Winter chill continues

Cheryl Schweizer/Columbia Basin Herald Kids dressed warm when they went outside to do chores Tuesday afternoon, when temperatures were about 20 degrees, two degrees with the wind chill factored in. The seriously cold weather is expected to stick around through Friday – then it’s forecast to warm up and snow.

by CHERYL SCHWEIZER
Staff Writer | January 4, 2017 2:00 AM

MOSES LAKE — There’s been something of a pattern to the weather, the last month or so – seriously cold temperatures, zero or thereabouts (or below), then it warms up and snows. And what’s the forecast for the next week or so?

“Well, it’s going to be seriously cold this week. And then it’s going to warm up and snow,” said Laurie Nisbet, meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Spokane.

Temperatures will bottom out Wednesday and Thursday nights at around zero, according to the NWS website. Daytime highs will be between 15 and 20 degrees. And the wind keep blowing through Wednesday and into Thursday, Nisbet said. Wind speeds will be anywhere from 10 to 20 miles per hour. Wind chill values could hit 15 below zero on Wednesday night.

But in one of those paradoxical things that science does, the winds actually help keep air temperature a little warmer. The wind “keeps things mixed up in the atmosphere,” Nesbit said, mixing warm and cold air and keeping it from getting quite as bad as it could get.

Once the winds die down, which is projected for Thursday night, “those temperatures will drop like a rock.” Thursday and Friday lows are forecast at zero to five degrees above. The forecast high for Friday is 18 degrees.

The good news is, temperatures will start to rise Saturday and Sunday, and are forecast to be at – or even a little above – 32 degrees. (Highs Sunday and Monday are forecast for 33 degrees.) The bad news is, there’s a chance of snow Saturday, and an increasing chance on Saturday night and Sunday.

Nesbit said that’s thanks to the winds and air currents too. The seriously cold air is coming from the north, which is the direction of the air currents the rest of this week. But the winds begin shifting to the south-southwest Friday night and Saturday, which brings warmer air all the way to the surface. Unfortunately, the warmer air also brings moisture, and it’s not quite warm enough at the surface for the precipitation to fall as rain.

So as of Tuesday afternoon, there’s a 50 percent chance of snow Saturday night and Sunday, and a 30 percent chance for Monday.

The NWS also issues a 90-day forecast, which is updated every month. The current forecast calls for below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation through February.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached via email at education@columbiabasinherald.com.