To rain or to snow? That’s the question this weekend.

The Coeur d’Alene area is experiencing the fickle side of Ma Nature, where just a few degrees makes all the difference between blizzards and puddles.

“So far it’s been just a touch too warm [to snow],” Press meteorologist Randy Mann said Thursday. “But this weekend we still have storms coming in and we will get rain or snow. It’s a temperature thing; it’s that close. So if it drops just a few degrees we’ll get more snow than rain. If it stays a little bit milder, we’ll get more rain than snow.”

Mann added that the mountains will get snowstorms for sure, but it’s not as certain at lower elevations.

Starting Monday or Tuesday, nighttime temperatures are expected to drop into the teens. Mann said he’s not expecting any particularly high winds, but gusts may reach 20 mph.

He explained that snows occur when the air temperature is cold and a moist air current from the Pacific rides in on top.

“It’s coming — it’s just taking time,” Mann said. “I would definitely have the snowblowers ready. At some point you’re going to need them.”

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See Mann’s weather column every Monday in The Press.