Spokane wakes to white Christmas, slick roads

The dream of a white Christmas turned into a travel headache as new snow made for slick holiday driving.

Most of the Spokane region received about an inch of snow by 8 a.m. with more coming down. The unplowed city roads made for slick intersections and several first responders headed out to reports of slideoffs on Interstate 90.

Traffic appeared to moving well on I-90, except for one car that ended up against the guard rail and facing the wrong direction near the Broadway exit.

“At the last airport, the last time they reported they had eight-tenths of an inch,” said Jon Fox, meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “But it’s now going to be over an inch.”

The widespread storm dumped as much as 2 inches of snow northwest in Springdale and 2 inches further south in Lewiston, Fox said. “That’s pretty good for Lewiston. But the snow in Spokane is going to be ending in the next couple of hours.”

The temperature in Spokane at 8:30 was 15 degrees and the high was expected to only reach about 20.

“It’s not going to get much warmer in coming days,” Fox said. “Tonight will be dry and mostly cloudy with lows in the lower teens. The snow is going to stay for a while. We don’t have a forecast above freezing temperatures until about Friday.”

Tuesday is expected to by dry, with a slight chance of snow late in the day. More snow was likely Wednesday.