Spring rain is falling mainly in Coeur d’Alene
When people think of windy weather, the month of March usually comes to mind, along with the image of people flying kites.
While March did include some windy days, 10 days saw gusts over 25 mph with a peak wind gust of 46 mph (Spokane data), April was even windier. April had 18 days with wind gusts over 25 mph, with a peak wind gust of 53 mph. A look back at April temperatures showed a roller coaster of ups and downs. Taking an average of all the highs and lows put the month’s temperatures pretty close to normal.
When it came to precipitation, it was like a tale of two cities between Spokane and Coeur d’Alene. As of Thursday, Spokane recorded 1.12 inches of precipitation, which was just slightly below normal. Coeur d’Alene on the other hand, made up some ground in a big way by receiving nearly 2.5 inches of precipitation in April – more than double that of Spokane. The differences are not particularly unusual, however, as Coeur d’Alene on average has double Spokane’s annual rainfall. While the “official” end of the 2009-’10 snow recording season doesn’t occur until the end of June, I think it is safe to say that the season ended with record low snowfall amounts – under 20 inches for both Spokane and Coeur d’Alene. The mountains did manage to get a healthy dose of the white stuff toward the end of the month, with many locations picking up over an inch of liquid equivalent on Wednesday. Seasonal mountain snowpack overall, however, is still sorely lacking. The latest data show the snowpack across the Northern Panhandle region to be at 69 percent of normal. Across the Spokane River Basin region the numbers are even bleaker, with snowpack at only 49 percent of normal.
Folks participating in Bloomsday would probably be OK with “normal” early May conditions for the race. The highly popular road race, because it occurs in the spring, has seen every type of weather that the Inland Northwest can throw at it. Historically, “bloomies” have run in sun, wind, rain, graupel (soft hail), and even snow. The two warmest Bloomsday starts occurred in 1977 and 1989, when 8 a.m. temperatures were 59 and 58 degrees respectively. The coldest start was back in 1988, when 8 a.m. temps were a chilly 34 degrees with reports of early morning snow. In 1984, .8 inches of snow was measured the morning of Bloomsday, with a start temp of 37 degrees. Wind, not cold, plagued runners in 1990 with southwest winds gusting to 30 mph during the race.