Breaking 60, finally

COEUR d'ALENE - Thank God for Sundays.

Before the mercury topped out at 66 degrees on Easter, it had been 188 days - go all the way back to Oct. 17, 2010 - since Coeur d'Alene had enjoyed a day over 60.

Instead, for much of October, for all of November, December, January, February, and March, and most of April, there's been plenty of rain, wind, snow, hail, cold and just miserable weather.

Sunshine? That's a rare sighting.

"This has been a strange period, and very, very wet," said climatologist Cliff Harris.

Sure enough, since that 66 degree day with blue skies on Easter Sunday that saw people out mowing lawns and riding bikes, the temperatures fell, the clouds rolled in and the rains returned.

Tuesday's high was 41 degrees, 20 degrees below normal, and it broke the old high-low mark for April 26 of 47 degrees set in 1983.

"That's pretty cold," Harris said Tuesday.

But there is hope.

On Sunday, which happens to be Bloomsday when around 50,000 runners and walkers will take over the streets of Spokane for the 7.46-mile race, it's supposed to be sunny and the temperatures could top 60 once again.

"Sunday looks like the best day of the lot," Harris said, laughing. "We're doing OK on Sundays."

First, though, there's another storm expected to arrive tonight and drop more rain and yes, more snow all the way through Friday.

Harris said there's more snow in the surrounding mountains as April comes to a close, around 300 inches, than ever before.

"All of that snow has to melt sometime here," he said. "While we've been having rain mixed with snow down here, they've been having snow up there."

How wet and miserable has it been at the lower elevations?

* Since Jan. 1, it has rained 15.4 inches in Coeur d'Alene. Normal is 9.25 inches.

* Since Jan. 1, there have been 81 days of measurable precipitation. "I can't find another year with more than 60," Harris said. "Almost every day, we've had rain."

* In April alone, so far, it has rained 3.29 inches. The record rainfall for April is 4.41 inches set in 1937. "We've still got four days after today to go, so anything is possible," Harris said.

* There have been eight days of measurable snowfall, 6.9 inches total, in April

This has been, Harris said, one of the wettest, coldest, snowiest Aprils on record.

But don't despair too much.

A warming trend, perhaps around mid-May, is on the way. The area could see its first 70 degree day since Oct. 6, 2010.

That's 202 days, and still counting.

"Everybody wants a break," Harris said.