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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

May to continue with April’s cool weather

Michelle Boss Correspondent

The saga of the never-ending winter continues.

It probably won’t surprise you that this April will likely go down as the coldest in Spokane and Coeur d’Alene’s history. This past Sunday, Spokane broke a cold temperature record by achieving an afternoon high temperature of only 39 degrees. This is the latest date in which the high temperature was under 40 degrees (the previous date being April 11, year unknown).

On Monday, numerous wrecks and slide-offs were reported during the early-morning commute due to icy roads. Snow advisories were in effect last Wednesday for northeast Washington and the Idaho Panhandle. While I hesitatingly declared the end of the accumulating snows at the beginning of the month, Cheney residents were recently brushing the snow off their cars. Spokane is now only 1.6 inches away from tying the record for the snowiest winter.

I might have written off our chances for breaking that record had I not been reminded of May of 2002. Now, despite my fascination with weather, I’m not particularly good at remembering notable weather dates. Folks in Reardan, Wash., however, will probably never forget May 7, 2002.

That’s when an intense, compact, cold, upper-level storm dropped 13 to 19 inches of snow on the town. What is nearly as amazing, is how isolated the heavy snow was. Nearby Davenport received 6 inches that day, along with the National Weather Service office in Airway Heights. The Spokane airport saw less than an inch, while downtown escaped with only a few flakes. That March through May period of 2002 turned out to be the third-coldest for Spokane since 1881.

Coeur d’Alene isn’t on the verge of breaking any records, as the city has pretty much blown through all of its wintry ones. In addition to seeing the snowiest winter in history, there have been 75 days of measurable snow for the 2007-08 season. This surpasses the record of 60 days of measurable snow set back in 1974-75 and also 1915-16. With 7.3 inches of snow for the month of April alone, this month ranks the third snowiest. April of 1932 saw 8.0 inches, while 8.2 inches fell in April of 1920.

Snow hasn’t been the only wild weather seen in the past week, however. Sunday came with reports of a funnel cloud in Grant County, Wash., and thundersnow in Grant and Whitman counties. A funnel cloud is merely a funnel shaped cloud associated with a rotating air column that is not in contact with the ground. Though funnel clouds can mark the early stages of an actual tornado in a severe thunderstorm, funnel clouds can also be the generally harmless result of an extremely cold pool of air aloft. These phenomena are called cold air funnels.

Less common is the combination of thunder and snow. On Sunday, a viewer in St. John, Wash., called me at KREM to report seeing lightning and snow. Usually the types of storms that produce lightning and thunder do not occur when temperatures are this cold, but obviously it can happen from time to time. Like its rainy counterpart, thundersnow can result in hefty bursts of snow which can accumulate very quickly in a localized area.

It looks like we’ll be able to get in a few sunny, mild days this weekend – with no mention whatsoever of snow. The upcoming week, however, which will usher in the first few days of May, looks unsettled with a return to below normal temperatures. Overall, with the continuation of La Niña conditions, May is expected to be cooler than normal.