I'm predicting double the number of thunderstorms locally this spring and summer

On Friday, March 14, we had the loudest thunderstorm ever observed so early in the season in the Coeur d'Alene area and other parts of the so-called 'Inland Empire.'

It remains my forecast that we will see at least two dozen thunderstorms in 2014 in North Idaho, double the usual number of 12!

To answer a Press subscriber's question, the huge increase expected this spring and summer locally in thunderstorm activity will be caused by frequent violent 'collisions' of widely-opposing air masses over the region, both warmer and colder than usual.

Much of the rest of the nation, although still locked in parching drought, especially in California and the Desert Southwest, will likewise see frequent thunderstorms in the next several weeks accompanied by torrential rains producing lowland flooding, extremely strong winds, large-sized hail and dangerous lightning.

Almost everywhere in the U.S. and Canada, the meteorological elements are at war with each other, much like some sort of 'Weather Super Bowl,' on a daily basis.

This is understandable considering the geographical complexity of the North American continent. I would say that we have probably the most 'unusual' weather events on the entire planet, everything from hurricanes, tornadoes, 70 mph-plus straight-line winds, large-sized crop-destroying hail, floods, droughts, blizzards, etc., etc., etc.

Basically there are four types of air masses and their associated jet stream flows, (yes, there's more than one 'jet stream'), that contend for influencing, at one time or another, the basic weather patterns across the continent. These air flows come from the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Arctic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. Occasionally during the winter months, especially during a warm and wet 'El Nino' sea-surface temperature event in the waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean, we see a drought-breaking extremely moist 'Pineapple Connection' from Hawaii eastward through California and the parched Southwest. If we do see a new El Nino develop during the next six months, the winter of 2014-15 will probably be wetter than usual in California, possibly "good news" ahead for water-short Golden State farmers and ranchers. Once again, only time will tell.

NORTH IDAHO WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS

Thank God, we have no parching drought conditions this year in beautiful 'Camelot' that's turning ever greener by the day.

Since Jan. 1, 2014, as of this Friday, March 25 writing, we've gauged a whopping 11.14 inches of precipitation, far above the normal rainfall for the year to date of 7.67 inches. Our normal precipitation for an entire year is 26.77 inches in Coeur d'Alene. Our all-time record annual rainfall since 1895 was an incredible 43.27 inches just two years ago in 2012. This year, we should easily top the 30-inch mark in total precipitation, maybe even reach the 3-foot mark if the October through December 91-day period is wetter than usual as I'm currently predicting along with heavier than normal snowfall.

The current month of March, as of 10 a.m. on Friday, March 28, had measured 4.56 inches of rain making it the fourth wettest on record in the 119 years since 1895. Only March of 2012 with 7.51 inches, March 1916 with 5.37 inches and March 2011 with 5.02 inches had more total precipitation. And, there were still 86 hours left to measure rainfall this March at the time of this writing. The average March precipitation in Coeur d'Alene since 1895 has been 1.94 inches, less than half our March 2014 total thus far.

As of Friday, we had gauged 8.5 inches of snow in town since March 1, all but a puny 0.1 inches during the first three days of the month when we experienced "a North Dakota-like blizzard" with near-zero temperatures. Our average March snowfall has been 6.3 inches since 1895. Our seasonal total for 2013-14 stands at 66.7 inches, a bit below normal. Our average seasonal snowfall in Coeur d'Alene is 69.8 inches. Very little, if any, measurable snow is expected in the long-range outlooks before the snowfall season ends on June 30.

In the meantime, during the next three months, I see occasional showers and thunderstorms along with slightly below normal temperatures. The upcoming summer, however, still looks warm and dry.

Also, I wanted to let our readers know about a free and new service on our website, www.LongRangeWeather.com.

For those who are planning a trip or vacation, we now feature a section will let you know when the "best time to travel" is to a particular destination based on climatology. Randy Mann has produced over 200 short, 30-40 second videos of worldwide cities, complete with great photography, describing the city and its weather and a detailed monthly forecast for the next 12 months. Check it out and let us know what you think.

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