Cold, snow forecast for weekend, early next week
Mike Stevens, employee at Michael's Bistro in Moses Lake, cleans the sidewalk after a Dec. 30 snow storm. The National Weather Service is forecasting snow across Grant County and the Columbia Basin this weekend.
File photo
Michael's Bistro employee Mike Stevens cleans snow off the sidewalk after a Dec. 30 snow storm. Snow is forecast for the Columbia Basin this weekend.
Mike Stevens, employee at Michael's Bistro, takes a snow blower to the sidewalk after a Dec. 30 snow storm. Snow is back in the weather forecast for this weekend.
By CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Staff Writer
MOSES LAKE — It is true spring is approaching, but winter is not done.
The cold weather is supposed to ease, at least in relative terms, by Monday, but the slightly warmer weather on the weekend is forecast to bring snow.
“We are looking at pretty cold temperatures going into the weekend,” said Charlotte Dewey, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Spokane.
Windy conditions will keep it cold through Friday, with wind chills approaching zero degrees Fahrenheit or lower, possibly as low as five degrees below zero. The expected low for Friday night is between 15 and 17 degrees, with winds dying down overnight.
But Friday should be as cold as it gets, she said.
A gradual warming trend is forecast for the weekend.
“If you want to call it gradual warming. I use that term very loosely,” Dewey said.
Saturday’s high is forecast at about 28 degrees. Slightly warmer temperatures are the good news. The bad news is snow is forecast to arrive at the same time.
“The winds should mostly die down by the time we see the snow,” Dewey said.
There’s a 50% to 60% chance of snow Saturday, tapering off overnight Saturday before returning Sunday night and early Monday morning. Snow amounts are forecast to be anywhere from one to two inches Saturday.
The snow Sunday night is expected to be a little more robust, Dewey said, two to four inches in the worst case. This weekend’s snow is forecast to have relatively little moisture content, and thus more likely to drift.
“It’ll be a lot easier to shovel,” Dewey said.
Sunday’s high temperature should be about 30 degrees.
The culprit for the chilling temperatures is a cold air mass dropping down from the Arctic regions, she said. But it’s February and not January, so temperatures should start rising by Tuesday.
“Hopefully by next Wednesday we could be looking at 40 degrees,” Dewey said.
However, lows are forecast at 20 to 25 degrees.
But weather shifts.
“A lot could change, several times, between now and Wednesday,” Dewey said.
Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at [email protected].
