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Was that a brown Christmas?

by Mike Patrick Staff Writer
| December 27, 2018 12:00 AM

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Snow starts to stick as temperatures drop Wednesday afternoon in downtown Coeur d'Alene. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)

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A family mingles with Mudgy and Millie as snow begins to fall at Independence Point on Wednesday. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)

Let The Great White Christmas Debate begin.

For weeks, Press meteorologist Randy Mann and climatologist Cliff Harris predicted a white Christmas for Coeur d’Alene. Harris, a prolific local weather researcher, had pointed out that going back to the late 1800s, whenever Coeur d’Alene had three consecutive white Christmases, there’s always been a fourth. And Christmas Day of 2015, 2015 and 2017 had all been white.

So what happened on 12/25/18?

“Cliff had one inch [of snow] on the 25th at his station, so he’s calling it a white Christmas,” Mann said Wednesday.

Mann conceded, however, that Cliff’s proclamation might not resonate with everybody reading this story.

“Some areas around town may have had less or nothing on the ground,” Mann said.

Asked to define what exactly is needed to officially declare a Christmas white, Mann pointed to this Wikipedia entry:

“The definition of ‘white Christmas’ varies. In most countries, it simply means that the ground is covered by snow at Christmas, but some countries have more strict definitions. In the United States, the official definition of a white Christmas is that there has to be a snow depth of at least 1 inch or 2.5 cm at 7 a.m. local time on Christmas morning, and in Canada the official definition is that there has to be more than 2 cm (0.79 in) on the ground on Christmas Day. In the United Kingdom, although for many a white Christmas simply means a complete covering of snow on Christmas Day, the official definition by the British Met Office and British bookmakers is for snow to be observed falling, however little (even if it melts before it reaches the ground), in the 24 hours of 25 December.”

Whether you experienced a white Christmas or a brown one depends upon what you saw when you looked out your window or ventured out to a Christmas Day gathering Tuesday. One thing that isn’t open to argument, though, is Cliff’s dedication to accurate measurement. From a recent column in The Press, here’s how Mann described his colleague’s professionalism:

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Since Cliff has been in Coeur d’Alene, he has been dedicated to the measurement of snowfall at his station. To answer the many questions concerning the times per day that local Coeur d’Alene area snowfall is measured and exactly where these measurements take place, Cliff measures the snowfall, and liquid precipitation as well, every four hours, six times a day, 365 days a year. Now that’s what I call dedication.

He also measures the snow depths at three separate locations in his back yard, including the flat deck that’s away from both the house and trees or other obstructions. Then, he averages out the three measurements for maximum accuracy. It’s almost hard to believe, but the guy has been measuring snow now for over 65 years!

Cliff systematically measures snow before it melts. If it falls as snow, it’s measured as snow. In this “banana belt” of weather, we usually see a tremendous amount of melting, especially below 2,500 feet, even in the dead of winter. Therefore, there is a loss of accuracy if snowfall is measured only once per day.

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Now, when Cliff Harris says Coeur d’Alene enjoyed a white Christmas in 2018, do you really want to pick a snowball fight?