No maybe about it: It's cold

COEUR d'ALENE — Who can remember when it was last 70 degrees in Coeur d'Alene?

Probably not many, because it's been a long time. No 70-degree days this year. It came close at 68 degrees on May 4, but close doesn't count.

To find a temperature north of 70, you have to go back seven and a half months to Oct. 5 when it hit 73 degrees. That's the longest stretch without 70 degrees in Coeur d'Alene dating back to 1895.

"This is the coldest spring we have ever had," said Coeur d'Alene climatologist Cliff Harris.

So cold that snow fell between Spirit Lake and Sandpoint on Thursday, when the high was 58 and low was 38 in Coeur d'Alene.

The first 19 days of May are the coldest on record in CDA, with an average temperature of 48, below the normal of 59, Harris said.

"It's been a weird May, I'll tell you," he said.

Harris said it has rained 2.08 inches May, and 14.18 inches for the year.

"We're not in any drought," he said.

The colder, wetter spring is due to La Niña keeping cold fronts out of the Gulf of Alaska coming this way, he said.

Harris expects winds out of the southwest to return and it could hit 70 degrees next week. But he expects it to remain cool, with highs in the 60s and lows in the 40s through May.

"There's no big heat waves in sight for us," he said.