Early winter

COEUR d’ALENE — In the midst of Friday’s snowstorm that hammered North Idaho, Derek Miller and his three children went for a bike ride.

What better way to decide if they want to move here from Southern California.

“No better time to do a bike ride than when it's dumping down some snow,” Miller said as he led his kids on the path through McEuen Park as wet, white flakes floated down and landed on them.

He said the family is thinking about relocating to Coeur d’Alene. All that snow did nothing to make them reconsider.

“We love it. We love the weather, we love the area, it’s beautiful, huh guys,” Miller said to his kids, who nodded in agreement.

“It’s pretty cool,” said 10-year-old Micah. “I’ve been in the snow before but it’s even more fun when you can ride your bike in the snow.”

Levi, 9, liked it, too.

“It’s cold and I like to snowboard,” he said. “So, if we move here we would be doing a lot of snowboarding in the winter.”

Noah, 7, said he already knows you can go on boats in the summer in North Idaho. He saw snow as a nice winter bonus.

“It’s cool when it snows and you can have snowball fights,” he said.

The season’s first snowstorm caught many by surprise who weren’t expecting such a blast in October, or such a dramatic change in the weather — it was 81 degrees just over two weeks ago.

A measured 4.2 inches had accumulated by about 4 p.m., said Coeur d'Alene Climatologist Cliff Harris. It began swirling down late Friday morning, was sticking by early afternoon and still coming late into the night and expected to keep falling into early Saturday.

While some enjoyed strolls in the snow and letting their dogs roam, it wasn't all fun.

There were multiple accidents on highways throughout North Idaho, downed trees, power outages, long waits at tire centers and frantic calls to repair furnaces. Branches, leaves still on them and weighed down by the wet snow, snapped and blocked streets.

The October winter storm warning may have been the first ever here, at least since 1895, said Harris, and the total snowfall, once totaled up for the day, could break the 1957 record for October snow in Coeur d’Alene when 6.8 inches fell Oct. 22-23.

So much came down Friday that Harris, 78, had to leave his warm, comfortable Player Drive home and venture outside to cut down tree branches that were so bowed with snow they were blocking the street and drivers couldn't pass by.

"I'm worn out and wet," he said in a phone interview with The Press.

He said he was swamped with calls from people wanting to know what was going on with the weather.

“This will be something people will remember for a lifetime,” he said.

Harris said that in October 2019, 5.5 inches of snow fell.

“To have two Octobers back-to-back like this is unprecedented,” he said.

More than 2,300 were without power Friday evening after service dropped for more than an hour in parts of the downtown and midtown districts.

Power went out about 5:15 p.m. in an outage that blanketed Coeur d’Alene from the north half of Sherman Avenue up through midtown, along the Fort Grounds neighborhood and north of Sherman Avenue. Homes and businesses, including the Coeur d’Alene Press, sat idle until power could be restored. By then, many restaurants that had lost power — along with their customers — closed for the evening, before Avista crews were able to restore power to some residents around 6:30 p.m.

Earlier in the day, Avista sent a release warning customers of potential outages, due to unseasonal accumulation of snow.

An Idaho State Police dispatcher said there were many accidents and slideoffs on area highways. Traffic was backed up late Friday afternoon on Highway 41 near Spirit Lake due to multiple reports of crashes.

“It is slick in all five northern counties,” the dispatcher said.

Chains were required Friday evening on both Fourth of July and Lookout passes.

J.A. Bertsch Heating and Cooling received an “insane amount” of calls for help Friday from residents whose furnaces were not working. While they tried to respond to those repair calls as quickly as possible so people were not left in the cold at home, furnace tuneups were about two weeks out.

The phone was ringing nonstop at Les Schwab on Government Way with drivers wanting to either buy snow tires for their vehicles or have their regular tires removed and studded tires put on.

People began arriving at the store early Friday morning and were more than willing to wait rather than drive on the slippery streets with worn tires.

“We close at 6 but will probably be here until 9 or 10,” said an employee.

By early Friday afternoon, they had nearly 40 appointments for today and had to stop taking them.

In downtown Coeur d’Alene, mail carrier Mike Browning was, of course, delivering the mail as snow came down.

“It’s a little slick and a little wet,” he said.

Browning, wearing a U.S. Postal Service hat and a Star Wars face mask, has been delivering mail for 36 years, but is retiring next month.

While he was hoping to avoid making his October rounds in winter-like conditions, he was ready for it.

“About as ready as I’ll ever be,” he said.

Carl Chase of Post Falls emerged from Vault Coffee on Sherman Avenue with a to-go cup of coffee.

The photographer was enjoying watching the snow come down and was pleased it made an October appearance. He believes it might ease the crush of folks wanting to move here.

“I’m hoping it scares all the Californians back where they came from,” he said, laughing.

His sister recently moved here from Florida and this storm might have her packing her bags, as well, he added with a smile.

“I’m hoping she moves back now, too,” Chase said.