Fall Expected To Return To The Northwest

The Weather in the Inland Northwest can change very quickly; as the old saying goes, if you don’t like the weather wait five minutes.  And that was very true last week as we saw a cold low pressure system drop in from Canada, bringing not only very cold temperatures for late September, but also snow.  And, as Marilyn Lohmann with the National Weather Service points out, snow in September is so rare in our area that the average snow fall total for the month is zero.

“Generally, it’s a mountain, above 3,000’-4,000’, even above 5,000’ for any snow in September quite the record breaking kind of early season snow fall.”

Lohmann added what made the weekend system even more jarring was the fact that over the past several weeks, the region has been has been warmer than normal.  But, as she pointed out, the long-term weather pattern is turning the corner for October, as the month ahead is expected to be cooler than normal with an increased chance of precipitation.

“Kind of seeing a little bit of a change to our weather patterns, I’m not saying we’re going to get this extreme winter weather again, but I think overall the month will trend to be cooler.”

However, Lohmann noted the first weekend of October will be very pleasant with temperatures around the area in the upper 60s and low 70s.