Area Forecast Discussion
Issued by NWS Spokane, WA
Issued by NWS Spokane, WA
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363 FXUS66 KOTX 131112 AFDOTX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Spokane WA 312 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... 12Z TAFs: IFR-LIFR conditions continue for KGEG-KSFF-KCOE through 17-20z. Precip chances increase for Thursday morning with increasing moisture. Ceilings have around 30-40% of becoming MVFR Thursday afternoon. LLWS present this afternoon and evening in eastern WA and north ID with 850 mb winds around 35-45kt out of the southwest and surface winds around 5-10kt. .FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND/OR ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: Moderate confidence for MVFR ceilings after 20Z. ----------------------- 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. && $$