Winter's opening act makes way for rain

–Misty Zornaki photo

One of the first snow flakes of the season poses for a photo shoot on a Halloween pumpkin.

After some weekend sunshine, Whitman County residents will not be seeing much sun for a couple of weeks.

The first snow of the season fell on the county last weekend, coming in all size flakes from small to deluxe Christmas-edition size. The NRCS precipitation gauge in Colfax measured .39 inches from that snow fall. There was a brief dry spell before rain was predicted to come back Wednesday evening.

As of Tuesday, the Pullman Airport had measured 0.52 inches for November, almost a tenth of a inch more than the average 0.43 inch. Precipitation since Oct. 1 is almost double the average, with three inches recorded compared to the normal 1.77. The area has received more than five inches more precipitation for the year than average and more than an inch more than last year with 18.61 so far in 2017 and 17.43 at this point in 2016.

The highest measure of precipitation so far this month was Sunday with 0.20 inches recorded at Pullman Airport.

Residents will have a little time to dry off this Saturday and Sunday when the prediction is for mostly sunny and partly cloudy skies. After that the rains will be back with about 50 percent chance of rain for the next week and beyond. Temperatures during that time are expected to be in the mid to lower 40s with next Thursday, Nov. 16, the only day with a chance of snow.

Temperatures so far this month are cooler than average and 20 to almost 30 degrees cooler than last year.