Spring is coming, folks - this is a promise!

We can get a lot of snow in North Idaho in a very brief period of time. All that it takes is a major pattern change.

For example, in the five-week span that began on Tuesday, Jan. 28, and ended this past Monday on March 3, we measured a whopping 50.2 inches of the white stuff. We had a dozen snowstorms overall.

We started with a scant 16.4 inches of snow from October through January 27, thanks to a stubborn high pressure ridge that camped out for more than three full months across the Inland Northwest. On the other side of the ridge east of the Rockies, that three-month period was one of the coldest and snowiest in recorded history, again a prime example of our long-standing cycle of WIDE WEATHER 'EXTREMES.'

But, as Meteorologist Randy Mann and I predicted, once the ridge broke down, it opened the 'storm door' from the frigid Gulf of Alaska and the bitter cold from the Canadian Arctic regions that produced copious amounts of moisture from late January through early March across the Inland Northwest as these widely-opposing air masses collided head-on, often right over North Idaho.

By Tuesday, March 4, as I wrote this article, our annual liquid precipitation total stood at a healthy 7.37 inches in Coeur d'Alene, 1.28 inches above the annual rainfall to date of 6.09 inches. We were 2.18 inches above the 5.19 inches gauged last year by March 4, 2013. In other words, folks, there is no parching drought in 'Camelot,' unlike across much of the rest of the arid Far West despite the recent California rains.

As far as the seasonal snowfall for 2013-14 is concerned, we've made a full recovery from our serious lack of snow illness. By March 4, our season to date snowfall in town on Player Drive had soared to a somewhat 'beastly' 66.6 inches, actually 3.2 inches above the normal snowfall season to date of 63.4 inches and only another 3.2 inches short of the 69.8 inches that we normally gauge by the season's end on June 30. Last season, in 2012-13, we had measured 70.4 inches of snow by March 4 on our way to a final total of 73.6 inches. Another 6-10 inches of snow should fall this 2013-14 season before 'true spring' arrives by mid April in the area.

Overall, Randy and I are still expecting a slightly milder than normal spring of 2014 in our part of the country. But, there will still be short periods of abnormally cold weather with brief snows between now and the 'full moon' cycle of April 15-22 that will include one of the latest Easters in recent years. Our Easter Sunday outlook calls for cool temperatures and the threat of afternoon and evening showers, perhaps even a thunderstorm in the region.

Looking farther down the meteorological roadway, the month of May should be quite nice overall despite occasional showers and a few thunderstorms. There will likely be some pea-sized hail accompanying the thunderstorms and briefly strong winds that may topple trees and blow down signs.

The month of June will be wetter and cooler than usual at first, but the last couple of weeks of June may turn warm to hot with less precipitation than normal and a boatload of brilliant sunshine that should extend, thanks to a huge high pressure ridge camped over the Inland Northwest, throughout much of the upcoming summer of 2014.

July should see the hottest temperatures of the entire summer season. We may see our first scorching afternoon with triple-digit temperatures in nearly five years, since the mercury hit 100 degrees exactly on Aug. 20, 2009. This should occur sometime during the 'full moon' cycle of July 12-19 or, perhaps, in the first few days of the month of August.

By the way, I see another North Idaho Fair and Rodeo event in late August with great weather, highs in the mid to upper 80s and very little in the way of shower activity to dampen outdoor enjoyment.

NEXT WEEK IN 'GEMS,' we'll even look much farther into our possible local climatological future. Are you ready for all-time record snows and bone-chilling temperatures in the WINTER OF 2020? At this time six years from now, we could see as much as 200 inches of snow in Coeur d'Alene.

I'm predicting that we will break both all-time snowfall records and all-time marks for extreme cold. This will be caused by record low sunspot activity at the same time that we should see the strongest 'La Nina' event in at least 100 years, sea-surface water temperatures in the Eastern Pacific Ocean at perhaps their lowest levels since the end of the 'Little Ice Age.' I'll have the 'full scoop' next week on March 17, just ahead of the spring season which starts on March 20.

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