Weather advisories upgraded to warnings

The National Weather Service, Missoula, has issued a winter storm warning for the Kootenai/Cabinet Region, in effect from noon Sunday to eight a.m. Monday. Up to four inches of valley snow is possible, pushed by wind gusts to 50 miles-per-hour.

At higher elevations, 10 to 20 inches of snow is possible, with winds gusting to 65 miles per hour.

Such conditions could make driving extremely treacherous, impacting the Monday morning commute. In North Idaho tand northeast Washington, the winter storm advisory issued earlier has been elevated to a winter storm warning above 3,000 feet.

In the Spokane NWS area, snowfall rates at higher elevations of up to an inch per hour, with the snow level dropping to the valley floors early Monday morning, where up to two inches of snow is expected.