Extreme weather fans get their wish

Over the last month, the weather has been extreme, to say the least.

At the beginning of December, record warmth was felt across the Inland Northwest eastward into the center of the country. Last Wednesday, the mercury at Cliff’s station hit an April-like 61 degrees, a record for the date. At Spokane International Airport, the high topped out at 59 degrees. Many other locations across the region reported high temperatures in the upper 50s to the lower 60s.

The heatwave in the western U.S. sent temperatures into the 70s in California’s Central Valley. However, in the southern part of the state, Riverside hit 89 degrees and the low 90s baked Palm Springs. It’s been so warm across the northern U.S. that late last week, snow covered only 10 percent of the Lower 48 on Dec. 1.

It was also warm to hot in Phoenix. According to the National Weather Service, high temperatures were at or above the 80-degree mark for 25 days in November, including the last day of the month. There were also three days with highs in the 90s.

Nov. 30 saw the official end of the tropical storm and hurricane season in the Atlantic and Caribbean waters. The season produced an above-normal 21 named storms, which made it the third-most active one on record. Total damage from these storms was more than $70 billion and was the fourth most costly.

The first storm formed on May 22, Tropical Storm Ana, making the 2021 season the seventh consecutive before a named storm formed prior to the official start date on June 1. The deadliest system was Hurricane Ida as it made landfall in Louisiana as a Category 4 storm in late August.

According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor, about half of the U.S., especially the western portion, has been suffering from severe to exceptional drought conditions. In Denver, the June-through-November period was the driest and warmest in the city’s history. They are now in the longest period of consecutive days without any measurable snowfall.

By contrast, British Columbia and the Seattle regions have been hit with storm after storm from September through November. For example, Bellingham, Wash., had an all-time record 23.55 inches over the last 3 months, smashing the old record by more than 6 inches. They also had their wettest November in history.

In Seattle, a record 19.04 inches of rain fell from November into December, breaking the old record of 18.61 inches back in 2006. Seattle had 10.26 inches last month, which ranked as the fifth wettest. However, it also had 25 days with rain, tying the record set in 1973, 1963 and 1953.

In British Columbia, a city in the Okanagan Valley of the Southern Interior, reported a record-smashing 71.8 degrees on Dec. 1, the warmest in all of Canada on that date. The reading beat the old record of 52.16 degrees set in 2012.

In mid to late November, three “atmospheric rivers” of moisture slammed into British Columbia and dumped record amounts of rainfall. The weather systems mostly originated from the warmer, more tropical regions of the Pacific Ocean, and melted much of the mountain snowfalls. As a result, there was tremendous flooding in the region’s lower elevations.

Vancouver, B.C., normally receives about 7.44 inches of rain in November, but last month, it had a record 12.28 inches. Another city in that area called Hope picked up nearly 30 inches of moisture, more than double its normal for the month.

In other parts of the world, the United Kingdom has been hit with several huge storms with rain, snow and high winds. India and Sri Lanka had very heavy rains from their monsoon season leading to massive floods and mudslides. Record snows were seen in parts of China last month while record heat baked South Africa. Eastern Australia has been hit with torrential rains in November as well.

LOCAL OUTLOOK

In terms of our local weather, conditions are looking colder with a good chance of snow over at least the next several weeks. Instead of a big dome of high pressure over the western U.S., the airflow is expected to come from a colder northwesterly direction.

According to Cliff’s records, when temperatures in late November are much warmer than normal, the chances for snow in December are higher. Therefore, temperatures will be feeling more like winter over the next several weeks.

As I mentioned last week, the chances of a white Christmas across the Inland Northwest are looking pretty good. However, Mother Nature has thrown us many curveballs in the past that took away the snow in front of Christmas. This year, the normally cooler full moon cycle arrives ahead of Dec. 25. Stay tuned.

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Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com