I'm a little confused about the snow. (Spokane: houses, purchase) - Washington (WA) - City-Data Forum

circa81 · 05-03-2011, 12:35 AM

Everyone here is always saying how big an issue the snow is in Spokane. But where I live in Connecticut, we get over twice the amount you guys get annually, and my family has never had an all wheel or 4 wheal drive car, to me, we just don't get much snow. Is it like when you guys get it, it's all at once or something?

rgb123 · 05-03-2011, 12:59 AM

I've only been here one winter..I hear last year there was no snow!

This November was VERY snowy and I had just gotten here, it was quite a welcome...lol. It was the snowiest Nov on record, so at least I was reassured it wasn't totally normal...

It still snows a dusting here and there, and we just hit May. Though it was nearly 60 degrees today. The other day, my car temp said 53 degrees, yet I still saw white stuff fall out of the sky, that was a first for me. I never heard the term 'grapple' til I moved here...

Anyway, it's not that bad. What is bad? Snow removal. It's hilly, the roads get treacherous and they do not use salt here. Like nothing I've ever experienced in terms of winter driving, hence the purchase of snow tires.

redhead · 05-05-2011, 11:37 AM

ya it's the steep hills and lack of good snow removal my the city that makes the snow a headach

so good tires are a must and if you have to travel over the steep hills then even studded snow tires keep you from sliding around. whereas on the east coast it's more flat and everyone is use to driving in the snow and the cities have plenty of snow removal equipment.

tusquitee · 05-22-2011, 01:23 AM

Sorry, but gotta reply to this. I am from the east coast, but grew up in Germany. So I have seen zero snow, and consistant snow.

Snow in Spokane is crazy. One day, two years ago, it snowed 17 inches in a couple hours. I shoveled all day long. That was also the year I shoveled the roof of my house. I was litterally standing on the roof of my house with snow up to my armpits. It was so much work I had to strip down! Took me all day to shovel my roof. My wife's co-worker had her roof collapse, as did many other people.

The snow in Spokane can get so bad, I have had to pull normal SUV's out (I bought a Toyota FJ just to cope with it).

Last year was nothing. November saw quite a bit at first, but then it was snow, melt, snow, melt. The previous two years it snowed and snowed and snowed and never melted. The berms got so tall that I couldn't even throw the snow over them. Makes it hard to shovel when you can't put the crap anywhere. And forget about a snowblower. My 5 horse snowblower was good for about 2 months.

Anyway, come to Snowcan...enjoy some snow.

skinem · 05-25-2011, 05:57 PM

I have over 40 years of experience with Spokane winters.

Some of the winters, there isn't much snow. Other winters you get bombed. I've been snowed on 10 of the 12 months in Spokane. Trick or treated while it snowed. Seen snow on the ground for 6 months. Seen snow up to the eaves of houses, snow drifting so badly you couldn't keep a highway open, seen 4 feet in two days, snow so bad that roofs collapsed, seen white-outs. But, also, I've seen some winters where there wasn't much more than a dusting or two.

You just can't tell what kind of winter you'll have. I do know this...there is consistently enough "winter" that the Air Forces' winter survival school is run out of Fairchild, just west of town, although their main training area where they dump guys to "survive" is north of Spokane. I also know that the state's record low temp is not far from Spokane and is not uncommon the get close to it not far from there.