Very cold weather forecast for next week to 10 days, light wind

MOSES LAKE — It’s going to get cold out there.

Ron Miller, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Spokane, said Thursday low temperatures in the Moses Lake area will be in the single digits for most of the week, and high temperatures won’t be very warm either.

The low temperatures are forecast to hit single digits Monday night by the latest and stay there at least through Saturday.

“We’re looking at temperatures throughout the week of lows around zero and highs in the 10 to 15 degree range,” Miller said.

There is a chance of midweek snow flurries, as well. Snow on the ground has the potential to drop temperatures even further, Miller said, so it’s possible lows will drop below zero.

And, it’s not going to be much better during the day.

“You’re not going to hit 20 (degrees) all week,” he said. “There’s probably a 50 to 60% chance that during the middle of the week you won’t even break 10 degrees.”

Luckily, winds are forecast to be light after Monday night. Wind speeds are forecast to be under 10 miles per hour.

In the Columbia Basin, it’s not really all that unusual for it to get seriously cold on the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, Miller said.

“Christmas is one of our coldest times of the year. One of our coldest days of the year,” Miller said.

Arctic air coming down from the north is causing temperatures to plummet, but traditionally Christmas season is cold regardless.

“This is traditionally the coldest week of the winter,” Miller said. “This is right on schedule in some ways, you could say.”

Temperatures are forecast to start moderating a little by Jan. 2, but not very much and not for long. The forecast high for New Year’s Eve is 22 degrees and 21 degrees for New Year’s Day. The forecast high for Jan. 2 is about 27 degrees. Miranda Cote, also a meteorologist with the NWS Spokane office, said Sunday high temperatures will get closer to freezing by Monday.

“It will be warming up potentially to the lower 30s by Jan. 3,” Cote said.

But then the forecast shows temperatures starting to drop again, she said. Meteorologists usually forecast about 10 days ahead, she said, and forecasts get more tentative the further out they go. But all current forecast models show below-normal temperatures through the 10-day period including the first week of January.

“It’s winter, unfortunately,” Cote said.