BearTalk

The Bears fly out of Oakland on Wednesday for Spokane, Wash., from where they will bus the 80 miles or so to Pullman for Thursday’s Pac-10 game with Washington State.

During his Tuesday press conference, coach Mike Montgomery joked about the conditions that may greet the team.

“Have we run into weather at Washington State?” he said. “The question is, `Have I been there?’ Which answers your question. It is what it is. You get there, you go play.

“I’ve been going there for 33 years. I can only imagine there’s been some weather along the way.”

But maybe not quite like this.

This has been one of the most severe winters ever in Washington.  A locale known as Pigtail Creek received 100.9 inches of snow in December. Fish Lake had 153.9 inches. Some place called Waterhole was massacred by 192.9 inches — that’s an average of more than 6 inches per day.

The city of Spokane was pounded with 61.5 inches of snow in December, an all-time record for any month dating back to when the National Weather Service began keeping such records in 1893. Almost all of that snow came in the final two weeks of December, and on Dec. 17 the city got 24 inches in 24 hours.

The first week of January brought 15 more inches to Spokane, including 8 inches Sunday night into Monday, causing more school and road closures and stories of roofs collapsing on homes and businesses.

The good news for the Bears — and for those of us who are about to follow them up there — is that the forecast for Wednesday and Thursday is a bit better. Predictions are for highs in the upper 30s on Wednesday with rain. More of the same Thursday, with the possibilty of snow at night.

Just in time for that drive from Pullman back to Spokane. We’ll keep you posted.