Dec. 25, 2008, was the 'Whitest Christmas' on record

The WHITEST CHRISTMAS on record since 1895, to answer a Press subscriber's question, occurred four years ago in 2008. That December 25th, we had an amazing 44 inches of snow on the ground on Player Drive and nearly 30 inches of snow around Lake Coeur d'Alene.

Some of our relatives from Oregon were visiting us and we spent much of the day trying to keep our sunroom roof from collapsing under the weight of nearly 4 feet of heavy wet snow. We had our main roof shoveled off a few days later when our local snowpack reached an all-time record 49 inches.

By early January 2009, we had already topped 100 inches of the white stuff in town, the earliest in the season for such a high snowfall total. Our normal Coeur d'Alene snowfall for a single season since 1895 is just 69.8 inches. Last winter, in 2011-12, we measured an above normal 83.4 inches.

Many buildings collapsed during the snow-bound winters of 2007-08 and 2008-09. Back to back, these two winters produced an incredible 318.5 inches of snow, a whopping 172.9 inches in 2007-08, our greatest total ever, and another 145.6 inches, the second most ever, in 2008-09.

Some of the building collapses during those years when 'our sun went silent' between 2007 and 2009 included the KYRO Ice Arena on Seltice Way between Post Falls and Coeur d'Alene, Big Sky Communications, Coeur d'Alene Tractor on Appleway Avenue and at least another dozen buildings throughout North Idaho.

Around 2 p.m. on Dec. 7, 2008, the huge Fred Meyer complex on Kathleen Avenue had to be evacuated due to the threat of a major roof collapse. Several roof tiles buckled under the weight of thousands of tons of snow. The fire department also noticed that some of the store's sprinkler heads had shifted. Fortunately, there was no total collapse of the Fred Meyer roof.

The nine other whitest Christmasses since 1895 were 1915 with 37 inches of snow on the ground in Coeur d'Alene, 2007 with 34 inches, 31 inches on Dec. 25, 1896, 30 inches in 1996, 29 inches in 1992, 28 inches in 1964, 26 inches in 1951, 25 inches in 1895 and 1922 and an even 2 feet of snow on the ground on Dec. 25, 1984.

Our average snowfall on the ground in Coeur d'Alene on Dec. 25 since 1895 has been 5 inches. We've had 83 Christmasses that have had at least an inch of snow on the ground qualifying as a 'White Christmas' in the past 118 years. That's a 70 percent average. This Christmas, due to a cool, moist 'La Nada' sea-surface temperature event in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, I earlier put the odds at 80 percent for a local White Christmas, 4-to-1 in favor of snow-covered ground.

As I wrote this article on Thursday, Dec. 20, it appeared as if the odds were near 100 percent of a White Christmas in 2012 across North Idaho and much of the rest of the Inland Empire above 2,000 feet.

Next week in 'Gems,' we'll examine the EXTREMELY WEIRD weather patterns locally, nationally and globally in 2012.

Have a JOYOUS CHRISTMAS!

NORTH IDAHO'S WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS

A potent winter storm dumped another 7 to 13 inches of snow on North Idaho in the 24-hour period ending at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 20. More than a 'foot' of snow on the ground in my backyard on Player Drive guaranteed that we will see my long-predicted White Christmas on Dec. 25, a virtual 100 percent shot.

Our seasonal snowfall total on Thursday stood at an above normal 28.7 inches with December's snow total reaching 21.8 inches by noon, an inch above the normal snowfall total for an entire December of 20.8 inches. As I predicted months ago, this December would see at least 25 to 30 inches of snow, the most since the all-time record December snowfall of 87.4 inches four years ago in 2008 when many buildings collapsed, including part of our sunroom on the north side of the house.

As far as liquid precipitation is concerned, by noon on Thursday, we had gauged a whopping .77 inches of moisture since the latest storm began on Wednesday afternoon. That pushed our 2012 rainfall total to 41.98 inches, which easily surpassed the previous record for the wettest year since 1895 of 38.77 inches in 1996, the year of the "BIG ICE STORM."

Randy Mann tells me that the current 'La Nada' sea-surface temperature event in the waters of the Pacific Ocean may soon become an even colder and snowier 'La Nina' phenomenon. If he's right, we could see another 50 or 60 inches of snowfall during the January through early April period in town. That would put our final 2012-13 snowfall total ending June 30 at somewhere between 85 and 90 inches.

Once again, enjoy this very WHITE CHRISTMAS!

Cliff Harris is a climatologist who writes a weekly column for The Press. His opinions are his own. Email sfharris@roadrunner.com