Pre-Thanksgiving blizzard pounds Palouse

Whitman County was pounded by an arctic blast that brought with it the worst pre-Thanksgiving blizzard to hit in 25 years Monday and Tuesday.

Snow began falling late Sunday afternoon, paused briefly Tuesday, before snowfall resumed in small flakes and fell through late Tuesday night. The storm left as much as 12 inches on the ground in flat spots. High winds pushed snow into drifts that mounted waist high in some places.

The Palouse region was under a blizzard warning issued Monday by the National Weather Service that lasted until near noon Tuesday.

Snowfall at Colfax topped the measuring gauge at the FSA office off Almota Road in South Colfax. The snow was estimated to be in the range of 12 inches Tuesday morning.

Gazette weather watchers Nancy Taylor at LaCrosse and Al Evans at Oakesdale reported nine and nine-and-a-half inches of snow had fallen at LaCrosse and Oakesdale, respectively, as of Tuesday.

Snow was pushed along by high winds Tuesday. The National Weather Service monitoring gauge at Uniontown recorded a peak gust of 44 mph at 2:15 a.m., and the Pullman Airport station charted a 35 mph top wind speed at 3:53 a.m.

The heavy snow may have been a blessing to young shoots of winter wheat, as it provided a blanket from the arctic cold front that brought in temperatures that barely topped double digits.

The Bank of Whitman's readerboard in Colfax reported a 6 a.m. temperature of seven below zero. The weather service had forecast an 11 degree high Wednesday.

The weather service reported wind speeds of five to seven mph dropped Tuesday night's wind-chilled low temperature to almost 20 below zero and predicted Wednesday's high would feel like nine below.

The weather service Tuesday said the cold front was the coldest November temperatures since the frigid eleventh month of 1985, when the record low at Pullman was set at minus-14 degrees. Average low temperature for the area in November is 30.6 degrees.

Highways, schools and government offices were shut down throughout Whitman County Tuesday, as the big dig-out began.

Drifting and driving snow shut down state Highway 195 from Colfax to the Idaho state line south of Uniontown. Highway crews were dispatched Tuesday morning at about 7:30 for a final check before putting the road back in operation between Colfax and Pullman. The road from Pullman south to the state line re-opened at 10:42 a.m.

Round Barn Hill again was the trouble spot on 195. The highway was opened up at about 9 a.m. from Colfax to Pullman with truckers required to put on chains. The segment of highway from Pullman south to the state line was back in operation at 10:45 a.m.

All of Highway 23 from Steptoe to Harrington was closed Monday night, and Highway 27 from Oakesdale to Fairfield was closed.

Schools at Steptoe, Colfax, Rosalia, St. John/Endicott, LaCrosse and Garfield/Palouse shut down for the day.

Whitman County commissioners shut down the courthouse to non-essential staff Tuesday.

Washington State Patrol troopers responded to 14 reports of vehicle slide-offs between Monday morning and Wednesday morning, four of which included costly damages.

Sheriff's deputies responded to reports of 13 slide-offs over that same period.

Colfax Police at 11:51 a.m. Monday responded to a report of a trucker who had spun out on the Palouse Highway grade about 15 yards from the Hauser addition entry. The trucker was required to chain up and gravel was applied to the grade to get the semi extricated from the ditch and up the grade, but officers learned about 20 minutes later that the same trucker had slid off 272 again, according to Chief Bill Hickman.

Colfax ambulance Monday received calls for two accidents, one at 10:08 a.m. on Highway 195 south of Colfax, and one at 6:29 p.m. on Highway 26. Both calls were cancelled after officers determined ambulance service was not needed.

Also, early Tuesday morning, alarms sounded at the McGregor office on Airport Road. A crew was alerted but not dispatched after the building was checked out by Clark Capwell, a fire department volunteer and McGregor employee.