500-year weather 'extremes' at all ends of the country

Talk about WIDE WEATHER 'EXTREMES,' as we entered the second week of May last Wednesday, we were seeing record cold, snow and ice in areas near the U.S./Canada border; all-time record heat, fires and dust storms in the central and southern Great Plains causing additional damage to the 2014 hard red winter wheat crop; a 500-year drought in California and the Desert Southwest and much debris leftover in the southeastern U.S. from a late April 500-year rain that produced nearly 20 inches of rain in a single day on April 30 at Pensacola, Fla., more precipitation than Los Angeles has received in the past three years combined.

Our Harris-Mann farmer clients in North Dakota, Minnesota, upper Michigan and the prairie provinces of Canada still can't plant their 2014 crops due to a thick layer of frost still in the ground. Some of these farmers may not be able to plant until late May or early June meaning that they will be facing the fears of an early hard freeze in late August or early September before their crops ripen and mature.

As mentioned in previous articles, scientists are reporting that the Great Lakes have approached near-record ice coverage due to the intense cold during the winter of 2013-14. A report from Newsy on aol.com shows how the huge blocks of ice are creating problems for residents and the local economy. Here's the report:

"Well, we might be in the month of May, but it's doesn't seem like spring yet in Michigan. Residents there are experiencing what some are calling an "Ice Tsunami."

WILX says, "Huge blocks of ice wash ashore on Lake Superior. Neighbors in the community of Big Traverse Bay say the ice crept up slowly, smashing into their homes."

A northwest wind reportedly helped drive the ice up on the bank. According to Mark Gill, the director of vessel traffic services for local city Sault Ste. Marie, this is the most ice they've seen in a long time.

The Detroit Free Press says, "This year the ice coverage is probably the worst or most ice the lakes have seen in probably about 35 plus years."

Ice plate thickness is measured to be about 3-4 feet, but the plates often break, stack on top of one another and freeze together.

Some homes were hit hard. Insurance adjusters plan to assess the damage in a few days.

But this ice attack is affecting more than the neighborhoods surrounding the lake. It's also, to put it bluntly, messing up the economy.

According to AccuWeather, the iced-over Great Lakes are slowing down shipments to and from Canada, which is a big problem, because as BMO Financial Group reports, "the Great Lakes region accounts for 28 percent of combined U.S. and Canadian economic activity."

By extreme contrast weatherwise, on Sunday, May 4, Wichita, Kan., soared to 102 degrees, the city's hottest reading ever for so early in the growing season. Altus, Okla., reached 104 degrees on Monday, May 5, its hottest temperature ever during the month of May. Medicine Lodge, Kan., hit 103 degrees. It was 102 degrees at Hobart, Okla., and 100 degrees at Lubbock, Texas.

This hot, dry dusty weather with extremely low humidity levels and strong winds led to a massive wildfire in the Guthrie area of central Oklahoma early this past week. Thousands of acres went 'up in smoke' and at least six homes were destroyed. As I've mentioned in several recent columns, it's going to be a long, hot, fire-ravaged, drought-parched summer for most of the regions west of the Mississippi River. Later, probably by mid July into the month of August, this hot and dry weather pattern will likely push all the way east to the western slopes of the Appalachian Mountains and beyond.

I don't see any drought relief arriving in California or the Desert Southwest for at least another 5-6 months, maybe not until late November in Southern California. A warm, wet 'El Nino' sea-surface ocean temperature event could eventually provide a juicy 'Pineapple Express' from Hawaii into the parched Golden State. But, as usual, only time will tell.

SPECIAL NOTE IN RESPONSE TO RECENT NEGATIVE LETTERS

I wish to point out that wide weather 'extremes' result from violent clashes between cold and warm air masses.

According to Wednesday's Coeur d'Alene Press in the financial section, the record cold and snowy winter east of the Rockies caused heating demand to jump, and that translated into bigger earnings for both utility and oil stocks and horrible pain for others.

I watch all climate changes, not just the warmer cycles. I don't deny anything. I just report the facts, climatewise and otherwise. I have no political agenda. For more than 60 years, I've watched an increasingly more EXTREME CLIMATE.

Remember, we're not in Ma Nature's GREENHOUSE, or her ICEHOUSE. We're in her FUNHOUSE and can't find the door out!

NORTH IDAHO WEATHER REVIEW AND LONG-RANGE OUTLOOKS

Unlike the wild, often deadly, 500-year weather 'extremes' prevailing elsewhere across the country, we continue to enjoy a rather calm 'sun and showers' pattern this spring in beautiful Camelot.

I don't see many weather changes developing locally in North Idaho until the warm to hot and drier days arrive by late June or early July.

The summer of 2014 across the Inland Empire should generally be delightful for virtually all outdoor activities, lots of sun and few showers. We may finally see an afternoon or two above the century mark in town this summer for the first time in several years. Our summers since 2009 have generally been a bit cooler than normal in the Northwest.

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