Cold Temperatures Continue
SPOKANE — With temperatures dropping below zero early Wednesday morning through parts of the Inland Northwest, local residents could undoubtedly guess what the forecast would reveal for the rest of the day. In a word: cold.
Due to a dry, arctic airmass that’s parked in the region, temperatures should remain in the high teens and low 20s through a cold but sunny Wednesday, though wind chill factors should make it feel much colder.
An east wind blowing at five miles an hour or less could drop the wind chill factor to single digits or, in some areas, below zero.
Even without the wind, temperatures will dip to that range again overnight Wednesday before it starts to slowly warm up. Thursday and Friday temperatures will be a few degrees warmer than what we’ve seen over the past few days, especially at night and early in the morning when there should be a little less frost to scrape off your windshield.
We might then see snow again over the weekend. There’s a 20 percent chance of precipitation on Saturday, with highs nearing 30, and a likely chance of snow Saturday night and into Sunday morning.
Despite the sub-freezing temperatures, the morning commute went off relatively smoothly Wednesday morning in and around Spokane. Only a handful of collisions – mostly minor – were reported.
A couple of disruptions were reported on I-90 near the Highway 195 off-ramp but, for the most part, traffic flowed smoothly in heavily traveled areas, with minor collisions relegated to largely residential roads.
Some fog was also experienced in Spokane Valley Wednesday morning, but it was patchy and not overly obtrusive. However, a low front on Thursday could bring more fog and therefore a more potentially dangerous morning drive for Thursday’s commuters.
