Many 500-year or 1,000-year floods reported this year

It’s almost hard to believe, but areas that are currently reporting major drought conditions experienced massive flooding earlier this year. Normally, we see these huge 500-year or 1,000-year flood events less than once per year. For 2016, there have been nearly a dozen events, which indicates that our cycle of Wide Weather “Extremes” is still going strong with no signs of letting up anytime soon.

Most of the big flood events were east of the Rockies. In early June, Houston reported 22 inches of rain, which was a 500-year event. Dallas picked up 16 inches of rain, also a 500-year flood.

In August of 2016, prolonged heavy rainfall resulted in catastrophic flooding in Baton Rouge, La. This 1,000-year flood was called “historic” by government officials. Baton Rouge picked up an amazing 36 inches of rain in a matter of days.

In West Virginia, a 1,000-year flood of up to 23 inches in 12 hours was reported in early July from strong thunderstorms.

In early March, southwestern Arkansas reported 18 inches of rain that was a 500-year flood. In late September, the remnants of Hurricane Matthew dropped 16 inches of rain over parts of Delaware, another 500-year event.

More 500-year floods were reported as October brought around 16 inches of rain to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Tucson, Ariz., reported 9 inches of rain. Southeastern Minnesota reported 13 inches of rainfall in September while Florence, N.C., received 15 inches of rainfall in early October from Hurricane Matthew.

Floods were also reported in northeastern Montana as up to 9 inches of rain fell. Despite the heavy rains in the Far West in October, no major flooding was reported.

Here in the Inland Northwest, we didn’t have those 500-year floods, but many stations did break their all-time record for monthly moisture in October, which did lead to some flooded basements. Last month, Coeur d’Alene reported a record 8.88 inches of rain. The normal is only 2.22 inches. The Spokane Airport reported its highest monthly precipitation total in recorded history. The airport’s average rain total for October is 1.18 inches. By the time the month was over, Spokane reported 6.23 inches of rain, more than 5 times its October normal.

Snowfall in the U.S. for November has not been widespread. There was a strong snowstorm that moved through the Upper Midwest and Great Lakes region that dumped up to a foot of snow in some spots.

But, according to a recent article from the Washington Post, temperatures in North America have been unseasonably warm earlier this month. Readings were more typical of early October rather than early November.

In this pattern of wide extremes, when one area is unusually warm, someone else is often very cold, the exact opposite. For example, while we had record warmth in early November, large sections of Europe and Asia experienced very cold and snowy conditions. For many weeks beginning in late October, harsh conditions were reported in Eastern Europe and Siberia. Snow began falling in Moscow on October 29. Coverage of snowfall across Europe and Asia in early November was the third highest since records began in 1967.

Earlier this month, snow moved into Germany, France, Scotland, Switzerland and Scandinavia. Over a foot of the white stuff has been reported over the northern portions of Europe.

Temperatures in Scandinavia have already dropped to as low as minus 13 degrees Fahrenheit. Siberia reported air temperatures down to minus 40 degrees with upwards of 10 feet of snow. Readings in the Ukraine dipped to near minus 30 degrees.

A new theory claims that if Siberia experiences heavy snowfalls early in the season, then a cold and snowy pattern should be seen farther to the south this winter in Europe as well as North America, which would include North Idaho. If this scenario turns out to be the case, then we could see colder temperatures and snow down into the southeastern U.S.

In terms of our weather, the normally active new moon lunar cycle begins Tuesday. We expect to see a series of storms move from the Gulf of Alaska and bring occasional snow to the mountain areas as well as the lower elevations over the next week. Although we will likely need the snowblowers, Cliff and I don’t see the moisture falling as all snow in December. We also see periods of rain in-between the snowstorms in the lower elevations.

Overall, the pattern still looks good for a White Christmas here in the Inland Empire with about 30 percent higher than normal snowfall for the 2016-17 season. Stay tuned.

Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com