Last year was another one for record-breaking weather

We’re now into 2025, and last year was another one of record-breaking weather across the Inland Northwest and the rest of the U.S.

In 2024, there were six high temperature records in Coeur d’Alene that were broken. Three of them occurred in March on consecutive days. On March 16, the high was a record 71 degrees. The following two days, March 17-18, it was a record 70 degrees, which was 20 degrees above normal. July was very hot as a record 101 degrees was reported July 9 with another record high of 102 degrees July 10. The last record-breaking high temperature happened Sept. 6 with a hot 97 degrees.

Despite a relatively warm 2024, which may be the warmest year in Earth’s recent history, there was one very frigid day in the Inland Northwest. On Jan. 13, the mercury dipped to -17 degrees.

There were only two days that broke precipitation records in Coeur d’Alene. On Feb. 29, 2024, a storm produced .61 inches of moisture with a record 0.68 inches falling May 6. Only one snowfall record, in terms of the highest, was reported last year. That occurred March 4, 2024, when 5.7 inches fell.

There was another snowfall record that many people were not thrilled about. For the snowfall season that began July 1 and continued through Dec. 31, 2024, only 3.1 inches fell in Coeur d’Alene. That’s a little more than 10% of normal snowfall to date. In fact, during the snowfall season of 1933-34 when Coeur d’Alene reported the lowest amount since records began in 1895, there was 3.9 inches to date based on Cliff’s records.

Although the valley locations have been almost snowless, the storms have been cold enough to produce plenty of snow in the mountains. In the summer at Silver Mountain, over 130 inches have been reported so far this season with over 200 inches at Lookout Pass. Over 150 inches has fallen at Schweitzer.

Many extreme conditions were observed across the country in 2024. The costliest weather disaster last year was Hurricane Helene, which caused widespread catastrophic damage across the Southeast, especially in North Carolina. It was also the strongest hurricane in recorded history to hit the Bing Bend of Florida. Over $124 billion in damage was reported from the storm and it’s very possible that figure could still go higher. The flooding in western North Carolina was massive as rainfall totals from Helene were as high as 30 inches.

Heatwaves were numerous across the U.S. in 2024. For example, May 25, high temperatures in Texas soared to above the 100-degree mark with Del Rio reporting a record-smashing 112 degrees on that date. On June 18, the northeastern U.S. sweltered with very hot weather. Normally cool Caribou, Maine, hit a record 96 degrees on that date. Another heatwave in the Northeast on July 8 literally shut down the Third Avenue Bridge in New York City as temperatures hit 95 degrees.

Las Vegas, Nev., hit 120 degrees for the first time in history July 7. For the western U.S., July of 2024 was the hottest calendar month in recorded history, including parts of the Inland Northwest. In Coeur d’Alene, the average high for July was 90.4 degrees, which was 7 degrees above normal. That wasn’t the hottest July ever recorded in Coeur d’Alene. In terms of high temperatures, the warmest was in July 2021 with an average high of 92.35 degrees. It was a hotter July at the Spokane International Airport with an average high temperature of 92.6 degrees.

According to an article by weather.com, 2024 was a big year for tornadoes. As of late December, there were approximately 1,760 tornadoes compared to an average of about 1,200. Four states set records for the greatest number of twisters in a single year. Iowa had a record-breaking 122 tornadoes. The other three state records included Ohio with 73, New York with 32 and West Virginia with 20 tornadoes. Hurricane Milton, in early October, spawned at least 46 tornadoes, which was Florida's largest single day of twisters in the state’s history. Although it was very hot in Texas last year, there was one severe storm June 2 that produced a record-breaking hailstone for Texas with a diameter of a whopping 7 inches.

In terms of our local weather, it should be mostly dry and cold until Friday. There is a storm system that may produce some snow in the lower elevations with a better chance in the higher mountains.

The long-range computer models are pointing to another chance of snow across the region after the middle of the month. The colder and snowier weather has been to our east in December and early January. Once again, air temperatures have been too warm in Coeur d’Alene and surrounding regions for snow. Therefore, our updated snowfall prediction for Coeur d’Alene for the 2024-25 snowfall season is 51.2 inches.

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Contact Randy Mann at randy@longrangeweather.com.