Jan. 16—More snow is expected to fall across north central Idaho and southeastern Washington today through Thursday, including 1 to 3 inches in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley.

The Palouse could see 6 inches; 4-7 inches is forecast to accumulate on the Camas Prairie; and the Clearwater Valley could get 3-8 inches, according to Daniel Butler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Much more is forecast for the mountains. The Blue Mountains could get 8 to 15 inches and the Clearwater Mountains could see 18 inches, according to forecasts as of Monday afternoon.

Butler said the snow will come in two waves, with the first hitting this afternoon. A second round of snow will arrive Wednesday morning.

Mountains in the Columbia River Basin received decent amounts of snow over the past week but are still behind seasonal averages. The mountains feeding the Salmon River held a snowpack that measured 68% of average Monday and the Clearwater Mountain snowpack is at 66% of average. In contrast, the mountains that feed the lower Snake River Basin, including the Blue Mountains, jumped to 88% of average.

Butler said temperatures will generally rise as the week advances and snow may well turn to rain by late Wednesday morning in Lewiston and Clarkston. Butler said the Weather Service is forecasting a high of 39 degrees at Lewiston on Friday and 42 on Saturday.

However, the higher temperatures bring the risk of freezing rain for the valley, Palouse and Camas Prairie on Friday.

“There is a shot at some minor ice accumulation, anywhere from 100th to 10th of an inch at all the locations,” Butler said. “But it does not take much for roads to become very slippery with freezing rain.”

Barker may be contacted at ebarker@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2273. Follow him on Twitter @ezebarker.