Wintry blast on its way to Inland Northwest

People in the Inland Northwest are being urged to take extra precautions for themselves, their pets and their livestock as temperatures dive into the nether regions this weekend.

Steve Bodnar, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Spokane, said in an online weather briefing Wednesday morning that the risk of hypothermia and frostbite is high when temperatures dive into subzero territory.

“We’ve got an arctic front and very cold, dangerous wind chills that are a real concern to health for the elderly” and others, including pets and livestock, Bodnar said. People are urged to dress appropriately if they are outside.

Snow throughout the region is expected to pick up today, with the weather service predicting 1-2 inches in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley, 4-6 inches on the Palouse, 4-6 inches at Winchester and even more at higher elevations. Those are low-end predictions; the actual snow totals could be higher.

The Lewiston-Clarkston Valley is expected to see highs near 40 degrees today, which will drop to a high of 27 Friday and a low of 9. Wind gusts up to 30 mph in Pullman and Lewiston to 44 mph on the Camas Prairie also are expected, creating blowing snow conditions and making travel difficult.

On Saturday, the winds are likely to die down but Lewiston’s temperature range is predicted to be a high of 20 and a low of 9. On Sunday, the range is 17 to 3, according to the National Weather Service.

Elsewhere in the region, highs may be in the single digits with lows below zero. Dixie in southeastern Idaho County is expected to reach a low temperature of minus 13 on Sunday night and Pierce in Clearwater County is looking at minus 7 over the weekend.

Bodnar said forecasters have high confidence in the chances of the arctic front moving through the region. But there is a range of how severe it may be depending on how conditions play out in the next few days.

Private organizations such as Accuweather or the Weather Channel may have different predictions for the area in the coming days. Laurie Nisbet with the Spokane weather service explained that these organizations have different ways of getting their information.

“Accuweather gets its own forecast so they can do what they want,” Nisbet said. The National Weather Service is “the only one who can issue weather storm warnings and wind advisories. As far as apps and phone apps, we can’t have a phone app like other entities can, so they can put out what they want. It doesn’t necessarily have to match our forecast at all. It’s their choice. They can create their own forecast.”

Nisbet added that there are lots of model differences when it comes to predicting cold weather. Variances such as whether an arctic front pushes through before or after snowfall and if a cloud cover dissipates make a difference in how severe the weather can be.

“So it’s not easy (to predict accurately) because one hour of clearing with snow on the ground and (the temperature) can drop,” she said.

Hedberg may be contacted at khedberg@lmtribune.com.