SPOKANE, Wash. — Another eight-tenths of an inch of snow fell in Spokane on Friday, enough to create slippery road conditions. But apparently that's all we can handle for now.
Most snowfalls this December have been of that variety, with only about one inch falling at a time. The biggest snow of the month so far came on Dec. 19, with 2.7 inches in a single day.
That puts this year's December snowfall total at 6.8 inches so far, which is not even half of a normal December snowfall.
Spokane typically averages 14.6 inches of snow each December. This comes off the back of a dry November for the area, where it only snowed six-tenths of an inch on a single day.
It's not just Spokane that's affected by dry conditions. The mountains of Washington and Idaho are running significantly behind in terms of total snowpack heading into the heart of the winter season.
The greater Spokane area mountains are at less than 70% their normal snow-water equivalent and the Cascades are at about 50% of normal.
One of the effects of a low snowpack means that there's now a moderate drought reported across the Cascades and parts of western Washington.
The mountains of north Idaho are also reporting moderate drought conditions due to low snow-water content.