November harbors wind, rain and snow

Last Thursday, Veterans Day, Coeur d’Alene and surrounding regions saw their first measurable snowfall of the 2021-22 season.

Most areas in the lower elevations averaged about a half-inch of snow, with Cliff measuring 0.4 inches at his station near the Coeur d'Alene Golf Club. The next system was warmer and brought record rains to the region on Friday. Nearly an inch of rain was reported in Coeur d’Alene, breaking the record of 0.72 inches on that date back in 1941.

On average, lower elevations across North Idaho receive their first measurable snowfalls of the season near Veterans Day. However, last year, we picked up our first snow on Oct. 23 with a record-smashing 7.7 inches. In 2019, our first measurable snowfall occurred on Sept. 28 with a record 0.6 inches.

The normal snowfall for November is 9 inches in Coeur d’Alene. The lowest November snowfall happened in 1908, with a puny 0.3 inches. By contrast, the biggest November snowfall did not occur during the big snow years in the late 2000s, but in 1973 when 31.6 inches was recorded.

November 1973 also holds the record for most precipitation that includes rain and melted snow with a whopping 8.76 inches.

For this November, there's a chance of snow at the end of this week and again around the end of the month. Unless storms in the next several weeks intensify, it looks like this November will be a little below normal for snowfall in North Idaho.

Despite a slow start to the snow season, the cooling of sea-surface temperatures is expected to lead to a La Niña pattern this winter season. Therefore, the chances are still good for a white Christmas and North Idaho snowfall totals climbing to above-normal levels.

As air masses transition from warmer to colder at this time of year, we've seen occasions of wild weather extremes in November. These events included the biggest ice storm and greatest wind storm in Coeur d’Alene’s recorded history.

In November 1996, about an inch and a half of rain fell on the frozen surface. The storm began on Tuesday, Nov. 19. There was already about 3 inches of snow on the ground. With the record rainfall, the top of the snow turned to glare ice. There was also freezing fog, snow and mist.

It was a huge mess as trees and branches were coming down due to the heavy weight of the ice. Ice-covered power lines and transformers were exploding as over 100,000 people lost power. At the time, it was the worst outage in over 100 years as approximately half of the residents in the area lost power.

Other structures like homes, buildings and vehicles were caked with layers of ice up to an inch thick. Total damage was about $22 million in Spokane and Kootenai County.

The massive ice storm in November 1996 occurred during one of the strongest El Niño events in recorded history. During this period of warmer than normal sea-surface temperature events, the odds go up for icy weather in the Northwest. Since we’re in the cooler La Niña pattern, the chances are much lower for big ice storms, but that doesn’t mean we won’t see any icy conditions this winter season.

In addition to the ice storm in 1996, the Pacific Northwest, including North Idaho, experienced significant flooding due to a “rain on snow” event earlier that year. Ice jams formed in area rivers as zero-degree temperatures at the end of January 1996 soon gave way to warmer temperatures and very heavy rainfall in early February.

Ice jams in the rivers of North Idaho led to severe flooding on the Coeur d’Alene River basin, the St. Joe River basin and area creeks. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), both major rivers reached their second-highest crest in recorded history. President Clinton declared all of North Idaho a federal major disaster area.

The other big November weather event in North Idaho occurred on Nov. 16, 2015. It was a system of historic proportions that slammed into the northwestern portion of the country.

Very strong winds led to numerous power outages, downed trees and power lines and damaged buildings. Over 1 million people were left without power across the Northwest. In our region, about 180,000 people lost power, which was the highest since the ice storm back in 1996.

On that November day, winds were gusting to 60 mph at Cliff’s station on Player Drive. The highest wind gust at the Coeur d’Alene Airport was 58 mph. The highest wind speed reported in Idaho was in Bonner County at Colburn with a whopping 101-mph gust.

In Kootenai County, winds at Huetter hit 67 mph. Magee Peak in Shoshone County had a gust of 82 mph. Worley reported 60 mph and Post Falls had a gust of 55 mph.

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Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com.