It’s quite a ride as we head into spring

It may be hard to believe we will be welcoming spring this month. We ended February with a long stretch of below-normal temperatures and near-record snowfall on the last day of the month. Folks woke up this past Wednesday morning to a “flurry” of weather activity as heavy snows fell across the area. In and around Coeur d’Alene 4 to 8 inches of snow was reported.

To give you an idea of just how localized these heavy snows were, note that only 1 inch of snow was gauged at the National Weather Service site in nearby Spokane. Amounts increased at you headed east, with reports of 3 to 5 inches of snow in the Spokane Valley toward the Idaho border.

Though snow was forecast across North Idaho, the storm packed much more of a punch than was anticipated. What happened?

A broad area of low pressure was forecast to sweep across the Inland Northwest last Wednesday, spreading snow along its path. What was either not picked up by computer weather models, or was slightly misplaced farther north, was another smaller area of low pressure embedded in the larger flow.

On radar screens Wednesday morning, areas of snow could be seen tightly swirling around in counterclockwise fashion around this smaller embedded low as it tracked across parts of Eastern Washington and then into North Idaho. Being located directly “under” this smaller embedded low pressure area can mean the difference between receiving 1 inch of snow and nearly 1 foot. Computer weather models have a hard time picking up on smaller-scale features such as these, which can have large impacts on sensible weather, as you no doubt experienced.

We’ll continue with this roller coaster weather ride, as is often the case leading up and into spring. It was just a few weeks ago, on Feb. 17, that we were enjoying record warmth as the mercury climbed to 57 degrees in Coeur d’Alene. This broke the previous record of 55 set back in 1948.

March has its share of extreme winter weather as well. On March 1 back in 1962, a blizzard brought between 6 and 12 inches of snow to the area. On this date back in 1960, temperatures dipped below zero from Coeur d’Alene to Sandpoint.

Though temperatures this weekend have finally moved closer to a milder normal range, don’t be surprised to see the pendulum swing from warm sunshine one day to breezy storms that can cover the ground in graupel or snow pellets the next day. Average afternoon temperatures range from the high 40s at the beginning of the month and warm into the mid 50s by month’s end. Nighttime lows will average right at freezing by the 25th. Showers will bring more rain than snow this month, with average snowfall of only 5.8 inches. Total precipitation for the month averages nearly 2 inches.

While we have had to deal with the “white stuff” falling from the sky during the past week, other parts of the country have had to deal with a different type of precipitation. Last Saturday, a muddy rain fell across portions of southwestern Missouri. The dirt/dust originated mostly from western and north Texas. Strong winds gusting to 60 and even 70 mph kicked up the dust and carried it into places like Oklahoma City and Dallas, where it reduced visibilities to as low as a mile. The dust continued to travel with an intense storm system across the Southern plains, eventually “raining” out in muddy showers in southwestern Missouri.

Incredible satellite images captured this “dust storm.” These pictures can be seen at the Web site of the National Weather Service in Lubbock, Texas, http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lub/ climate/Local_interest_events/ 2007/02242007_wind_dust/.