SPOKANE, Wash. — September of 2020 brought its share of challenges, like wildfires and wildfire smoke to name a few. But this time last year, the residents of Spokane were dealing with a completely different type of sever weather that took more than a few people by surprise.
Sept 28 and 29 2019 saw the second recorded snowfall in Spokane history. The record earliest was a snowfall on September 23, 1926.
The amount of snow Spokane saw in the last few days of September that year also broke records. Spokane received 1.9" inches of snow, breaking the previous record of 1.4 inches set all the way back in 1926, according to NWS records. 1926 and 2019 are the only two years on record where it's ever snowed in the month of September in Spokane.
Spokane also saw record low temperatures. The coldest high temperature Spokane had previously seen in September was 39 degrees. On Sept. 29, 2019, the high temperature only reached 36 degrees.
When faced with the possibility of a September snow, many Spokane residents took the news pretty hard.
Even long time residents, like Tess O'Niel who's lived in Spokane for more than 80 years, were unprepared for the possibility of such an early snowfall.
"I said whaaaat?" O'Niel told KREM 2 last year upon hearing that snow could be well on its way. "I've seen snow in late October, but I don't remember seeing it much sooner than that."
Some of KREM 2's employees had never even seen snow before, let alone in September.
Power was knocked out to more than 2,300 people across the region.
Those around the Inland Northwest were surprised and a little inconvenienced by the early snowfall, but for the most part, they took it in stride.
