The coldest and mildest winters since 1895 in Coeur d'Alene

Last week in 'Gems,' we featured the all-time Coeur d'Alene snowfall records dating back nearly 119 years to 1895, the start of area weather statistics on a regular basis.

This week, we're updating Coeur d'Alene's ten coldest and ten warmest seasons since 1895, plus listing the ten coldest mornings locally since 1895. Here are those records:

COEUR d'ALENE'S 'TOP 10' COLDEST WINTERS (NOVEMBER THROUGH MARCH):

1. 1948-49: 6.4 degrees below normal.

2. 1978-79: 6.1 degrees below normal.

3. 1949-50: 5.9 degrees below normal.

4. 1936-37: 5.7 degrees below normal.

5. 1956-57: 5.3 degrees below normal.

6. 1968-69: 5.1 degrees below normal.

7. 1929-30: 4.8 degrees below normal.

8. 1959-60: 4.7 degrees below normal.

9. 1962-63: 4.5 degrees below normal.

10. 1915-16: 4.3 degrees below normal.

THE 'TOP 10' COLDEST MORNINGS IN COEUR d'ALENE (NOVEMBER THROUGH MARCH):

1. -30 degrees on 1/30/1950 (-37 degrees at Hayden Lake).

2. -29 degrees on 2/9/1933 (-35 degrees at Sandpoint.)

TIE -29 degrees on 1/29/1950.

4. -27 degrees on 1/20/1935.

TIE -27 degrees on 2/1/1950 (-30 degrees at Sandpoint).

6. -26 degrees on 1/31/1950

TIE -26 degrees on 12/30/1968 (-35 degrees at Hayden Lake).

8. -24 degrees on 2/10/1953.

9. -23 degrees on 2/2/1950.

10. -22 degrees on 1/24/1949.

THE 'TOP 10' MILDEST WINTERS IN COEUR d'ALENE (NOVEMBER THROUGH MARCH):

1. 1952-53: 6.6 degrees above normal.

2. 1982-83: 6.4 degrees above normal.

3. 2002-03: 5.8 degrees above normal.

4. 1980-81: 5.5 degrees above normal.

5. 1933-34: 5.3 degrees above normal.

6. 2009-10: 5.2 degrees above normal

7. 1966-67: 5.1 degrees above normal.

8. 1913-14: 5.0 degrees above normal.

9. 1938-39: 4.8 degrees above normal.

10. 1998-99: 4.8 degrees above normal

Our coldest morning during our rather mild winter of 2012-13 was 13 degrees on Jan. 13, 2013, in Coeur d'Alene.

We haven't had a single morning below zero in town in nearly four years, since the minus-2 degree reading on Dec. 8, 2009.

Perhaps this expected cooler than normal 'La Nada' winter of 2013-14 will see a morning or two with subzero readings, especially sometime during the six-week span from Dec. 17's 'full moon' cycle to the 'new moon' lunar phase of Jan. 30.

Our winters lately have been like our summer seasons, not too 'extreme' when it comes to temperatures either below zero or above the century mark.

But, stay tuned. Remember, I believe in CLIMATE CHANGES on a regular basis tied in with the SUN.

NORTH IDAHO WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS

As I told Brian Walker of the Press last Thursday, mid-November snowfalls locally in North Idaho usually depend upon TEMPERATURE and ELEVATION.

This past weekend was no exception to this early season rule. Several inches of the white stuff fell above 2,800 feet with nearly a 'foot' of snow for the skiers in the nearby mountains.

Despite briefly moderate snows Friday evening, which helped Coeur d'Alene High School 'whitewash' Capital High of Boise, barely an inch of extremely wet snow was measured between Friday at 4 p.m. and the same hour on Saturday, Nov. 16, at the time that I finished this article.

The forecast for this week was calling for more valley rains and mountains snows that should allow for late November skiing operations starting just after Thanksgiving, the weekend of Nov. 29 through Dec. 1, at least those are the projected plans at both Silver Mountain and Lookout Pass. Whitefish Mountain in Whitefish, Mont., where I wrote a weekly weather column for 17 years between 1970 and 1987 for the Whitefish Pilot, has similar plans I've been told.

49 Degrees North in Chewelah, Wash., opened this weekend, following heavy snows, almost two weeks ahead of Thanksgiving, one of the earliest openings there on record.

Longer-term, the six-week period from early December through mid January, thanks to a cool, wet 'La Nada' sea-surface temperature event in the waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean, should be snowier and a bit colder than usual. A brilliant WHITE CHRISTMAS is almost a certainty this year. Ski conditions should be GREAT on the nearby slopes. Stay tuned.

On another note, Randy Mann and Bill Richards will again be teaching the lab science course, physical geography, at North Idaho College for the upcoming spring semester that begins in January. Seats are filling up and I have been told that this course is very interesting and informative.

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