SPOKANE, Wash. — Thursday marks the coldest morning of fall so far after a rare October snowstorm slammed the greater Spokane area just over 24 hours before.
Nearly four inches of snow fell at the Spokane International Airport by Wednesday morning, shattering the previous record of a trace of snowfall set in 1981. The unexpected wet and heavy snowfall downed trees and power lines on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning, with much of the damage concentrated on Spokane’s South Hill.
Cities throughout eastern Washington and North Idaho are sitting well below freezing on Thursday morning.
Spokane sat at 25 degrees as at 6:30 a.m. on Thursday, while Coeur d’Alene was even chillier at 19 degrees.
The coldest overnight low for this time of year in Spokane was 23 degrees in 2009, according to the National Weather Service.
St. Maries, Idaho, was even colder than Spokane, with temperatures sitting at 15 degrees on Thursday morning. Deer Park was sitting at 17 degrees.
KREM morning weather anchor Evan Noorani said Wenatchee saw a record-breaking overnight low of 28 degrees.
Wednesday will bring more dry skies and chilly afternoon temperatures to Spokane. Although the sun will shine, Spokane will only make it to the 40s for afternoon high temperatures.
Low and high temperatures for this time of year in Spokane are normally about 15 degrees warmer on average, Noorani said.
Friday and Saturday remain dry with more overnight lows in the 20s and afternoon highs in the 50s.
The next chance for wet weather comes on Sunday, with a 20% chance of rain showers, Noorani said. More rain is expected Wednesday of next week.