'A false spring' in Coeur d'Alene

Spring seemed to arrive early in North Idaho, with sunshine, blue skies and temperatures near 60 degrees Thursday and Friday. 

And from the look of things, people thought it was spring, too. Young and old were biking, skateboarding, walking dogs, reading, sitting on rocks at Tubbs Hill and strolling the shoreline of Lake Coeur d’Alene at City Beach. There was even a sign of summer in the air, with one young man going shirtless at Independence Point. 

But climatologist Cliff Harris said don’t buy into it. Don’t put your winter gear away just yet and definitely don’t start any gardening projects. 

“It's a false spring,” Harris said Friday, the last day of February. "It’s what I call a Buffalo, N.Y., spring.” 

Harris said it hit 58 degrees Thursday in Coeur d'Alene, just 2 degrees shy of the record for Feb. 28 set in 1941, and climbed to 57 Friday, again just short of the record high of 60 degrees. 

The average high in February in Coeur d’Alene was 36 degrees, while the average low was 22, for a combined average of 29, 6 degrees below the normal of 35 degrees for February. 

Harris said 3.19 inches of moisture fell in February, nearly matching last year’s 3.21 inches. It snowed 23.7 inches for the month, more than double the 10.5 inches that fell in February 2024. 

Despite the latest warmth of the sun, and the prediction of continued heatwave with highs in the upper 50s this weekend, Harris said winter is not over. Not quite.

“I hope everybody enjoys this nice weather, but there's still some snow to come,” he said.  

Harris said a system of cold air out of the Gulf of Alaska will be headed this way close to mid-March, arriving before the first day of spring March 20. 

He said 14.3 inches of snow fell in March 2024, well above the normal of 6.3, and enough snow could fall in late March to reach his annual prediction of 40 to 50 inches of snowfall. 

March may come in like a lion, Harris said, adding, “and many times goes out like a lion.” 

    Bicyclists ride past Lake Coeur d'Alene at Independence Point on Friday.