Not spring yet
While higher temperatures have led to dry roads, that hasn't stopped accidents in the area. Grant County Fire District 13 responded to this accident Monday morning. The department is asking drivers to be cautious as high winds and cold, possibly snowy, weather return as the week progresses.
COURTESY PHOTO/GCFD 13
COLUMBIA BASIN — Spring is coming, isn’t it? After all, temperatures crept north of 50 degrees over the weekend - in fact they got close to 60 degrees. February is almost over, so that winter weather, those cold temperatures heading down toward zero, that’s all in the rear-view mirror, right?
Right?
Well, no.
Cold air dropping down from the Arctic is forecast to send temperatures back down into the single digits for most of this week. Steven Van Horn, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Spokane, said the cold air should be here Tuesday night and hang around through the weekend.
“We are looking at the potential for record cold temperatures,” Van Horn said.
The high temperature on Tuesday is forecast to be about 47 degrees, but the forecast also includes rain in the afternoon, turning to snow. While the forecast ranges between a half-inch and an inch of snow, anything that fell as rain in the afternoon could turn to ice by evening, he said.
The precipitation will be accompanied by gusty winds, with gusts of up to 25 to 30 miles per hour.
“That cold air is going to drop quite quickly,” Van Horn said, and Tuesday night lows are forecast to be about 20 degrees.
Then it gets really cold. Van Horn said Wednesday lows are supposed to be about 12 degrees in Moses Lake, but it could get down into single digits.
The coldest high temperature should be Thursday, he said. Thursday’s high is forecast to be about 24 degrees. Temperatures should start inching back up Friday, but still will be below freezing. High temperatures should break 40 degrees by Sunday.
Normally Eastern Washington is subject to frequent cold fronts coming off the Pacific Ocean, but this one is coming from the north.
“This time we have an Arctic boundary that will be pushing across Eastern Washington,” Van Horn said. “Arctic air is a lot colder than the cold air we’d get off the Eastern Pacific.”
The cold air will come with some winds, particularly on Wednesday.
“It definitely will be breezy,” Van Horn said.