‘Still pretty chilled’: Winter weather advisory, snow forecast this week

MOSES LAKE — In the first week of January, snow is one of those things that can happen. And it looks like snow will occur most of the first week of January 2022.

And perhaps it will be a little bit warmer.

However the National Weather Service on Sunday issued a winter weather advisory from 2 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday. Blowing and drifting snow was expected in Ritzville, Davenport and Airway Heights Sunday night, with another round of snow spreading into the area. Accumulations between 1 and 3 inches and wind gusts up to 35 mph were expected in Grand Coulee, Coulee City, Quincy, Wilbur, Ephrata, Ritzville, Harrington, Othello, Odessa, Moses Lake, and Creston. Snow accumulations were expected near 4 inches north of U.S. Route 2, which includes areas north of Sun Lakes-Dry Falls State Park.

Joey Clevenger, a meteorologist with the NWS office in Spokane, said Sunday toward the end of the week some of the precipitation could fall as rain or freezing rain.

“A few tenths of an inch (of snow) every few days,” Clevenger said. “We’re kind of getting into a pattern where we’re getting a lot of moisture from the Pacific Ocean.”

The chances of snow diminish if the wind shifts to the west, said Laurie Nisbet, another meteorologist with the NWS in Spokane, but that’s less likely.

There’s also a chance for more than an inch of snow Wednesday night into Thursday.

“A really good push of moisture (is) coming through,” Clevenger said.

Low temperatures should be out of the single digits, but are forecast to be below freezing most of the week.

“We’re still pretty chilled,” Clevenger said.

The forecast for Tuesday’s high temperature is 30 degrees, with 36 degrees the forecast high for Friday.

Slightly milder temperatures on Thursday and Friday mean it could rain, or it could snow, or there might be a mix of rain and snow. Or possibly a little freezing rain.

“The snow can transition into rain. Maybe light freezing precipitation,” Clevenger said.

Freezing rain becomes a possibility when a layer of warmer, moist air slides over colder air near the surface, he said.

“It’s just going to be a snowy pattern,” Clevenger said. “A wintry precipitation pattern.”