Cheney Free Press -

SPOKANE – The National Weather Service is forecasting the possibility of a major weekend storm that could bring lots of rain, snow and high winds to the region.

According to a Nov. 10 advisory, the storm coming in off the Pacific Ocean has the potential to be “high impact” to the Pacific Northwest. The first effects could begin with light snow Friday morning that could impact the local commutes, but progress through the rest of the day into very windy conditions and/or significant lowland snow accumulations, depending on the track of the strong storm.

Scenario one has the storm tracking through southern British Columbia, bringing windy conditions with the possibility of 50-plus mile per hour gusts. Lowland snow accumulations could occur Friday into Friday night across the Idaho Panhandle and Washington counties along the Canadian border.

The second scenario tracks the storm through Washington and Northern Idaho, bringing higher chances of widespread lowland snow accumulations Friday into Saturday along with heavy mountain snow. The strongest winds would be focused over Oregon and the extreme southern portions of Washington and the Idaho Panhandle.