Clouds, Freezing Rain To Start 2018

For Mother Nature, the start of a New Year looks the same as the Old Year.  Dennis Hull with the National Weather Service said the cloudy cooler than average conditions we saw to wrap up December will continue for the foreseeable future.  Hull said this grey pattern will chance later this week with a chance of freezing rain rolling across the Inland Northwest.  While the freezing rain could make travel and driving condidions dangerous, Hull doesn’t think the livestock cold stress is going to be extreme.

“Not much wind is going to happen with this.  With the minimal amount of wind, the only moderate to mild cold stress is expected for exposed livestock.  If we did get some wind that would ramp that up pretty quickly.  But the precipitation amounts generally  a quarter of an inch or less for this coming week.”

When will we see the sunshine again?  Hull told the Washington Ag Network the next opportunity won’t come until the middle of next week.

“When we get this first system coming out of here, we’re going to have another chance for at least some partly cloudy skies, maybe a few showers up in the mountains but a better chance for some sunshine compared to what we had this week.”

Hull also noted while temperatures across the region have been below normal, they have not been as cold as the temperatures hammering the eastern half of the country.

If you have a story idea for the Washington Ag Network, call (509) 547-1618, or e-mail gvaagen@cherrycreekradio.com