Like snow? Good. More on the way

Winter came back in full force this month as over 30 inches of snow has fallen in Coeur d’Alene since January 1. According to Cliff’s records, the January full moon cycle of the 10th through the 17th of this year was the snowiest in history for those dates as exactly 30 inches fell, an all-time record for snow in a 7-day period.

During the same time frame in 1969, 17.5 inches of snow fell in Coeur d’Alene. Yet that month was the snowiest January on record with 82.4 inches. The snowiest month in Coeur d’Alene’s history was December 2008, when 87.4 inches was reported.

At Cliff’s station, there was 21 inches of snow on the ground as of late Saturday. At Spokane International Airport, only 8 inches of snow was measured. As we’ve said in previous articles, despite the fact that Spokane is a little over 30 miles away, they receive less snow as Coeur d’Alene is closer to the mountains and the “orographic” lift of storms usually leads to more moisture. Therefore, seasonal precipitation totals in North Idaho are higher when compared to those in eastern Washington. By the way, Spokane’s seasonal snowfall total is close to 35 inches.

With the increased snowfalls in January, we’re already getting close to our seasonal normal of 69.8 inches. As of the weekend, Cliff has measured over 52 inches of snow for the season with more on the way. There’s a good chance that we’ll end up with another above-normal snowfall season, perhaps challenging 100 inches once again.

We don’t believe that next month’s snow totals will be record-breaking like what we saw in 2019. February of last year saw an all-time record 56 inches of snow, easily smashing the previous record for the month of 39.5 inches observed in town during Feb. 1955.

If all goes according to plan, weather patterns are expected to direct more Pacific storms into our region, resulting in above-normal moisture totals through the end of next month. This would also mean more snow for the Inland Northwest, but we also see occasional rain mixing in as well. In February of 2019, all of the moisture fell as snow in the lower elevations in North Idaho, which was another record.

After all of the cold weather we’ve endured recently, temperatures are expected to be a little milder this week, leading to occasional rain and snow showers. However, as we get toward the end of the month, the pattern does look like we’ll have another round of snow before milder air comes in and changes some of the precipitation to rain. It’s likely going to be a back-and-forth pattern of rain and snow between now and the end of next month, but there will still be plenty of snow to go around.

Since 2015, Coeur d’Alene and other parts of the Inland Northwest have been in a pattern of wetter-than-normal winters and drier than normal summers. Prior to 2015, the data was mixed, but in late 2007 and early 2008 and late 2012 and early 2013, we had wetter-than-normal spring and summer seasons.

According to Cliff’s data, the winters beginning from 2014-15 through 2019, which includes the months of December, January and February, moisture totals were above normal, ranging from a mere 1 percent in 2014-2015 to 47 percent above normal in 2016-2017. We normally receive 9.84 inches of rain and melted snow during those three months. The summer seasons, which included data from June, July and August, ranged from 26 percent below normal in 2015 to 68 percent below average in 2017. During the summer months, Coeur d’Alene averages 4.08 inches of rain.

The last three years have seen some of the largest differences. The winter season that began in December of 2016 and continued through February of 2017 was 4.60 inches above average thanks to a wet February. The summer of 2017 was extremely dry with moisture totals 2.77 inches below normal. For late 2017 and early 2018, the winter was 2.76 inches higher than average while the summer was dry once again with 1.76 inches of precipitation below normal. Last year, late 2018 to early 2019, was similar as the winter was 2.10 inches wetter than normal while the summer was 1.75 inches drier than average.

For the start of the 2019 to 2020 winter, December was slightly below average in terms of moisture, but January will likely end up above average and as mentioned earlier, February is also expected to be higher than normal. It’s too early, but if our winter moisture is above normal, then it’s possible that the upcoming summer will be drier than average once again.

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Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com