Silver Valley soggy, but snow on the way

Unseasonable rain left the Silver Valley soggy during the weekend, but ski areas are expecting new snow this week.

No damaging flooding was recorded, and Shoshone County Emergency Services Manager Cory Foster said he is not very concerned about flooding in the west end of the valley due to a lack of heavy snow in higher elevations.

"Not really worried because we don't have a lot of snow pack up high," he said.

Although the Coeur d'Alene River sprawled over a couple roads near the Kootenai County border, water levels have receded from the highest recent recording Sunday night. Foster said a level of 45 feet, 7 inches, was recorded at the old Cataldo bridge Sunday night, and he expected levels to reach 42 feet and 5 inches Monday night.

Riverview Drive west of Kingston was closed around 11:30 a.m. Sunday morning after water covered a section of it. Not far from there in Kootenai County, a portion of CCC Road 202 was underwater about a mile from the Cataldo Bridge.

"This is pretty early for us. This usually happens in March or April," Foster said.

Mullan Pass recorded 1.89 inches of precipitation during a 72-hour period between Friday and Monday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.

Lookout Pass Ski Area reported wet snow conditions with about 6 inches expected in the forecast beginning Monday night. At press time, Lookout Pass showed a base of 32 inches with 57 inches at the summit with all lifts open.

Silver Mountain Resort is expecting 4 to 8 inches of new snow from Tuesday to Thursday. Silver Mountain listed a base depth at Kellogg Peak of 51 inches and 46 inches at mid-mountain on Monday.