Mountain snow, valley rain and clean air everywhere

This week’s dramatic change in weather may have brought rain to the lowlands, but temperatures overnight were cold enough aloft to leave snow in the upper elevations.

The first snow of the season fell overnight Monday and was being reported Tuesday by ski areas getting ready for a new winter season.

At Spokane International Airport, nearly a quarter of an inch of rain fell in about 30 minutes before 5 p.m.

Observers said the precipitation included snow pellets as opposed to hail. That brings the two-day storm total to about a half-inch of precipitation.

At 49 Degrees North ski area east of Chewelah, Washington, the resort website reported 1 inch of fresh snow at the summit.

Schweitzer Mountain Resort also reported snow. A web photo from Silver Mountain Resort showed patches of fresh snow at the Mountain House.

A large low pressure area from the Gulf of Alaska drew cooler air southward on Monday and was expected to keep the chance of mountain snow in the forecast until Monday.

The low replaced a summerlong pattern of strong high air pressure that brought a record 80-day dry spell to Spokane and periods of unhealthy air from wildfire smoke that was pressed close to the ground by the high air pressure.

With the complete change in weather, forecasters at the National Weather Service in Spokane posted a hazardous weather outlook for the early mountain snow expected mainly at 5,000 feet in elevation and higher.

Through noon Tuesday, Spokane International Airport had 0.29 of an inch of rain.

Showers were expected to continue through into the weekend with a possibility of thunderstorms.

The main track for storms was moving southward into southeast Washington and the lower Idaho Panhandle on Tuesday night.

Residents were breathing more easily with air quality measured in the good range on Tuesday with an air-quality index reading of 21, making it the cleanest in months.