Winter wonderland won't wash away

COEUR d'ALENE — Those fearful that a forecast predicting warmer temperatures and rain today will wash away dreams of a white Christmas should cast their fears aside.

"A white Christmas? You can pretty much take that to the bank," said Randy Mann, Press meteorologist.

Kootenai County will warm up today, Mann said, and could reach temperatures as high as 40 degrees. For elevations lower than 3,000 feet, Mann said to hit than snow.

"That's almost hard to believe since we were below zero just last week," Mann said. "We will lose some of the snow, but we've got more coming."

Strong southwesterly winds, plus rain, means a lot of the snow on the ground could wash away. But as temperatures begin to drop again, potentially as low as 20 degrees, Mann said road conditions could get dangerous.

“These types of weather patterns can be awful when it comes to road conditions," he said.

Temperatures are supposed to decrease Wednesday and snowfall is expected throughout the region on Thursday. The cold weather pattern will continue throughout Christmas weekend, with snowfall predicted on Saturday and Sunday.

Decent-sized snowstorms are also expected during the first weekend of the new year.

"The next round of cold won't be as intense as this was," Mann said. "We probably just went through the most intense part of the season, but nothing is perfect when you're predicting the weather and have these kinds of cycles going on."

Coeur d’Alene has received 21 inches of snow so far, while the normal to date is 19.7 inches, Mann said. December’s average is 20.6.

"We were way behind for a while, but caught up," Mann said. "And we'll be adding to it."