COEUR d’ALENE — A mild North Idaho winter with little snow could be coming to an end.

Coeur d’Alene climatologist Cliff Harris said Friday that temperatures could turn very cold last next week, with subzero temperatures a strong possibility.

He said around 50 inches of snow could fall in the two months of Jan. 8 to March 8.

“The second half of winter is going to be entirely different than the first half,” he said. 

A high-pressure ridge coming from Canada could collide with the “river of moisture” that’s been affecting California and create much-different winter weather in North Idaho, Harris said.

“That will produce quite a bit of snow,” he said.

Temperatures below zero are in the forecast for next weekend. Temperatures in the teens and lower could stick around until about Jan. 20, Harris said.

He said if skies are clear, the area could see its coldest temperatures in a long time.

“Winter has not arrived yet but it could be a humdinger for a short period of time,” he said.

Snow was coming down Saturday, with a forecast of a few inches of accumulation early today, adding to around 9 inches of total snowfall seen in Coeur d’Alene for the season, compared to the average of about 40 inches at this time of year.

The lack of snow so far has been “very disappointing,” Harris said, and is due to El Niño. 

“It’s been too warm,” he said.

But he sees several inches of snow in the forecast this week that will make skiers happy.

The National Weather Service issued a winter storm watch Saturday afternoon warning that 8 to 12 inches of snow are possible between Monday morning and Wednesday morning. 

The cold spell coming to Coeur d’Alene was initially predicted to reach an alarming -18 next Sunday, Jan. 14, by one weather forecaster but that was downgraded to -3 degrees Saturday.

Meteorologist Randy Mann said he’s been keeping an eye on that frigid outbreak headed to North Idaho.

“There’s a very good chance that we’ll have temperatures below zero in the area,” he said. “However, a lot depends on how much cloud cover we get.”

Harris said residents should prepare to go from no snow to lots of snow in the next two months.

History indicates little snowfall in December sometimes means a snowy first month of the new year. In January 1969, Coeur d’Alene received 82.6 inches of snow after seeing only 11.4 inches through Christmas.

Harris doesn’t expect that much snow, but said, “anything is possible.”

“You better look for the opposite extreme in a relatively short period of time,” he said.