Sandpoint, ID experiences Maritime Polar, Continental Polar, and Continental Arctic air masses a few times in the winter. With the polar air masses; Sandpoint is hit with cold dry air, cold humid air, and sometimes very cold and very dry air. With these systems crossing over Sandpoint as well as the Polar Jet Stream that occasionally makes it way down to Sandpoint, the average winter gets cold dry winters and snow in the fall and spring. The average precipitation for Sandpoint is much like Denver Colorado with 17 inches of rain. The Dry Canadian Air masses, or Continental Polar, comes into Sandpoint and cause cold winds. The Pacific Northwest fronts, or the Maritime Polar fronts, typically come from the Northwest, Pacific ocean, and cause humid cold conditions.
The figure above: shows warm, moist air from the south riding over cold/dry air from Canada Friday morning. The red, dashed lines overlayed on the water vapor satellite image represent temperatures in degrees Celsius below freezing at a height approximate to 5000 feet above mean sea level. (http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/otx/cases/0414/041400.php)
This is an example of two systems the Northwest Pacific Maritime Polar and the Canadian dry, Continental Polar colliding. The storm happened on April 13th, 2000 the atmospheric collision of two weather system collided over the eastern edge of Washington and the Idaho Panhandle. The storm recorded 5 inches of snow and winds up to 30 mph in Sandpoint.
Sandpoint is located on the lee side of the Bald Mountain range lying in a trough. Because Sandpoint is located where it is, like Denver, it sees strong high winds through certain fronts. This can also form cyclones and create high amounts of snow that dump onto the city.
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