'It's about time': Coeur d'Alene embraces snowfall after slow start to winter

COEUR d’ALENE — Several inches of snow have fallen over the past few days following a relatively quiet start to winter, and some residents embraced it.

“It’s about time,” said Dana Cole of Coeur d’Alene with a laugh. “We need about three more feet.”

Central Bark Dog Park along Atlas Road was crowded Wednesday afternoon as about a dozen dogs played in the thick layer of fresh powder.

The dogs’ owners were just as happy to be out on the chilly winter day.

“Our dogs are happy, so we’re happy,” said Matt Wishawn of Coeur d’Alene.

The accumulation was enough for residents to break out snow shovels for the first time this year and for the city to plow arterials, hills and collector streets, but not quite enough to do residential neighborhoods.

A citywide plow is called for when more than 4 inches of snowfall is on the roadway or 3 inches of snowfall is on the roadway and more than 4 is predicted.   

Streets and Engineering Department Director Todd Feusier said the snow measured about 3 inches in a few locations around the city.

Even so, Heather McDaniel with the Idaho Transportation Department said the storm marked “the most significant deployment of our forces so far this season.”

The region is still playing catchup on seasonal snowfall.

Meteorologist Joey Klevenger at the National Weather Service said the Coeur d’Alene-Spokane region has normally accumulated about 34.4 inches of snow at this point in the season but has so far seen about 16.5 inches of snow.

But winter is far from over.

“It’s definitely going to be cold enough for more snow in the near future,” Klevenger said. “It’s just a matter of whether we get a moisture inflow, which we haven’t been getting many of this season.”

Mountain snowpacks are also looking promising.

As of Tuesday, Bonner and Boundary County area snowpack sits at 97% of seasonal average, Coeur d’Alene/St.Joe at 81%, and the lower Panhandle is at about 89% of average, Klevenger said.