Snow Depth Eastern Washington / Northern Idaho

 ...STORM TOTAL SNOWFALL THE PAST 24 HOURS 

 LOCATION              ELEVATION   OBSERVED    TIME OF     SOURCE

                        (FEET)      INCHES   OBSERVATION

 __________________________________________________________________

 ... BENEWAH COUNTY ID ...

 ST. MARIES 5 W           2460       6.5       630 PM      SPOTTER

 ... BONNER COUNTY ID ...

 SANDPOINT                           2.5       230 PM      PUBLIC

 PRIEST RIVER                        6.0       705 PM      PUBLIC

 ... BOUNDARY COUNTY ID ...

 BONNERS FERRY 11 ESE                3.0       715 AM      SPOTTER

 ... KOOTENAI COUNTY ID 

COEUR D`ALENE 4 SW       2900       6.0       530 PM      PUBLIC

 HAYDEN LAKE 1 NNE                   7.0       700 AM      SPOTTER

COEUR D`ALENE 20 ESE     2667      11.5       645 AM      SPOTTER

 ... LATAH COUNTY ID ...

 MOSCOW 5 NNE             2960       4.0       330 PM      SPOTTER

 ... LEWIS COUNTY ID ...

 WINCHESTER                          6.0       900 PM      PUBLIC

 ... SHOSHONE COUNTY ID ...

 KELLOGG 4 S                        12.0       600 AM      PUBLIC

 LOOKOUT PASS                       17.0       600 AM      PUBLIC

... SPOKANE COUNTY WA ...

 SPOKANE 3 NW                        1.2       615 PM      PUBLIC

 SPOKANE 4 NNW                       2.1       700 AM      SPOTTER

 SPOKANE 3 N                         3.0       415 PM      PUBLIC

... WHITMAN COUNTY WA ...

 PULLMAN                             4.0       530 PM      PUBLIC

 COLFAX                              4.0       705 PM      PUBLIC

Feeling sad? It Could be Seasonal Affective Disorder

By Carol Zinke Published: Dec 26, 2014

LEWISTON, ID - Hope you had a joyous Christmas. As the excitement is winding down from the holidays, moods may be too,

Seasonal affective disorder, also known as SAD is a type of depression that's related to changes in seasons. If you're like most people with SAD, your symptoms start in the fall and continue into the winter months. Six-percent of the U.S. population is affected by it. 

"It occurs most often farther away from the equator," said Quality Behavioral Health Director of Development, Sara Kern. "It's when people are feeling sad, irritable, not wanting to be around others, having difficulty with relationships, a lot of people see weight gain and just being lethargic and not wanting to do things."

One Valley resident, who chose to remain anonymous, has been living with seasonal affective disorder for almost 50 years. He first discovered he had the disorder when he was in high school. "I felt like I was sad all the time," said SAD sufferer. "There were a couple times I felt like... Wishing I wasn't alive. Later on, when I was in college, there were times when I felt suicidal, during this time of the month, and I just wasn't very happy."
SAD can strike any time of the year, but it happens most often in the colder months, when the sun isn't always out.

"When it gets dark out I just have this low grade depression," said SAD sufferer. "This low grade feeling of sadness and I'm not quite able to be as happy, or I just don't feel as much during the winter months."

Anyone can get Seasonal Affective Disorder, but it's most common in: women, people who live far from the equator, where winter daylight hours are very short. People between the ages of 15 and 55, and people who have a close relative with SAD. 

"If people are seeing signs of hopelessness and suicide, reaching out and calling their doctor or getting enrolled in some type of psycho therapy, or behavioral counseling is definitely important," said Sara Kern. "You can also increase your exercise, try to get under lights, and get outside on the sunny days we do have. That's all very important."

"You have to learn that it's very temporary, don't get too discouraged and you have to let yourself feel depressed," said SAD sufferer. "Sometimes it's worse when you try to deny that you're depressed. So, the best things is to accept it; accept that it's part of who you are and that's what happens to you during the wintertime. Don't be afraid to see a councilor or a therapist."

According to the Centers for Disease Control, more than 90% of people who die by suicide have clinical depression or another diagnosable mental disorder. So, don't brush off that yearly feeling as simply a case of the "winter blues" or a seasonal funk that you have to tough out on your own. It's important to take steps to keep your mood and motivation steady throughout the year. And, if you think someone you know has SAD, talk to them, it could save their life.

There are several places to turn to, in the valley, if you think you're experiencing seasonal affective disorder. Contact your local health care provider at any of our area hospitals or you can contact Quality Behavioral Health in Clarkston.

National Suicide Prevention Lifeline 1-800-273-8255 – available 24/7 
Quality Behavioral Health (509) 758-3341
Tri-State Memorial Hospital (509) 758-5511
Valley Medical Center (208) 746-1383
Pullman Regional Hospital (509) 332-2541

NorthWest Weather Pictures

scenes of the Northwest

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Seattle Ferry/Olympics

Space Needle

Columbia River Gorge

Pacific Coast

Mt. St. Helens

Orcas

Seattle Farmers Market

Cascade Starry Night

Opening day for Brundage had six inches of fresh snow

By Morgan Aguilar Updated: Dec 23, 2014

Brundage reported a base of 62 inches on Monday.

MCCALL, ID - Just in time for the Christmas, Brundage mountain is now 100% open.

Opening day was on Friday. A few runs were still closed, but those that were open had six inches of fresh snow. By Saturday, all five chairlifts were open, with just five runs still closed. Opening weekend turned out to be nothing but powder.

"Our average day usually comes around December 9th give or take a day or two," said April Whitney, Communication Director, Brundage Mountain. "We're about a week and half after that but the important thing for us is that we are open for Christmas break so families can enjoy their holiday tradition and come ski at Brundage Mountain and not have to change their plans at the last minute."

Monday, Brundage reported a base of 62 inches. The annual free "Light Up the Night" event is on Saturday. There will be a torchlight parade, slopeside fireworks show and live music. Be sure to tune into our Christmas Special Thursday evening to learn about another event that will be hosted at Brundage Mountain for the very first time this January.

Mountain Pass Reports- Improving Conditions

Snow ending -  roads still slippery...

Traveling tonight or Sunday over the mountain passes?? It looks like travel conditions will be improving as snow comes to an end this evening. The roadways may still have some snow and ice on them. Remember to take it slow if your encounter hazardous road conditions. 

• Check live weather cams & conditions from the Washington Department of Transportation here.  
• Check the Idaho Transportation Department live cams/conditions here. 

LUNAR DECEPTION:

Shady Business: Are there jagged mountain ranges on the moon?...or Spiky shadows

Early depictions of the moon took cues for telescopic observations, showing a rugged, 
forbidding landscape. As it turns out, this is an illusion.

This sketch of the Caucasus Mountains perfectly captures the dramatic, pointed shadows cast by peaks in the low sunlight.  Could the snowbank scenario be playing out on the Moon? McCabe

Sunlight grazing the top of a snowbank (right) throws the rounded knobs into stark relief on the street below. Every detail has been stretched and exaggerated by the sun’s low angle to create a shadowy "mountain range".

The very fact that the moon is airless allows every bit of meteoric dust to zap the surface at tens of thousands of miles per hour. Over the 4.5 billion year lifetime of the moon, myriad micrometeorite impacts have acted like cosmic sandpaper, grinding down the once craggy peaks into the smooth hills and mountaintops so vividly seen in photographs returned from the Apollo missions. 

Peaks of the Taurus-Littrow Mountains loom beyond the window of the Apollo 17 lunar module. From a closer perspective, we get a better idea of the relative smoothness of lunar mountains.  NASA 

Pointed shadows stretch across the floor of the 68-mile-wide crater Plato. The best place to see extreme shadows is right along the Moon's terminator, the ever-shifting boundary between lunar day and night. This is where the Sun is near rising (between New and Full phases) or setting (from Full to New). Damian Peach 

A few target areas where isolated peaks in mountain ranges, like the Alps and Caucasus, and along the rim of craters like Plato make for dramatic shadow-casting. Dates shown are approximate times when the terminator cuts through each region.
Virtual Moon Atlas - Patrick Chevalley, Christian Legrande 

Read the full article here

0-to-60 mph -is it a turbo-charged V8 or mother nature

It takes some of the better sports cars out there about 5-7 seconds to go from 0 to 60 mph.
Mother Nature showed off some of her own powerful accelerations during a storm that spawned an incredible gust front in Maine in June 2011
Michael McCormack has a web camera situated at Sebec Lake. About 1:45 p.m., a strong gust front went through the region, and the winds went from near calm to roaring over 60 mph in seconds.
And his web camera was rolling the entire time.
Here is how he described it:
"This image sequence shows a gust front approaching and raising a lot of water from the lake surface. The 4th frame shows a boat being overtaken at the leading edge of the wind. Last image shows a treetop landed in front of the cam." He estimates based on the speed of the front, the winds were blowing at about 66 mph at the leading edge.

Here are the images he was talking about. They are taken 30 seconds apart.