It's either 'feast' or 'famine' in Coeur d'Alene's snowfall records

Every year at this time, I update Coeur d'Alene's all-time snowfall records for the 10 snowiest seasons and the 10 seasons with the least amounts of the white stuff dating back to the inception of regular weather record-keeping in 1895.

Here are these records:

THE 'TOP 10' SNOWIEST WINTERS (NORMAL: 69.8" - ALL ABOVE 100 INCHES.)

1. 2007-08 - 172.9" (190+ inches in Rathdrum!)

2. 2008-09 - 145.6" (100+ inches more snow than ever in 2007-09 over a two-season span!)

3. 1915-16 - 124.2" (181.5" at Sandpoint.)

4. 2010-11 - 121.0" (69.0" at Spokane.)

5. 1968-69 - 117.8" (82.4" in January, 1969 alone in Coeur d'Alene.)

6. 1949-50 - 111.6" (93.5" at Spokane.)

7. 1992-93 - 103.7" (145.3" at Hayden Lake.)

8. 1931-32 - 103.6" (134.7" at Sandpoint.)

9. 1996-97 - 101.4" (150.5" at Sandpoint.)

10. 1896-97 - 100.5" (100 years earlier than number 9.)

THE 'BOTTOM 10' MOST OPEN 'SNOWLESS' WINTERS (ALL BELOW 20 INCHES.)

1. 1933-34 - 11.2"

2. 1943-44 - 13.6"

3. 1987-88 - 14.1"

4. 1914-15 - 14.3"

5. 1941-42 - 14.4"

6. 1966-67 - 15.8"

7. 1908-09 - 16.1"

8. 1929-30 - 17.8"

9. 2009-10 - 18.4"

10. 1899-00 - 19.4"

Including the 83.4 inches of snow which fell last winter locally in town in 2011-12, our average annual snowfall has been 69.8 inches since 1895. This winter of 2012-13, I'm predicting an above normal 79.6 inches of snow.

There have been 41 winter seasons with snowfall totals in Coeur d'Alene below 50 inches and 27 seasons with totals above 80 inches, including last winter, in the city, a 'feast' or 'famine' scenario snowfallwise.

NORTH IDAHO WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS

The two chilly snowstorms between Nov. 8 and Nov. 12 dumped nearly 7 inches of the white stuff on Coeur d'Alene and upwards of 10 inches of snow on areas to the north and east of the Lake City.

As of this Thursday morning, Nov. 15 writing, some of the nearby ski resorts had received nearly two feet of snow during a stormy first half of November. It was hopeful that at least Lookout Pass might open for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, especially with more snows 'on the way' above 4,000 feet.

Our Coeur d'Alene precipitation total for the first half of November was a healthy 1.40 inches. I'm expecting more than two inches of additional rainfall during the second half of the month, which would push our 2012 precipitation total to near 35.50 inches, only 3.28 inches away from breaking our all-time Coeur d'Alene annual rainfall record of 38.77 inches in the 'ICE STORM' year of 1996.

Our normal December precipitation is 3.96 inches, so we could easily smash the record of 1996 even without an unusually wet month.

As far as snowfall is concerned, I see at least another 25 inches falling in town between now and the end of the year on New Year's Eve.

This past Monday, I got to use my snowblower for the first time this season. It worked like a dream. I'm looking forward to at least a dozen more times of healthy driveway clearing exercise before the 2012-13 snowfall season ends next April.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

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