Snowpocalypse takes a slight toll

Snow pummeled Whitman County last week, closing schools, blacking out power and, perhaps most disconcerting for Whitman County, cancelling a strong slate of weekend basketball.

The storm moved in from the west Tuesday, Jan. 17, hitting hardest at LaCrosse. Gazette weather watcher Nancy Taylor reported 12 inches of snow fell at LaCrosse between 5 p.m. Tuesday and 5 p.m. Wednesday. That total marked a high since the National Weather Service began keeping records there in 1931. The previous high was three inches in 1950.

David Jones at the NRCS office on the South Hill of Colfax, measured 15.5 in...