What a wild, wacky weather year it's been
This year is going to to be remembered as another period of wide weather extremes of cold, heat, rain, snow and more across our region and the rest of the globe. Last week alone, the Inland Northwest broke high temperature and precipitation records. We also had another day with very strong winds.
On Monday, Dec. 7, Cliff reported 1.26 inches of rainfall, a record for the date. The next day, a high temperature of 52 degrees was reported in northwestern Coeur d’Alene with a 55 degree reading at the Coeur d’Alene airport, a record at that station.
Last week’s wild weather also brought flooding and landslides across western Washington. One landslide shut down the northbound lanes of I-5 in southwestern Washington.
In our region, as of late last week, we’ve picked up over 3.5 inches of moisture for December. Despite the heavier than normal rainfall, the latest Drought Index still has severe to extreme drought conditions across the Inland Northwest with extreme to exceptional drought conditions in California. Some easing of the western drought is expected over the next few months thanks to the warm water phenomenon, El Nino.
On Dec. 9, our region experienced another major wind storm during the fall of 2015 as the airport reported a gust of 61 mph. Gusts in surrounding regions were a bit lower and fortunately, this wind event was not as intense as the last one.
That big historic wind storm happened on Nov. 17 and brought an incredible 137 mph gust at the Mission Ski Area in Chelan County. Cliff reported two wind gusts of 60 mph at his station on that date. In Spokane, there was a gust of 71 mph, a record for a non-thunderstorm event. Across eastern Washington and North Idaho, there were over 160,000 customers without power, the highest ever recorded. During the huge ice storm in 1996, there were approximately 100,000 customers without power.
It’s rare to have two major wind storms less than a month apart here in the Inland Northwest. However, we have one of the strongest El Ninos in history that can generate extreme weather events. Plus, we’re still in this long-term cycle of wide weather extremes, so anything is possible.
I’m certain that many can remember that in early 2015, we experienced one of the strangest weather events in the Pacific Northwest. On Feb. 6, there were numerous calls and emails about a milky rain that coated vehicles in northeastern Oregon, eastern Washington and North Idaho. According to scientists at Washington State University, a storm picked up dust from a dry lake bed called Summer Lake in south-central Oregon. The dust combined with a rainstorm that give us the rare weather event of a milky rain that coated cars and other outdoor objects.
During the summer season across the West, severe drought plagued stations from California into British Columbia. The period from June 2 through the end of September was the driest in recorded history in Coeur d’Alene.
Due to the extreme dryness, the 2015 wildfire season across the western U.S. was one of the biggest, in terms of the number of fires, in recorded history. Even in southwestern Canada, wildfires consumed over 700,000 acres in British Columbia. In Washington, about 600,000 acres were burned across the central and eastern portions of the state, while at least 500,000 acres were consumed in Idaho.
In terms of the U.S., the 2015 wildfire season was the worst on record. There were nearly 56,000 wildfires that burned over 9.8 million acres.
The smoke from western wildfires was so extensive that it drifted all the way to the southeastern portion of the country. It was also so thick that air quality levels in Coeur d’Alene shot up into the “hazardous” category in late August, the highest levels since the eruption of Mount St. Helens in May of 1980, which sent a large cloud of volcanic ash over the area. Air quality alerts were also posted earlier this year in Colorado due to the smoke from the western wildfires.
Next week, I’ll give some examples of extreme weather across the U.S. and the rest of the world.
In the meantime, despite the warm El Nino, it looks like a colder weather pattern this week, which means we should see some occasional snow in the lower elevations through the weekend.
However, rain may return prior to the Christmas holiday. Then, there’s the chance of more snow before turning milder and back to rain. In other words, it’s going to be back and forth between rain and snow through the end of this month. So, keep your fingers crossed that the milder weather pattern doesn’t fall on Dec. 25. Depending on the timing, there is about a 50/50 chance of a White Christmas. Yes, I raised the odds slightly, but, as is the case with El Nino, it’s going to be close.
Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com