Our climate currently features the wildest weather 'extremes' in at least 1,000 years

It seems to me that the climate change debate continues to be obscured by manmade hot air and fury. Deeply en-trenched and extremely vociferous positions have been taken on all sides. I'm sort of 'in the middle of things.'

I still see an evolving climate of WIDE WEATHER 'EXTREMES,' the strongest such cycle of weird weather patterns globally in at least 1,000 years dating back to the days of Leif Ericsson, the mighty Viking chieftain.

Take this recently-expired wild winter of 2011-12 for a prime example of wide climatic extremes. Europe, especially the eastern countries, much of Asia, the Mediterranean regions and even North Africa experienced some of the coldest and snowiest weather conditions in nearly 400 years, since the mid 1600s in some cases. Alaska had its snowiest winter in at least 150 years and is now suffering from raging floods resulting from a huge snowmelt runoff situation.

By extreme contrast, however, the eastern two-thirds of the U.S. saw its mildest winter season in recorded history. The current warm spell with record afternoon highs in the 80s in places like Chicago, Detroit and Columbus, Ohio, is unprecedented in its duration, more than 10 days in many instances. Thousands of Midwest farmers have planted their corn and soybean fields nearly a month ahead of schedule, this despite the threat of a killer freeze looming at the end of this month into early to mid April, especially north of I-80, which runs through Denver, Des Moines and Chicago.

Just this past week, we saw a record 28 inches of snow delight skiers in the Flagstaff, Ariz., area. Heavy snows likewise fell near Lake Tahoe on the California/Nevada border. On the first full day of spring, March 20, we saw moderate snows in North Idaho. Earlier that morning, rare late-season snowflakes were observed in both Seattle and Portland, Ore.

It remains the firm opinion of this climatologist that the earth's ever-changing climate is constantly being influenced by naturally-occurring cycles of solar and volcanic activity, sea-surface ocean temperature patterns and, possibly, by cycles of cosmic rays that bombard our planet. I'll have more on cosmic rays in the next issue of 'Gems' on April 2.

What happens to our climate in the next decade will depend mostly on what happens with changes on the sun, our primary weather-maker. All indications are that we will turn cooler again following the peak of the current sunspot 'maxima' in late 2012 or early 2013. But, as usual, only time will tell. But, I assure you, our weather won't be boring.

NORTH IDAHO WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS

I wrote most of this North Idaho weather update on the snowiest March 22 on record since at least 1895 in the Coeur d'Alene area.

By 10 a.m., a whopping 4.3 inches of heavy, wet snow had fallen since midnight on Player Drive. The previous record for March 22nd snowfall was just 2 inches in 1964. Ironically, we gauged an amazing 2.3 inches of snow in a whiteout 'snowburst' Thursday morning between 6:25 a.m. and 7:15 a.m. as many people were heading for work. This was the heaviest hourly snowfall of the entire 2011-12 winter season. For a short time, the snowflakes were "as big as quarters."

Another 1.3 inches of fluffy white snow early Friday morning pushed our March total to almost double normal at 12.3 inches and our seasonal snow total for 2011-12 to 78.9 inches, more than 9 inches above normal. We normally gauge 69.8 inches of snow during an entire winter in Coeur d'Alene. I had earlier predicted a below normal 63.4 inches of snow for the 2011-12 season due to a dying 'La Nina.'

But, I did point out in mid March that we've seen a very clear weather pattern this winter season of very little snow and milder than usual temperatures during the first half of each month since November and very cold and snowy conditions around the 'new moon' lunar phases. Our record daily snowfall on Thursday in town occurred precisely on the 'new moon.'

The 'good news' is that it will soon warm up. By next week, we should see what Randy Mann and I believe will be a fairly normal month of April weatherwise. The 'sun and showers' pattern will set the stage for a boatload of 'May flowers' and trees that will leaf out a month earlier than last spring.

I certainly don't see a repeat of last April's near-record cold and unusually heavy snowfalls. It was the third-coldest and the third-snowiest April in town since at least 1895. Nearly 8 inches of the white stuff was measured last April on Player Drive compared with the puny normal April snowfall since 1895 of just 0.7 inches.

Looking farther down the meteorological highway, I see a warmer than normal five-month period between May 1 and the end of September thanks, at least in part, to a drier 'La Nada' sea-surface temperature event in the waters of the Pacific Ocean.

This summer should see at least 22 hot 90-degree plus 'Sholeh Days' and only 60 or 70 percent of our normal rainfall. July's precipitation may be less than 50 percent of the normal .92 inches at somewhere around .42 inches. August's rainfall will be near an inch, but that total will be down approximately 25 percent from the 117-year normal of 1.23 inches. The weather prospects for this year's North Idaho Fair and Rodeo look good, but may not be totally rainless like last year's hot and dry event.

As I said last week, BETTER WEATHER IS COMING TO NORTH IDAHO. This is a PROMISE!!!

SPECIAL ADDED NOTE: The 'spring wonderland' on the snowy Friday morning was a perfect setting for our 51st wedding anniversary. Sharon and I were married in Caldwell, Idaho, on March 23, 1961. I love you more than ever, honey!

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