Climate guide
Spokane cold snaps and your furnace
Spokane winters are long rather than brutal. The numbers explain why furnaces here fail when they do.
(509) 461-5781
A Spokane winter in numbers
NOAA's 1991 to 2020 climate normals for Spokane International Airport, the official record for the city.
| Month | Normal high | Normal low | Snowfall |
|---|---|---|---|
| November | 42.3 °F | 30.3 °F | 6.2 in |
| December | 33.8 °F | 24.3 °F | 13.8 in |
| January | 34.5 °F | 24.7 °F | 12.3 in |
| February | 39.5 °F | 26.3 °F | 7.8 in |
| March | 48.6 °F | 31.5 °F | 3.9 in |
Source: NOAA NCEI U.S. Climate Normals. Daily records and current conditions: National Weather Service Spokane climate page.
What the averages hide
Averages smooth out the hard weeks. The same normals count about 132 days a year with a low at or below 32 °F and about 34 days when the high never gets above freezing. On average, two nights a year fall below zero.
Those sub-freezing days are when a furnace runs the longest cycles of the year. A weak igniter or a sticky inducer motor that got by in November tends to give out in a run of them.
What a cold spell does to a furnace
- Long run times. Wear shows up as noise, slow starts or a blower that trips on heat.
- Vent icing. The vapor from a high-efficiency furnace can freeze on the outside pipe ends.
- Frozen drains. Condensate lines in a garage or crawl space can freeze and shut the furnace down.
- Drifting snow. Wind can bury low side-wall vents overnight.
- Busy contractors. Everyone calls during the same cold week.
Before the next cold week
A short list that costs little:
- Change the filter before a forecast cold spell.
- Clear the outside vents and keep a path to them.
- Know where the furnace switch and the gas shutoff are.
- Keep a couple of safe electric space heaters for a room or two.
- Book a tune-up in early fall rather than after the first freeze.
Where these facts come from
Cold house in Spokane? Talk to a contractor now.
Dial the number and explain what the heat or cooling is doing. The person who picks up runs an independent HVAC business working in Spokane and the towns nearby.