You want extremes? You got 'em

Extreme weather across North Idaho, the West and the rest of the world rolls on.

For example, from the 7th of January through early March, it has been one of the most snowless periods in recorded history in Coeur d’Alene. On Jan. 7, we had a total of 50.1 inches of snow. It looked like we were well on our way to receiving at least 80 inches in the Coeur d’Alene area for the 2021-22 season.

However, the moisture faucet in the Inland Northwest was practically shut off. Since Jan. 7, two full months, we’ve received just 5.5 inches of snow, much of it coming on Feb. 21 with 1.9 inches at Cliff’s station in northwestern Coeur d’Alene.

Based on current patterns, there’s still a chance we could get close to the normal of 69.8 inches, but 80 looks highly unlikely.

This winter season has also seen an extended period of fog and low clouds in the lower elevations. Not much liquid moisture was seen from early January through the middle of February.

That all changed in a big way, especially at the end of February when a record 1.66 inches of rain fell, the third-highest daily rain total ever in February. The second highest was 1.77 inches on Feb. 10, 1949. The highest daily February precipitation record in Coeur d’Alene was 1.94 inches on Feb. 15, 1982.

In Kellogg, the wettest February day was Feb. 19, 1968, with a total of 1.58 inches of moisture. At Spokane International Airport, the storm on Feb. 28 dumped a record for the date of 0.72 inches. The most precipitation in 24 hours in February at the airport occurred on Feb. 1, 1927, with 1.10 inches.

A big change in the weather pattern has led to moderate to heavy rainfall across our region. On Feb. 26, our seasonal rain and melted precipitation total at Cliff’s station stood at 4.36 inches. As of the weekend, we now stand at nearly 8 inches of moisture for the 2022 season.

The average precipitation for March in Coeur d’Alene is 1.94 inches. It’s a good bet that we’ll end up above normal for this month as more moisture is expected. In fact, toward the middle of the month, the long-range computer models are indicating a strong chance for a good rain and snow event across North Idaho.

The early-to-mid portion of the spring season is looking wetter than normal, thanks to the cooler La Nina sea-surface temperature event in the waters of the south-central Pacific Ocean. However, La Nina is expected to weaken considerably in the coming months and then we’ll likely be talking about the in-between warmer El Nino and La Nina, which has been referred to as La Nada.

Like the last 10 years, unless there’s a big shift in the pattern, we’ll likely see a warmer and drier than normal late spring and summer season, which will not be good news for the wildfire season.

CALIFORNIA CONCERNS

Since the beginning of the year, it’s been unbelievably dry in California. After the great start to their wet season with heavy amounts of moisture in October and December, there has been very little moisture since.

According to data from the Sacramento National Weather Service, as of today, Sacramento has reported an all-time record 58 consecutive days during their wet season without any measurable rainfall. This streak is expected to continue for at least another week.

The old record was 52 days from Dec. 8 through Jan. 28 of 2014. By the way, since Jan. 1, Sacramento has only received a puny 0.05 inches of rainfall.

In addition to the dry weather, it has been very warm in late February and early March. Sierra snowpack levels have fallen fairly dramatically since December. Most areas are now reporting snowpack averages to date of about 57 to 65 percent of normal.

In December, snowpacks in the Sierra Nevada mountains were around 150 percent of normal. A storm system did bring some snow to the mountains last week, but very little rain to the lower elevations.

The middle to the end of March does bring a chance of valley rain and mountain snowfalls to northern and central California, but moisture totals are not expected to be close to what was seen late last year.

By extreme contrast, other parts of the world are dealing with all-time record floods. On Australia’s east coast, the city of Brisbane normally receives about 40 inches of rain per calendar year. However, there was a four-day period in late February where this major Australian city picked up an incredible 29 inches of rain. The flooding was catastrophic, with many homes and businesses literally underwater.

In Sydney, which is south of Brisbane, it’s been the wettest summer since the early 1990s as residents have also seen heavy rains and area flooding. This is just another example of our extreme weather, with no letup in sight.

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Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com