National Weather Service Spokane WA
349 AM PST Fri Feb 14 2020

.SYNOPSIS...
A weather system will bring breezy conditions and mountain showers
today. A wetter and windy system is expected over the weekend.
The chance of mountain snow continues into early next week with
seasonal temperatures.

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.DISCUSSION...
Today: Our frontal system passed through the region yesterday
evening, with scattered post-frontal showers currently moving
through the Cascades, far eastern Washington and north Idaho. The
heaviest precipitation activity has been along the Cascade crest and
over the central Idaho Panhandle mountains, where webcams have shown
snowfall covering roads over Stevens and Lookout Passes. Winter
Weather Advisories will remain in effect for these locations until
later today. Elsewhere, mainly dry weather is expected today with
breezy southwest winds of 25-35 mph across the Columbia Basin, the
Palouse, and into the Spokane area. Look for highs generally in the
40s to around 50 degrees across the lowlands today.

Saturday into Sunday: Our next storm system will arrive over the
weekend in two impulses. The first wave arrives Friday night into
Saturday morning, will be the weaker of the two and move through the
region rather rapidly. Given the overnight timing of this first
wave, any precipitation that falls will likely be in the form of
snow, with generally light accumulations expected.

The 2nd impulse arrives later in the day Saturday, with the heaviest
precipitation overnight into Sunday morning then waning through the
day. The trend the last few days has been to lower precipitation
totals, and that trend carried into today`s forecast. Forecast
confidence has been low especially related to precipitation type
with this storm, and that remains unchanged. Forecast soundings
are suggesting minimal heating during the day Saturday due to
extensive cloud cover, favoring more widespread and heavier snow.
This is in contrast to straight model guidance suggesting warmer
temperatures, and thus lower snow totals (or in some locations,
straight rain).

We have the highest confidence in heavy snow over the central Idaho
Panhandle mountains, the Blue Mountains, and over the Cascades. Snow
totals across eastern Washington and the north Idaho Panhandle
remains quite uncertain. Breezy winds are also expected during this
timeframe, but the trend on these winds has also been on the
decrease in recent model runs.
Dang

Monday through Friday: On Monday, the last of the wet weather moves
through southeastern Idaho Panhandle and the Cascade crest as light
remnants of snow moves out of the region. After the trough`s
departure, a ridge will build over the western coast and flattens
mid-week over the Pacific Northwest. With this ridge, it will be a
mild week with near seasonal temperatures and precipitation free.
Highs will be in the upper 30s to mid-40s with lows in the teens
to 20s. Still uncertain about late next week due to the influence
of the southwestern US, but its appearing to become a greater
possibility for a shortwave and a chance for our next system.
However, too soon for much confidence as there is little agreement
amongst models in the approach of our next round of
precipitation. JS