The 10 wettest and driest cities in the U.S.

Ever since we smashed our all-time annual precipitation record in 2012 in Coeur d'Alene since at least 1895 with a whopping 43.27 inches of rain, I've often been asked to list the wettest and driest cities in the U.S.

In this column, I'm featuring the 10 wettest places in the nation by two criteria. First, I've listed these cities in order by total annual precipitation. Then, I've listed the 10 wettest cities by the average number of days each year with measurable moisture, .01 inches or more.

I've likewise listed the 10 driest cities in the country by the same two criteria. It should be no surprise that Coeur d'Alene, with an annual precipitation total of 26.77 inches since 1895, doesn't make any list. We're somewhere in the middle as far as rainfall on an annual basis is concerned. I like our weather here in Camelot ... just right!

Here are those four annual precipitation lists from the wettest to the driest cities in America:

10 WETTEST U.S. CITIES BY AVERAGE ANNUAL PRECIPITATION

1. Aberdeen, Wash.: 83.7 inches

2. Astoria, Ore.: 67.1"

3. Mobile, Ala.: 66.3"

4. Miami, Fla.: 66.0"

5. Baton Rouge, La.: 65.1"

6. North Bend, Ore.: 64.4"

7. Pensacola, Fla.: 64.3"

8. New Orleans, La.: 64.2"

9. Fort Lauderdale, Fla.: 64.1"

10. Tallahassee, Fla.: 63.2"

10 WETTEST U.S. CITIES BY AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAYS WITH PRECIPITATION

1. Astoria, Ore.: 196 days

2. Marquette, Mich.: 175 days

3. Buffalo, N.Y.: 169 days

4. Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.: 165 days

5. Olympia, Wash.: 164 days

6. Erie, Pa.: 162 days

7. Caribou, Maine: 160 days

8. Seattle: 158 days

9. Rochester, N.Y.: 157 days

10. Cleveland, Ohio: 155 days

10 DRIEST U.S. CITIES BY AVERAGE ANNUAL PRECIPITATION

1. Yuma, Ariz.: 3.0 inches

2. Las Vegas, Nev.: 4.5"

3. Bishop, Calif.: 5.0"

4. Palm Springs, Calif.: 5.2"

5. Bakersfield, Calif.: 6.5"

6. Reno, Nev.: 7.5"

7. Winslow, Ariz.: 8.0"

8. Phoenix, Ariz.: 8.3"

9. Winnemucca, Nev.: 8.4"

10. Yakima, Wash.: 8.5"

10 DRIEST U.S. CITIES BY AVERAGE NUMBER OF DAYS WITH PRECIPITATION

1. Yuma, Ariz.: 17 days

2. Las Vegas, Nev.: 26 days

3. Bishop, Calif.: 31 days

4. Phoenix, Ariz.: 35 days

5. Los Angeles: 36 days

6. Bakersfield, Calif.: 37 days

7. Santa Barbara, Calif.: 39 days

8. San Diego: 43 days

9. Fresno, Calif.: 45 days

10. El Paso, Texas: 46 days

NORTH IDAHO WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS

Thanks to Saturday's surprise thunderstorms, the month of June finished with a much above normal precipitation total of 3.44 inches, the 12th wettest June in Coeur d'Alene since the inception of local weather record-keeping in 1895. Some stations in North Idaho gauged more than 4 inches of rain this June, good news indeed for our dry forests.

Our normal June rainfall in town is 1.93 inches. Last June, in 2012, we observed our wettest June ever with an amazing 5.84 inches of precipitation. We went on to set a new annual rainfall record in 2012 by Dec. 31 of 43.27 inches, our only year with more than 40 inches of precipitation.

By extreme contrast, the July through September 90-day period, thanks to a large stationary ridge of high pressure, should be warm to hot with less precipitation than usual across North Idaho and the rest of the so-called Inland Empire. There should be at least 25 'Sholeh Days' with afternoon highs of 90 degrees or above.

We were expecting, as of this mid-morning writing on Sunday, our first 90 degree afternoon of the summer of 2013 on the very last day of June.

Some of that record heat in the southwestern U.S. will spread northward into our neck of the woods early this week. We could flirt with the century mark in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene today and Tuesday, but temperatures will be 20 degrees cooler than the high of 119 degrees in Phoenix on Saturday and the maximum reading of 125 degrees at Death Valley, Calif., which was just 9 degrees under the all-time world record of 134 degrees set on July 10, 1913, almost exactly a century ago when there were no 'global warmists' to confuse the weather issues.

The outlook for July 4th is sunny and hot. No significant rains are in sight. The HEAT IS ON!

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