Snow moved through the area. While most areas received amounts of up to 3 inches.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS OTX wrote it up.
Snow moved through the area. While most areas received amounts of up to 3 inches. There were some localized higher amounts of five to eight inches.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Spokane, WA wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 4, 10:20 AM PST, 1 hour 33 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion
National Weather Service Spokane WA
1020 AM PST Mon Mar 4 2024
.SYNOPSIS...
An unsettled weather pattern will remain in place through Tuesday
resulting in afternoon snow showers Monday and Tuesday. Drier
weather is expected for Wednesday and light mountain snow showers
on Thursday. Temperatures will remain below average with very
chilly mornings through Friday morning, then trend to near normal
values for the weekend with the return of widespread
precipitation.
&&
.DISCUSSION...
Update: Bursts of snow continue to impact Northeast WA and North
ID through the morning. Main roadways appear to have little to
no accumulation as surface temps rise above freezing. The
advisory has been extended to account for mainly the side streets
and less traveled roadways.
Monday: A shortwave associated with an upper level low is bringing
snow across far eastern Washington. Continued cold temperatures
aloft, resulting in an unstable airmass, combined with upslope flow
into the northeast Washington mountains and north Idaho is enhancing
snowfall rates for these areas. Snow covered roads will result in
slick travel conditions during the Monday morning commute. While
webcams are showing snow covered roads as well further south into
Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, and Pullman, precipitation looks to end
before the commute begins. Expect slick conditions along untreated
surfaces and off major highways. Impacts to roads will decrease
after 8 AM once road temperatures warm above freezing and begin to
melt the snow. Winds will be breezy from the southwest today as
the well mixed atmosphere allows breezy winds aloft to mix down to
the surface. Expect wind gusts up to 20 to 25 mph for the
Columbia Basin, the Palouse, and around the Spokane/CdA areas.
Snow and graupel showers will once again return this afternoon under
the unstable airmass. Road temperatures above freezing will limit
overall impacts this afternoon, but brief visibility reductions are
possible with the showers.
Tuesday: An upper level low will weaken into a shortwave and move
along the Washington and Oregon border late tonight. With the
strongest upper level forcing over Oregon, precipitation chances
will be limited to far southeast Washington and the southern and
central ID Panhandle. Snow showers will return Tuesday afternoon,
but a bit less in coverage as the cold air aloft begins to exit the
region.
Wednesday: Drier, northwest flow under a weak ridge will bring an
end to the last several days of afternoon snow showers. Despite
temperatures being below average with highs the upper 30s and low
40s, cloud free skies will result in a beautiful March afternoon.
/vmt
Thursday and Friday: There will be a transition from a cool, broad
trough over Montana and north Idaho on Thursday to a sharp upper
level ridge across the Inland Northwest by Friday. During this
transition, there are enough ensemble members in the National
Blend of Models (NBM) to generate a 20 to 30 percent chance of
light snow showers over the mountainous terrain of north Idaho
Thursday afternoon. Digging deeper into the ensemble members,
nearly 80 percent of the GFS members produce measurable snow at
Lookout Pass while only 20 percent of the ECMWF and Canadian
models do. And of the snowier GFS ensembles, very few produce
accumulations of an inch or more. Lookout Pass has less than a 10
percent chance of an inch according to the NBM on Thursday. High
temperatures on Thursday will be in the 40s with mid to upper 30s
for far north Idaho including Bonners Ferry and Sandpoint. Friday
will be warmer under the building ridge. Afternoon readings will
range from the low 40s in north Idaho to near 50 in the Columbia
Basin and L-C Valley. Look for increasing mid and high clouds
Friday afternoon ahead of an approaching frontal system.
Saturday and Sunday: There is good model agreement that the Polar
jet will be directed into Oregon, Washington and north Idaho next
weekend. The pattern will favor periods of lowland rain and
mountain snow. The pattern favors a pronounced central Washington
rain shadow give moderate mid-level westerly flow. A quick look at
integrated vapor transport (IVT), it looks like a generally weak
atmospheric river designation next weekend. Even though
precipitation may damper outdoor plans for some folks, the influx
of precipitation will be a good thing for our region. By this
time, we will be in mid March and in the home stretch for building
mountain snowpack. Typically, our snowpack peaks in early April.
While we have made some modest gains over the last week, the
majority of our SNOTEL sites continue to read well below average
snow water equivalent values. This wet pattern over the weekend
looks like it will continue until about March 14th before trending
warmer and drier. While it is too early to say how long warmer and
drier may last, this opportunity to build some more snowpack over
the weekend into early next week is important for our water supply
going into the spring and summer. /GKoch
&&
.AVIATION...
18Z TAFS: Radar shows backside of heaviest precipitation
is mainly in extreme Northeast WA and North ID. Brief periods of
light snow are expected through the rest of the morning. Ceilings
will gradually improve to MVFR and then to VFR through 20Z.
FORECAST CONFIDENCE AND/OR ALTERNATE SCENARIOS: There is low to
moderate confidence in the improvement to VFR at KGEG-KSFF-KCOE.
There is high confidence in VFR conditions for TAF sites after
20Z.
------------------------
Confidence descriptors:
Low - Less than a 30 percent chance
Moderate - 30 to 70 percent chance
High - Greater than a 70 percent chance
For additional probabilistic information for NWS Spokane airports,
please refer to the Aviation Dashboard on our webpage:
https://www.weather.gov/otx/avndashboard
&&
.PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS...
Spokane 37 21 38 21 39 21 / 40 20 20 0 0 0
Coeur d'Alene 35 20 37 19 38 19 / 50 20 30 0 10 0
Pullman 35 23 36 20 38 21 / 30 40 30 0 0 0
Lewiston 44 28 43 25 44 27 / 10 30 30 0 0 0
Colville 38 16 38 14 39 16 / 30 50 10 0 0 0
Sandpoint 35 21 35 19 37 19 / 60 60 30 10 20 0
Kellogg 33 22 36 21 37 19 / 60 60 50 10 20 0
Moses Lake 46 25 44 23 44 24 / 0 10 0 0 0 0
Wenatchee 43 25 42 23 42 26 / 0 10 0 0 0 0
Omak 43 23 42 21 42 24 / 30 30 0 0 0 0
&&
.OTX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES...
ID...Winter Weather Advisory until 11 AM PST this morning for Central
Panhandle Mountains-Northern Panhandle.
WA...Winter Weather Advisory until 11 AM PST this morning for
Northeast Mountains.
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Spokane WA
803 AM PST Mon Mar 4 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0727 AM Snow Metaline Falls 48.86N 117.37W
03/04/2024 M8.2 inch Pend Oreille WA Trained Spotter
0.46 inches of SWE.
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Spokane WA
835 AM PST Mon Mar 4 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0734 AM Snow 7 WSW Tiger 48.63N 117.54W
03/04/2024 E7.5 inch Stevens WA Trained Spotter
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Spokane WA
839 AM PST Mon Mar 4 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0639 AM Snow Arden 48.46N 117.87W
03/04/2024 M5.0 inch Stevens WA Public
&&Preliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Spokane WA
923 AM PST Mon Mar 4 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0923 AM Snow 9 SE Elmira 48.40N 116.31W
03/04/2024 E6.0 inch Bonner ID Trained Spotter
&&
DBPreliminary Local Storm Report
National Weather Service Spokane WA
1025 AM PST Mon Mar 4 2024
..TIME... ...EVENT... ...CITY LOCATION... ...LAT.LON...
..DATE... ....MAG.... ..COUNTY LOCATION..ST.. ...SOURCE....
..REMARKS..
0816 AM Snow 3 NNE Rose Lake 47.58N 116.45W
03/04/2024 M4.8 inch Kootenai ID Trained Spotter
0700 AM Snow 2 NNW Evans 48.74N 118.05W
03/04/2024 M4.5 inch Stevens WA Cocorahs
Cocorahs station WA-ST-11 2 NNW Evans.
0700 AM Snow 9 SE Elmira 48.40N 116.32W
03/04/2024 M4.5 inch Bonner ID Cocorahs
Cocorahs station ID-BR-27 13.9 NE Sandpoint.
0800 AM Snow 4 SW Hope 48.21N 116.38W
03/04/2024 M4.3 inch Bonner ID Cocorahs
Cocorahs station ID-BR-28 4.4 SW Hope.
0800 AM Snow 5 ENE Colburn 48.41N 116.44W
03/04/2024 M3.7 inch Bonner ID Cocorahs
Cocorahs station ID-BR-29 Sandpoint 10.3
NNE.
0700 AM Snow 5 NNE Spirit Lake 48.03N 116.81W
03/04/2024 M3.5 inch Bonner ID Cocorahs
Cocorahs station ID-BR-15 11.6 SSE Priest
River.
0700 AM Snow 4 W Boyds 48.72N 118.20W
03/04/2024 M3.3 inch Ferry WA Cocorahs
Cocorahs station WA-FY-8 10.2 NW Kettle
Falls.
0700 AM Snow Careywood 48.04N 116.64W
03/04/2024 M3.0 inch Bonner ID Public
&&The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 heavy snow. Local standard time, as filed.
Observer measured 8.8 inches of snow 7 miles Southwest of Tiger.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Washington in 2024Every state in 2024This day in weather historyWarnings in Washington, March 2024
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1169610.