Dec. 6: People from Spokane should be careful on the roads this weekend, especially on the West Plains and north of Mead.
There is a winter weather warning for Spokane County, but the most dangerous places are not in the City of Spokane. Starting in the middle to late morning on Saturday, it will freeze rain west and north of the city for most of the day.
The National Weather Service says that the freezing rain will be worst in Colbert, which is to the north, and on the drive to Davenport, which is to the west. Late Saturday night, the cold rain might turn into snow. Over the next week, it shouldn’t snow more than a half-inch.
For Spokane, the low clouds and freezing rain that have been there for most of this week will stay. The NWS’s Laurie Nisbet said that some parts of the city “might see a little bit of sun” on Sunday afternoon. But clouds and freezing drizzle are expected to come back all next week.
“Unfortunately, it is just that time of year,” she stated.
As a result of high pressure above the clouds, there is little cloud cover and freezing rain. The clouds are being pushed into the plains of the area. Since these clouds are so low in the sky, the rain is coming from higher up, where it is warmer, but it is freezing where it hits the ground.
“There is a lid on top of everything that is trapped close to the surface.” Nisbet said, “Everything is so wet, and all that stuff is just going back and forth in the lowlands.”
That’s why it will be less likely to freeze rain on Saturday if you are higher up.
Source: Expect freezing rain north and west of Spokane this weekend; sun unlikely anytime soon
