Tri-Cities might finally get snow. It will definitely be cold

The Tri-Cities might get its first snowfall of the winter on Monday.

The National Weather Service has increased the odds of snow to 40 percent that day.

If there is snow, there could be enough for one to two inches to accumulate on the ground.

The Tri-Cities has had just 0.3 inch of snow all winter, according to AccuWeather.

Temperatures will be dropping starting Monday, resulting in what could be one of the coldest weeks of a mild winter so far.

A break from the fog with clearing skies at least Tuesday through Thursday will keep temperatures lower than usual.

The highs may not hit the 30s on a couple of days. From Tuesday through Friday highs should be about 29 or 30 as a storm system moves out of the region.

Lows should be around 20 most nights.

Winter lovers could get more of the weather they like this month.

February, as a whole, is expected to be colder than usual, according to the weather service.

Precipitation should be near the normal of about 0.8 inch, but colder weather increases the odds that some could fall as snow.

Highs normally average about 48 degrees in the Tri-Cities in February and lows average about 30.

Year off to a mild start

January was warmer than usual with highs recorded at the Tri-Cities Airport averaging 1.4 degrees above the normal of 36.2 degrees.

That was despite the cold days that started the month. Lows dropped to 19 degrees on Jan. 1 and 18 degrees the next day.

No daily temperature records were set at the Hanford Meteorological Station north of Richland, which keeps weather records back to World War II.

The Hanford met station reported just 0.2 inch of snow in January. Normal snowfall there is 4.6 inches.

The Hanford Meteorology Service tracked fog for the month, finding it was a little foggier than usual.

A typical January at Hanford has 14 days when visibility drops to six miles or less. This January had 17.

The month was a little wetter than usual, with 1.62 inches inches reported in Kennewick, That’s about a half inch more than usual, according to the weather service.

Precipitation over the fall and winter so far has been about normal in the Tri-Cities.

January was not a particularly windy month.

The highest gust reported in the Tri-Cities was 35 mph on Jan. 7. At the Hanford met station it was 46 mph on Jan. 6.

This story was originally published February 2, 2019 at 4:04 PM.