Wind and snow

It was certainly a wild week weatherwise across the Coeur d’Alene and Spokane region. On Thursday, March 12, a second round of very strong winds since last December knocked out power and downed some areas trees. During the early morning hours last Thursday, a wind gust of 68 miles per hour was reported at the Spokane International Airport with 66 miles per hour at Felts Field. The Coeur d’Alene region had reports of gusts between 60 and 70 miles per hour. Climatologist Cliff Harris had a gust around 70 miles per hour on early Thursday morning. Approximately 35,000 Avista customers were left without power due to the ferocious winds.

On Dec. 17, 2025, we had another day with very strong winds, some having Category 1 hurricane strength. Many parts of North Idaho were battered by winds that had not been experienced since 2015. On that date, a wind gust of 75 miles per hour was reported at the Spokane International Airport. Cliff Harris reported a gust of 69 miles per hour in Coeur d’Alene with a 66 mile per hour gust at the Coeur d’Alene Airport. Pullman had a gust of 81 miles per hour while Lewiston reported one at 84 miles per hour. There were widespread power outages and downed trees.

Before the two storms that produced record winds in some areas, the last time we had historic winds in the region was on Nov. 16, 2015. On that day, winds were gusting to 60 miles per hour at Cliff’s station in Coeur d’Alene. The highest wind gust at the Coeur d’Alene Airport was 58 miles per hour. The strongest wind gust from that storm occurred in eastern Washington at the Mission Ridge Ski Area in Chelan County with an incredible gust of 137 miles per hour.

In addition to the strong winds last week, record snows fell in the Spokane and Coeur d’Alene region. The recent series of storms has dropped over 11 of snow at Cliff’s station with about 8 inches at the Spokane International Airport. Local observers reported about 10-12 inches around Hayden with some mountain locations picking about approximately 2-3 feet of new snow late last week.

Coeur d’Alene normal March snowfall is 6.3 inches. As of the weekend, 10.9 inches has fallen this month. For the season, Coeur d’Alene did top 30 inches as a total of 31.1 inches has fallen. This is still far below the normal of 69.8 inches.

The storm last week was the biggest of the 2025-26 season. Most storm systems, despite the cooler La Nina sea-surface temperature pattern, were too warm to produce much measurable snowfall in the lower elevations. As we’ve said on many occasions, a few degrees of temperature can make a big difference with rain and snow in the region. Last week, readings did stay cold enough, combined with a good moisture source to provide the area with a winter wonderland. Although weather forecasting models have made big strides, Mother Nature still has the final say.

Speaking of snow, rare snows have been reported in some of the hottest and driest places on Earth. For example, last week, snow covered the sandy desert in parts of the Sahara Desert in Algeria. The city of Ain Sefra reported temperatures below freezing providing ideal conditions for the unusual snowfall. In fact, this was only the seventh time within the last 40 years this area has seen some measurable snowfall. Many locals enjoyed the new snow while it lasted, but it didn’t last for very long. It’s almost hard to believe that a place that can experience summer temperatures over 120 degrees will see snow on rare occasions.

The Atacama Desert in Chile had a dusting of snow last July, during their winter season. According to an article in Live Science, this desert is known as the “sunniest spot on Earth” and only averages about a half-inch of moisture per year. The desert is home to the world’s most powerful radio telescope on Earth, and it had to briefly stop its operations due to the snowfall. Amazingly, there is research that indicates that parts of the Atacama region did not have any recorded rainfall between 1570 and 1971, nearly 400 years.

In terms of our local weather, the long-range computer models are still indicating that we’ll have more Pacific storm systems move across the Inland Northwest through at least the end of the month. Most of these Pacific storm systems will likely produce rain in the lower elevations, but there may be several systems that are cold enough to produce more measurable snowfall in the lower elevations.

With the effects of the cooler La Nina sea-surface temperature event, we do expect moisture totals to be near to above normal levels in April and into at least the mid-portion of May. However, conditions are shaping up for another very dry summer season across the Inland Northwest. Stay tuned for further updates.

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Contact Randy Mann at [email protected].