Global warming has vanished in the frigid western U.S.

As I told Alecia Warren earlier this month, there's no reason for North Idaho residents to panic and sell their winter gear on Craigslist due to global warming hysteria. Ski conditions are great!

Since 2007, we've actually had 30 percent more snow than normal across North Idaho, including the snowiest winter season on record in 2007-08, when a whopping 172.9 inches of the white stuff fell in town collapsing many buildings in the region. Last year, 2012, was the wettest ever in Coeur d'Alene with an incredible 43.27 inches of total rainfall.

As of this Thursday, Jan. 17 writing, at the midpoint of the winter season, we've had 55 inches of snow since last October on Player Drive, including 20 inches during the first half of this frigid January.

I took my grandniece and grandnephew skiing last week at Silver Mountain. They live in California and said that our ski conditions were "better than around Lake Tahoe."

Lookout Pass has opened for skiing in late November every year lately. Two seasons ago in 2010-11, the resort gauged an incredible 600 inches of snow. The ski area averages 400 inches a season, this despite supposed global warming.

For much of the Northern Hemisphere, this has been another harsh winter. The 7 inches of snow on the top of the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem on Thursday, Jan. 10, was the heaviest snowfall there in 600 years, since the same day in 1413, according to journals kept by scribes.

The most prolonged bitter coldwave on record was still killing California and Arizona citrus and vegetable crops at midweek. Some locations by early Thursday morning had seen seven straight days with readings in the frigid teens and twenties.

My son Brent in Scottsdale, just to the east of Phoenix, told me that he has lost tropical plants in his backyard "every two years since 2007." This year's freezes have been "the worst ever."

Temperatures in the upper 20s in San Diego earlier this past week forced zookeepers to offer extra heat and shelter for many animals in order to prevent hypothermia.

Some of the record lows this week in California and Arizona included; minus-12 degrees at Big Bear in California, minus-9 degrees at Flagstaff in Arizona, 6 degrees at Prescott, Ariz., and 8 degrees at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Tucson, Ariz., dipped to 19 degrees on Tuesday, Jan. 15.

Temperatures in the frigid lower 20s kept farmers in California's San Joaquin Valley fighting to protect about $1.5 billion worth of citrus trees in the region.

National prices for lettuce have been rising daily due to severe damage in both California and Arizona from the prolonged unusual spell of freezing cold. The price for a carton of iceberg lettuce at Yuma, Ariz., by Tuesday of this week had risen from $8 a carton last Friday to $20 a box just four days later.

The growers of popular mandarin oranges will see the most damage, because they begin to freeze at 32 degrees rather than the 28 degrees for other citrus. Growers have been using wind machines and irrigation in order to keep the warmer air near the surface of the ground. But, farmers without wind machines will undoubtedly suffer the most significant amounts of damage from the record January freezes. According to Citrus Mutual, "more than 1,300 of California's 3,900 citrus growers will suffer at least 'moderate' damage to both trees and crops."

Temperatures were expected to moderate a bit by this Martin Luther King holiday weekend across both California and Arizona. But, farther to the east in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, more hard freezes were predicted through the 'full moon' cycle of late next week. Remember the tomato shortages of 2011? It could happen again.

I'm likewise very concerned about the 2013 Midwest soft red winter wheat crop, which is "as green as grass" following weeks of above normal temperatures and much-needed showers. I see damaging near-zero cold from the Arctic regions pushing deep into the heart of the U.S. during this next week's 'full moon' cycle. Winterkill could destroy as much as 30 percent of this year's already drought-damaged winter wheat crop. Is the Florida citrus next? Only time will tell.

As far as our western weather is concerned, if this is 'global warming,' I'd hate to see an intense period of worldwide cooling or Robert Felix's predicted new ICE AGE in the near future. We're already shivering.

NORTH IDAHO WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS

Almost exactly 20 inches of snow fell in Coeur d'Alene at my station on Player Drive during the first half of January 2013, which ended at noon on Wednesday. There were 10 days with measurable snowfall, including a record 8.3 inches of the white stuff on Jan. 7.

Our seasonal snowfall by mid January had climbed to 55.3 inches, nearly 15 inches above normal for the mid winter season. Our average seasonal snowfall in town has been 69.8 inches since 1895. I'm still predicting 80-85 inches for the current 2012-13 snowfall season, if it turns snowy again, after a brief respite, in late January, February and early to mid March.

Our mid-January liquid precipitation total of 2.02 inches was likewise above normal, but a rather dry and cold second half of January overall may still keep the Coeur d'Alene area from reaching its 118-year January precipitation normal of 3.77 inches. Last January in 2012, we gauged 4.07 inches of precipitation.

Remember, folks, we're still in a long-term cycle of WIDE WEATHER 'EXTREMES' with no end in sight.

Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day!

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