airmass with cooling
settling in and increasing moisture as we move into later in the
week. /Dewey

Thursday through Monday: Unsettled and cooler conditions return
during the extended portion of the forecast. Though cooler, daytime
temps will still remain above normal for Thursday and Friday, and
snow levels will generally remain above 3500 feet. Any snow-related
impacts are anticipated to be minimal. Temps and snow levels drop
farther for the weekend into early next week. The passes will see
greater chances for accumulating snow for this period, with snow
potential dropping into the northern ID panhandle lowlands as well.
Those that have quickly gotten used to the warm and dry conditions
of late will need to reacclimate to more seasonal weather as daily
chances for rain and snow persist into the beginning of next week.
/KD

&&

.AVIATION...
06Z TAFS: High pressure will result in VFR conditions regionwide
for the next 24 hours.

FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND/OR ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: High confidence in
VFR conditions. Low confidence in patchy ground fog in sheltered
valleys and near bodies of water tonight. JW

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

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        68  42  63  41  57  40 /   0   0   0  10  30  30
Coeur d`Alene  65  41  61  39  54  39 /   0   0   0  10  60  50
Pullman        68  44  63  42  54  41 /   0   0   0  30  50  40
Lewiston       74  47  71  46  62  45 /   0   0   0  40  30  20
Colville       67  38  64  38  58  37 /   0   0  10  20  40  30
Sandpoint      61  41  57  39  50  37 /   0  10  10  30  80  70
Kellogg        65  44  60  42  49  42 /   0   0  10  30  80  70
Moses Lake     72  39  69  42  64  41 /   0   0   0   0   0   0
Wenatchee      73  44  68  43  61  44 /   0   0   0   0  10  10
Omak           73  43  69  42  63  42 /   0   0   0   0  10  10

&&

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

$$


USA.gov is the U.S. government's official web portal to all federal, state and local government web resources and services.